Check your moon rise times. If it is coming up 20 minutes before the sunset it will be a beautiful orange ball at the horizon line.  Otherwise, your digital or film capture will be just a moon in the dark sky, unless you are doing some double exposures or just lighting a landscape by the moon’s glow.
I observed the full moon rise from the edge of the bay. When the moon was rising behind the Bay Bridge, for a moment it seemed cradled in the crux of one of the towers like bread in a chalice. I should have gone the day before because by the time the moon reached the top of the bridge it was a very dark sky.
Just five years ago I was introduced to the We’Moon calendar. Subsequently, I cannot look at the cycle of the moon any longer as just some passing, barely-noticeable event.
Bay Bridge Cable in front of Moon
The cycles of the moon are synced with the cycles of women. So each time the full moon shines I am reminded of the resistance of woman to the misogynistic oppressions they face every day globally: depriving girls of adequate food, health care and education: female and children trafficking: rape as a weapon of war and control: aborting female fetuses: honor killings: forced childhood marriages…etc.
This year is the 31st  year of the creation of We’Moon and her community of artists, writers, ritual makers. The collections in these beautiful feminist datebooks remind us how precious and life giving is the natural world. Each year there is a wonderful theme that ties together the art and writings and Gaia Rhythms.
“We’Moon: Gaia Rhythms for Womyn is more than an appointment book, it’s a way of life! We’Moon is a lunar calendar and a handbook in natural rhythm, and born of international womyn’s culture. Art and writing by we’moon from many lands give a glimpse of the great diversity and uniqueness of a world we create in our own image. We’Moon is about womyn’s spirituality (spirit’ reality). We share how we live our truth, what inspires us, how we envision our reality in connection with the whole earth and all our relations.â€
A small aperture like f/22 will cause your lights to star
Useful moonrise info for photographers and everyone:
- Seasons Calculator
- Moon Calculator – find times for moonrise, moonset and more
- Moon Phase Calculator – Calculate Moon Phases for any year
- Sunrise Calculator – find times for sunrise, sunset and more