Lunar Eclipse, Golden Gate Bridge. San Francisco, California. December 10, 2011. © Copyright 2011 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
Moon, in full lunar eclipse, drops behind the Golden Bridge South Tower, San Francisco, California.
Very (very!) early this morning I joined the surprisingly large throng of photographers out to shoot the lunar eclipse in the San Francisco area. I was up and out the door shortly after 4:00 a.m. and heading toward San Francisco. My first thought was to see if I could get an interesting composition with the moon over the San Francisco skyline by shooting from Treasure Island, in the bay between the City and Oakland. I arrived there while it was still very dark and found that lots of other photographers (and a motorcycle club!) were already on the scene. The photographers included to semi-astronomy types with the really, really big lenses and plenty of others.
The problem was immediately apparent. Even though the moon was still fairly high in the sky, it was apparent that it was going to set far to the right of San Francisco. I might have been able to find a workable spot on the island, but I still wasn’t sure the moon would be in a good spot once it got close to setting. At this point I decided to try a “plan B,” and I felt that there was a pretty good idea that I could make something work in the Crissy Field area. So I hopped back in the car, passed through downtown San Francisco, and arrived at the Crissy Field area…
… only to find out that I was most certainly not the only photographer thinking of using this location! There were hundreds of tripod-lugging photographers lined up a long the shoreline! My main idea at this point was to find a location from which the setting moon would pass above and then behind the bridge. So I headed off quickly towards the area where I thought this juxtaposition might be available. Soon I found it, and just as the sky was beginning to lighten up a bit and shedding a bit of natural light on the bridge. It was still quite challenging to get even a workable shot. The wind was blowing stiffly, making the necessary long exposures a bit tricky. In the end I think I got one or two that are interesting.
A vertical format version of this scene is posted here – I still haven’t decided which I prefer!
G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.
Beautiful shot Dan. I was at Chrissy Field also. Quite a gathering! From your shot it seems you were closer to the bridge than I was. I didn’t get anything with the moon that close to the tower. It was good practice for the next one in 3 years!
I could just kick myself over this lunar eclipse. I read about it all week long. Friday night I made a mental note of going outside to see it. I was actually up and about at 5 AM as I was getting ready for a long hike at Point Reyes. I believe it was around 5:30 AM that I caught a glimpse of the moon through a window with a chunk taken out of it and thought to myself how beautiful it looked. But I did not remember for a second that it was going into eclipse. And that after reading about it all week long! I think my Alzheimer’s must be showing. ARRRGGGH. Oh well, nonetheless Dan, this is a great shot! I love it!!!
I determined using Photographer’s Ephemeris that to get a good background (SF skyline) with a super tele close to moonset I should go to Oakland next to the International Airport. However my wife didn’t like Oakland, so instead I went to Moss Landing. The moon disappeared in clouds around 5.30 am. I got absolutely nothing.
Ah, too bad! You never can be sure how things like this will turn out. I had also thought of shooting over the ocean, but it ended looking like there were clouds out over the water.
Simply gorgeous!
Beautiful!