It all started yesterday with this X post from NASA:
And I thought: “Hey, I think I’ll head back up to the Marin Headlands to view the bridge tonight and try to capture the Strawberry Moon—the Algonquin Moon!— rising over it!”
So I did.
And it did!
And, as you’ll see in the video, I wasn’t alone! Quite a few people had the same idea. I returned to Conzelman Road and the Hawk Hill tunnel and marvelled at how families had come out and some people were sitting on tailgates and the back areas of their hatchbacks. Many were palpably excited. As we waited for the moon.
When it finally emerged from the low fog (very glad I didn’t wait for the moon on the bridge) the world went quiet. Where there had been laughing and fun from multiple vehicles, all was silent now and we watched the moon progress from the clouds to above the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco.
I believe we all fell into a collective state of awe as the Strawberry Moon revealed itself.
Many Photographic Lessons Learned (just a little technical in places)
My camera does a much better job at night photography than my repurposed Galaxy S10. (Flinging my S22, a much better phone for video and night photography, against the side of an Amazon Prime truck in a flukey accident—long story—has left me a little strapped for better video until I can get the screen fixed on that phone. It may be time to step it up, anyway, and learn the video functions on my camera a lot better. I mean, what a difference! You’ll see what I mean in the video. The contrast is stark.)
Camera video should be done with a tripod and a smaller lens than my Beast (my 70-200mm lens). It’s more work to use a tripod, but it will be worth it. And, I should use manual focus instead of auto while videoing.
This was my first time photographing the moon over the Golden Gate Bridge and it requires different preparation than for a sunrise photo session. (I actually didn’t prepare at all: I just went when I read the NASA message!)
—A headlamp would have been really helpful when it got really dark. I had to use my phone flashlight to walk safely near the end of my time in the Headlands.
—Always, always bring layers in case the weather turns cold as it did tonight. (I think by the end of my time, it was upper 40’s.) This is a general rule for anyone living in or visiting the San Francisco Bay Area, but especially pertinent at night up in the Headlands. Even in the Summer.
—And I really should get a hat to tame my tresses in the wind!
The longest telephoto lens available should be brought, which I didn’t do.
I almost didn’t create this video because I knew that the quality would be very subpar. But, then I said to myself, “Renate. You’re not perfect. You’ll never be perfect. Your photography will never be perfect. That moon is worth celebrating even if it is all noisy, fuzzy, and pixelated. Now get to it.” And, so, there you have it.
That being said, I need to figure out, either with better noise-suppression equipment, software, voice-overs, music, or even with silence, how best to film and communicate when the winds are a-blowin’.
As I made my way down Conzelman Road, nearing Spencer Battery, I saw the moon within the South Tower! I parked fast and walked as briskly and carefully to the spot (with my flashlight) as I could. But by the time (1/2-1 minute or so) that it took me to get to the spot, the moon had already moved out from within the bridge tower supports! Disappointed, I saw a photographer packing up right there, and asked, “Did you get the moon inside the bridge?” He smiled and said, “Yeah, I did.”
“Oh, next time!” I replied, trying not to sound too disappointed.
Then I asked him a few questions about his camera settings for the shot and we talked focal length (he tried to maintain about 105mm to also include some context and not just the moon), shutter speed (less than 10 sec with the moon moving as it does—it’ll be blurry if you hold your shutter speed longer than that), and the necessity for a tripod to have a shutter speed that slow.
Bummer! I had my tripod in the car with me! But, I thought it would not be of use, because of the movement of the moon, and would not help with the blurriness. But handholding my 200mm did not give me as crisp a moon as I wanted. And I was a bit chagrined that I’d not gotten the tripod out.
But the photographer ended our exchange with, “That’s the fun of it, though, isn’t it? The fun’s in the trying.”
And with that statement I returned to the magic that was the Strawberry Moon from the Marin Headlands.
I hope you enjoy this bonus video on our Golden Gate Bridge theme with Strawberry Moon, photos, pixelation and all!
There was something very, very special about celebrating this special occasion, this glorious full moon with so many strangers and, of course, with you!
Share this post