The best laid plans can go awry when it comes to photography. There are times when no matter how well thought out or how well a plan is set there still needs to be a bit of luck when it comes to photographing nature. The location was picked out in Boulder for the Super, Blue, Blood, Harvest moon with the lunar eclipse earlier this week. A great location up above the city near the Flatirons. The moon’s path was scouted to set at a farther range of the Rocky Mountains right about the time it was supposed to get really big. It was going to be perfect. An amazing picture that shows some of the astronomical wonders that happen to the planet Earth as we hurl through the universe. But Mother Nature can sometimes be cruel and fickle.
The night started clear and warm for January in Colorado. The blue moon shone brightly in the sky at 2:30 a.m. as myself and a fellow photographer and friend climbed out of his truck. We picked our spots on a rocky outcrop that fell away into a valley with a straight line to the above mentioned mountain range. As the lunar eclipse started the moon waned out of view. It was a wonderful spectacle and I was really excited to see it turn red on the other side of the darkness. But as we reached two-thirds of the way into the eclipse a bank of clouds blew in quickly. It happens in the Rockies. One minute clear skies, the next fog and clouds everywhere. The mountain range completely obscured as well as the moon itself. A faint glow in the distance. The sun starting to rise in the east threw light onto Boulder and the clouds that whipped around us. A once in a lifetime opportunity obscured by clouds.