Nearly Full Moon Floating above Perkins Peak-13 February 2022
I have always liked how a nearly full Moon floats like a balloon in the daytime sky, but a photograph of the Moon requires more context than the sky. One solution is to capture the Moon as it rises. Thanks to the PeakFinder app, I knew exactly when and where the Moon would rise on this Sunday afternoon in February.
I find this scene delightful because each of its four elements plays a role: The late winter tree tops, the blue sky, the snow covered mountain, and the Moon. The Moon is most important because it provides two functions: A focal point and a witness.
Focal point: Notice that the trees, the sky, and the mountains are fractals but the Moon is not. As the song on Sesame Street says, “One of These Things (Is Not Like the Others).” Of course, that answer here would be the Moon.
Witness: Richard Wollheim, the art philosopher, has pointed out that a witness can transform a scene. Who or what is the witness? Once again, that answer here would be the Moon.
Best,
Michael
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Technical: Camera: Nikon Z 6 on tripod. Settings: 1/200 sec. f11 300 mm ISO 100. Single JPEG exposure. Conservatively developed in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic.
Ghost Moon
2 thoughts on “Ghost Moon”
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Neat image! I had never heard of the concept of “witness” in art, but your tying it to the photo makes perfect sense to me.
Actually I had never heard of a witness in art until I read Wollheim’s work. Wollheim actually uses the word “spectator” who can be explicit in the scene such as a the back of a human figure in the foreground of landscape. Or, the spectator might be implicit as we inhabit the artist’s mind when viewing their painting. I don’t believe that Wollheim ever used the word “witness,” but I expanded the passive connotation of his use of “spectator” into the active connotation of my use of “witness”. I am delighted that you see the Moon as the witness to this scene.