On Sunday evening, the Harvest moon was labeled as a supermoon due to its proximity to the Earth and everyone was abuzz about the total lunar eclipse that was to take place later that night.  I had gone out to shoot the Harvest moon rising over Marblehead Neck the night before but it came up a bit too early for a nice golden glow to reflect off its surface.  On Sunday, I knew I would go out later at night and had just put some chicken on the grill when I looked at the clear sky and made some quick calculations.  With the chicken cooking and my wife’s consent, I was off and driving toward State Street for a shot of the Corinthian moon…

I made it to State Street Landing with a few minutes to spare and checked the predicted location for the moonrise.  I found a spot that would afford me a shot of the full Harvest moon rising directly over the Corinthian Yacht Club.  I took a few images of Marblehead Light as the sun set and added a purple hue to the evening sky and then I spotted a golden glow breaking over the tree line across Marblehead Harbor.  The Harvest moon rose and was truly a sight to behold.  The lack of haze and the timing of the moonrise in relation to sunset combined to give the moon a brilliant golden glow.  The use of a borrowed super telephoto lens zoomed in to its maximum 400mm made the moon appear larger than life.

I have to admit that this quick outing left me feeling that, even if the total lunar eclipse didn’t pan out later, I had a pretty nice image to share of the Corinthian Moon.  Little did I know just how well received the lunar eclipse would be…