Life's Too Short to Miss a Lunar Eclipse

The images of the blood red moon haunted my dreams.  Prior to bed, I had checked a website for the estimated eclipse time in my area and glanced at some of the photos of a previous lunar eclipse on the site.  Hence, my sleep was restless at best.  Not wanting to oversleep my alarm, I kept on the edge of wakefulness glancing often at the time and conjuring up pictures in my head of what the moon would look like when I ventured out.

Finally no longer able to stay under the covers, I arose, dressed, grabbed my camera and extra battery, and quietly slipped into what looked to still be the dead of night.  I was surprised at the number of houses already illuminated inside.  Several cars with high beams engaged met me on the highway as I drove keeping one eye on the road and one eye on the moon.

Heading west, I was trying to think of the highest spot on a nearby country road that would be devoid of all farm security lights.  Finding one fairly quickly, I parked and turned the car lights off.  I immediately became aware of how alone I was. The excitement of capturing a lunar eclipse was overshadowed by fear.  I tried to remain calm, but images of lunar eclipses were replaced in my head by clips from a slasher movie.  I snapped a couple quick shots and kept driving west.

About five more miles passed before I found a rest stop, where unfortunately there were more lights, but I felt a little less nervous about my surroundings.  The progress of the eclipse seemed to slow to a standstill, and I began to wonder if I had actually missed the best part of it.

With the absence of a telescope or even a high-powered telephoto lens and tripod, I don't know what I was hoping to accomplish by heading out into the wee hours.  Living in a flat land region, I don't even have a spectacular view to showcase an event like an eclipse.  I guess it was just the idea of not wanting to miss out.

I finally gave up and drove back home where I walked out onto our back patio and watched the moon through the trees and over the top of my neighbor's house now feeling fairly foolish about the big deal I had made out of the event and not sleeping through the night.  I walked halfway around the block still watching the moon before coming back home and getting back in the car.

A field drive not far from home provided an ideal spot to catch a few shots of the moon in the west as the sun rose in the east.

I may have missed one of my only shots at a lunar eclipse, but every sunrise is special and a gift from God, when you consider how short our lives are.  I'm glad I was given another day and have the pictures to prove it.

If you like these photos, I invite you to check out some of my other photos on my Casual Day Images Blog.