This was it, the moment I was waiting for. It was the night of the Strawberry Supermoon and I had everything I needed to make it my best lunar capture yet. It was one of the clearest nights of the year and I had perfectly planned the shooting location and practiced my process.
I set up my tripod, focused my camera, and looked off to the horizon, willing the moon to appear. As I waited for the moon to rise, I reflected on how far I had come on my lunar journey. I had used each moonrise as an opportunity to improve my skills and better capture the moment as I remembered it, getting closer to my dreams. I had grown as a photographer and as a person with each attempt. Thinking back on my first try at a lunar timelapse, I felt a warm glow of pride at how far I had come.
This glow seemed to spread to the horizon, softly illuminating the trees in the distance. The supermoon was here. I stood in awe watching as the largest moon I had ever seen burned through the trees on the horizon. It continued to rise, deepening in colour as the sky darkened with the setting sun. There was a magical contrast to the night as a flock of birds flew in front of the moon in the distance, adding a depth of scale to an already incredible sight.
My dreams had come true. I had finally cemented my skill of capturing the moon, a skill I knew I could take with me everywhere. I had learned to capture the moon across each of its phases, in all circumstances. This journey prepared me for the unpredictable, sharpening my ability to adapt to difficult weather conditions under rapidly changing lighting. I felt confident in my ability to capture truly unique lunar moments, ones that I had looked forward to my entire life but had never seen; I’ll save that for another story.
Sometimes, when life seems to come to a standstill and we can no longer do the things we had dreamed of, we just need to take a step back and look a little closer to home. Taking a breath and shifting my perspective allowed me to notice what was right in front of me, despite the light pollution of the city. A spark of inspiration that forever changed my artistic path. My journey had renewed my sense of awe in a time of my life that felt there was none left, providing a light to guide me through the darkness back to the dreams of my childhood.
The moon served as a reminder that each day is unique, each night special. Much like the moon loses and renews itself with the light of the sun each month, moving through its phrases, so too can we take each day as an opportunity to begin again and grow, learning to be the best versions of ourselves as we renew our sense of self and who we dream to be.
