I almost forgot about the full Beaver moon rising this weekend.  I only realized it thanks to some timely Facebook posts by others and then quickly began scouting locations from which to capture the rise.  The angles the the full moon takes seem to get tougher as we get into the Winter months and I ended up deciding to shoot from the Boston Yacht Club on this particular day.  Though the moon was going to be full on Sunday, Nov 17, the conditions that night didn’t seem to allow for a shot so I headed out on Saturday at 3:30pm in hopes of good conditions.

I arrived at the Boston Yacht Club and was disappointed at first that the float was inaccessible.  I worried that I wouldn’t be able to get the right angles but then walked to the right and set up near the large crane from where I could line up these three lobster boats moored together in Marblehead harbor with the lighthouse and the expected path of the nearly full Beaver moon.  I shot a bit as the sun began to set and then more frequently as the moon made its appearance at the horizon.  It took a little while before the Beaver moon was able to clear the haze and shine brilliantly over Marblehead Harbor and to the left of Marblehead lighthouse.

I had nearly everything I could hope for in the scene with the brilliant Beaver moon, Marblehead lighthouse on Chandler Hovey Park and three lobster boats moored together with the waters of Marblehead harbor showing slight ripples and reflecting the great soft light of sunset.  There was even a subtle reflection of light coming off the moon to the left of the lobster boats.  And then a sailboat came around Marblehead Rock heading into the harbor!  I grabbed two shots before the sailboat passed too far to the left and was thrilled to have that small element complete the scene.

If anyone knows who might have been out sailing on Saturday, November 16 at 4pm, let them know I caught them in front of the full Beaver moon.