I’ve already shared one image of the blue moon rising on July 31st but this one might be my favorite from that night. I explained previously that my camera and all lenses were at Canon for their biyearly checkup and cleaning. In their place, I was fortunate to borrow a camera and zoom lens from a friend. The zoom she lent me allowed twice the magnification of my longest lens and the camera added an extra 1.6 time reach to do its smaller sensor. The end result was an effective 640mm of zoom (vs the 200mm I usually use).
When fully zoomed into this scene of people gathered to watch the moon rise from Chandler Hovey Park, I wasn’t able to fit all of Marblehead Light into the frame. I ended up sharing an image in which I zoomed out to include the full structure of the lighthouse but there was something unique about this image which made it a favorite.
One of the benefits of such a long zoom is that it stacks elements in the scene making them appear closer together. The end result is that the moon looks enormous and just out of reach of the onlookers. There is just enough of the familiar iron structure of Marblehead Light to set the scene as Chandler Hovey Park. The end result of borrowed gear and perfect conditions really could only come once in a blue moon.