Super Blue Blood Moon – and the (cold) adventure that ensued
In my experience, photographers are out for one thing: great, breath-taking photos. But sometimes, getting those photos is the ultimate sacrifice. We get up early, endure freezing cold and blistering hot temperatures, walk miles upon miles carrying heavy camera equipment, all for those couple of shots, or in my case, thousands – same difference.
It's happened to me dozens of times, both for work and for hobby, that I have gotten up early, stood in the cold, got a sunburn from staking out the perfect spot in the sun, soaked in some water because I wanted to be as close to my subject as I possibly could be, gotten mud all over my shoes and many, many other things. I pick up the little rain poncho I have for my camera each time I leave my house and, at this moment, I'm not exactly sure where my own raincoat is...
Wednesday morning, January 31, 2018, the alarm I had set on my phone blared music at 2:30; I finally peeled myself away from my warm bed at 2:50 and got ready, and I was out the door by 3:45, coffee in hand. I had packed all of my food the night before since I would be rushing from Horsetooth Reservoir to work, which is located about 12 miles away. Now, I usually leave my apartment at 6:30 to arrive at work a bit early, but I was faced with the dilemma because moonset was at about 6:40 and that was the shot I wanted. I also had to stop and put gas in my car, resulting from a last-minute decision to make the trip up to the reservoir to get better shots with less artificial light to pollute the photos.
Upon arriving at one of the first parking lots overlooking the reservoir, there were several cars there. It appeared that some had hiked down to the water in the dark while others stayed huddled in their cars because the temperature was only just above freezing and the wind chill just made it bitterly cold. I got out to get my camera all set up and noted that the wind could very quickly turn my camera and 600mm lens into a parachute.
I got back into my car and decided to try to back it into the diagonal parking spot when, in reality, it's a one-way street, so I'm sure had a policeman been there, I would have broken at least three traffic laws, and I know I would have had at least that many violations when I tried to get out, but more on that later.
Once I finally had my car backed in, I got out and opened up the back.The two back seats were down from an excursion that took place a couple of weeks ago and I hadn't moved them back. I set up my tripod in the back of my car with the hatchback of my car open. I set my lens on the tripod with the camera body hanging off the back and I crawled behind it.
I set up my exposure, turned off all the lights in my car and sat there in the silence. It was really peaceful. There was a significant amount of noise from the wind against my car, but even that calmed down eventually.
I sat in the back of my car for probably 40 minutes. It was cold. I was shivering and I couldn't feel my fingers even though I had gloves on. My toes had gone completely numb. I then remembered that I had a blanket somewhere in my car. Turns out, it was on the floor and access was blocked by the seat that was down, but I was so cold, I put the seat back up and grabbed the blanket. I sat in the back of my car with my little shutter remote in hand, just clicking away at the moon and playing around with the exposure on my camera.
But after some time, I decided it would be best for me to pull my tripod back into my car and close it up for a little bit so I could sit in my car and warm up just a bit – I knew the main event of the morning, the eclipse, was going to be a cold one. The clouds had somewhat taken over the sky, so it was best to just warm up and hope they would clear by the time the moon turned red. So, I sat in my car enjoying the heat for about 20 minutes until I decided I had better get out and set everything back up again. The very beginnings of the total eclipse had started at about 5:50 a.m.
This wasn't just a regular lunar eclipse, though. It was what is known as a "super, blue blood moon," meaning the earth and the moon are closest together and the moon appears about 14 percent larger than during any other full moons – the "super" part. It was also the second full moon in the month of January, making it a "blue" moon and there was to be a total lunar eclipse, during which the earth casts its shadow on the moon, giving it an orange-red (blood) tint. The reason why I was so wanting to get these photos was because something like this hasn't happened for at least 150 years, and even then, it wasn't a triple lunar event.
I was back in my car taking photos with the clouds passing over the moon. Wrapped up in my blanket, things seemed to be a little warmer but not for long. Ultimately, I was sitting there pretty cold, but I was still determined to get some good shots out of this.
I was there taking photos until about 6:20, when the clouds had completely covered the moon and I thought that was it, so I started to pack up my stuff and get all of my camera equipment properly put away. Then, the clouds cleared again and the moon was so beautiful. I grabbed my lens and got my tripod set up again in record time and started clicking away again.
It was then 6:30 a.m., and there was a little bit of light in the sky. I figured I had better leave if I was even going to be a little late for work. That's when this pulling out of the parking space thing got complex. When I arrived, there were maybe three other cars in the lot, but when I left, the lot was full. Add to that, I was backed into a diagonal space on what was supposed to be one-way. I knew the turn radius of my car was not one with which I would be able to make a sharp turn and make it out OK, so I pulled out (wrong way on a one-way) and parked near the entrance the "normal way," as everyone else was to back out and go the correct way out. It took a couple of tries to get the car parked the normal way so I could effectively back out. I'm pretty sure by this time, it was about 6:40, but from there, I went racing down the mountain and across town, miraculously making it to work by 6:55 a.m., five minutes early.
Things I learned:
Have more warm things in the car – I thought I was fairly well-prepared, but I think next time, I will be bringing my sleeping bag and possibly a battery-operated space heater.
Put gas in your vehicle the night before – I could have slept a tad longer, not much, but a little.
People will bug you for your photos all day until you post them, so if you think you're headed straight to bed before they are plastered on your social media, forget it.
Have a good backup of caffeine stashed away at work because you're gonna need it
No matter what happens, it's worth it, always.
Overall, I wouldn't have changed it at all. Photographers make the ultimate sacrifice to get excellent photos, the ones other people don't want to get because it's too cold, too windy or too early in the morning. That's what sets the pros apart from the rest – the willingness to get up early and find the best spot possible, no matter what.
For those of you wondering, I regained feeling in my toes at about 9 a.m.
