Heavenly Moonrise
I had always struggled to take a photograph of the Milky Way. My dream was to create a photograph that was more than just the Milky Way, something that I had never seen. I remembered seeing a photograph on Lake Superior about 7 hours north of where I live. The photograph was of a rock with a hole in it just offshore and the sun was rising through the opening. That image started me thinking if it would be possible to shoot the Milky Way rising over the rock and to capture the moonrise coming through the opening. After doing further research on Google Earth and other photography apps, I determined there would be a time when the Milky Way would rise over the rock in the correct position and the moon would rise at 3:10 am in the morning through the opening in the rock. Even though the photo was possible I knew making this photo would be a lot like walking on a high wire. I would have only a limited time to take the photo before the light from the moon would make the Milky Way disappear. And would the weather even be suitable to see the sky?
About a month before my planned photo shoot, I made reservations for a place to stay near the location. Several days prior to my trip the weather forecast called for significant snowfall, and I really questioned whether I wanted to drive over 14 hours when snow was threatening. In the end, I decided to make the trip as I wasn't sure if these conditions would occur again in the coming years and my dream would be just that, a dream.
I left my home early in the day and arrived at my location prior to darkness so that I could get a good look at what I intended to photograph. That evening I went to bed early and set an alarm for 2:00 o'clock in the morning. When I arrived at the location it was total darkness. The weather was freezing cold with a bitter wind off the lake, but the skies were clear. It was difficult to determine where to set up my tripod so that I could capture the scene as I had it in my mind. I nervously paced the area to keep warm and to make sure I was prepared to capture the image before the moon started to rise. I would only have a few minutes to take my photograph before the light of the moon would overpower the Milky Way.
At 3:09 in the morning the moon started to break the horizon and I could see just a faint glimmer of the light coming through the rock. It was at that time that I realized I had positioned my tripod about five feet to the left of where I needed to be to see the best reflection. So, I quickly moved my tripod stumbling on the rocky shore in total darkness. My heart was racing as I knew I only had a few minutes to make this image happen.
Once in position, I was able to get about seven photographs before the Milky Way started to disappear. Just that fast, over a month of planning was over. I took a deep breath and quickly looked at the back of my camera to see if the image I wanted was created. My nervousness soon turned to excitement when I saw the images would be usable. Knowing that I had obtained the image that I had worked so hard for, I looked around the sky in amazement. I couldn't wait to get back home so that I could put the image on my computer to get a better view of it. This indeed was a heavenly moonrise and I’m so glad my efforts and the weather cooperated to fulfill my dream. By the way, a few hours later, the weatherman was correct and the scene was covered in snow.