As we start the Top 10 of 2017 countdown that will lead us into the New Years Day slideshow, we begin with a crowd favorite and the sole moonrise image of the top 10. I was able to choose my top 9 this year fairly easily but struggled with the final four options for the final spot. I decided to put the decision up for a vote on my Facebook and Instagram pages and this image was the clear winner.
I captured this image on December 3rd, 2017 when I ventured out hoping to capture a moonrise despite the cloudy conditions and did so in part to put my Canon system up against the Sony one a friend had lent me. The Canon won this round but I made the switch to the Sony a7rIII a few weeks later.
Here are my original thoughts on this photo:
For the second night in a row, I headed out hoping to capture the full moon. Last night offered the better timing of the nearly full moon but, as luck would have it, dense clouds spoiled any view of the moon. I returned to the same spot tonight and set up with two cameras as I test out the Sony a7rII eyeing a possible switch from the Canon system I have been using for the past 12 years.
I set up both cameras with the longest lenses I had and composed this image only to then sit and wait and hope that while cloudy, there might be a chance of moonrise as the full moon rose above the thick clouds. Sure enough, almost twenty minutes after the moon had officially risen, it became visible for a short duration behind a patch of thinner clouds.
The lights adorning Marblehead Light shone beautifully in the evening sky and made for a much more interesting scene (the lobster boats in the harbor helped as well).