After spending a pleasant afternoon drinking coffee with a friend along the esplanade at Palm Cove, I took his leave and walked along to the long jetty at the northern end of the village. I had planned to shoot the once in every 500 year eclipse of the moon and try to include the jetty and the two off shore islands, Double Island and Scout (Named for its resemblance to a scout-masters hat).
The early signs were not good as the moonrise was going to happen during the last minutes of daylight and, while I was hoping to get something unique like a pale effigy of the moon rising over the water, the low banks of cloud along the horizon threatened to block any chance of that. True to the constraints of Mr Murphy’s Laws, the cloud bank remained and, although it tried, the promise of a colourful sunset was never realised.
Suddenly a shout went up from someone in the crowd and a tiny sliver of brighter light peaked through the clouds. Those who whad begun to pack up their gear rushed to set up their tripods again and wait another quarter hour or so until in the gathering darkness the darkened shape of the moon appeared in all its glory from behind the clouds. Just a tiny edge of bright light in the shape of a cresent was all that could be seen of the usual brightness of a full moon.
The hype about this moon being blood red was not realised here in Cairns although at odd times there was a hint of colour but tit never really came to anything and soon disappeared.
I took many shots and there is still a lot of editing to be done. Many won’t make the final cut, due mainly to the movement caused by the stiff breeze that had buffeted the beach for most of the afternoon. In that low light, even a small shake while the shutter is open can ruin a possible masterpiece.
