Super Blue Moon over San Diego Skyline

[Bill Richards]

I was hoping for clear skies for last night's "Super Blue Moon", but monsoonal moisture created a thick layer of muck that obscured the moon as it was rising over the San DIego skyline. I still managed to get this shot, though, so it wasn't a total bust.

Update - made the local news! Click here and scroll a few images down.

 

[AlanLichty]

Very nice result. Did you shoot this from out in the bay?

 

[Bill Richards]

From Harbor Island.

 

[AlanLichty]

From Harbor Island.

I used to work on the twelfth floor of the building directly under the rising moon (One America Plaza) with a view looking back towards where you shot this from.

 

[Bill Richards]

Very cool. I chose that iconic building as the foreground subject for this event. My plan was to capture the moon "sitting" on the tip of the building, but I didn't quite get it - I needed to be a bit farther west.

 

[AlanLichty]

The shot still worked out quite well. You have the moon almost directly over the top of the building.

 

[Bill Richards]

Yeah, but it's not exactly what I was aiming for. On the other hand, if I had been in the correct spot, the moon wouldn't have risen out of the muck yet. Conditions were truly horrible last night.

 

[AlanLichty]

Cheer up - you had a view of the moon. I had a view of clouds.

 

[JimFox]

Hey Bill,

Oh man, I feel bad! I should have asked if you were going to capture the Super Blue Moon.

I drove down to San Diego also, and ended up at Harbor Island also. But I was on the opposite end of the island I think. Your positioning of the moon was much better then mine, I got the skyscrapers too, but the one you got is so iconic. I was all the way to the East end of the island by Coasterra. Were you by the Hilton? There was a couple of women who were set up by me and mentioned that there was a large group of photographers set up at the Hilton.

You mentioned the muck in the sky, prior to the sunset there appeared to have been low cloud behind the skyline, so I was afraid that maybe the moon wouldn't be seen until it was actually above the skyline, so I was happy to see that the cloud had dissipated enough that the moon could burn through it and rise next to the skyscrapers.

Awesome work on this. That is one classic looking building you got the moon to be above. I hope mine turned out half as well as this one of yours, I am still downloading my images as it was late by the time I got back to Anaheim last night.

 

[Bill Richards]

Hi Jim,

I think you meant the Sheraton (not the Hilton) and yes, I was right next to it. There were probably 100 other photographers just west of me. I'm sorry we missed each other. My wife and I did a little picnic while we waited - all we needed was a bottle fo wine.

Bill

 

[JimFox]

Hi Jim,

I think you meant the Sheraton (not the Hilton) and yes, I was right next to it. There were probably 100 other photographers just west of me. I'm sorry we missed each other. My wife and I did a little picnic while we waited - all we needed was a bottle fo wine.

Bill

That would have been fun! A picnic would have been great, I wasn't quite that prepared, though I did have a bottle of water with me.

The 3 ladies next to me said the Hilton, so perhaps there were 2 groups? One at the Sheraton and one at the Hilton? As long as there is room for everyone to set up, it can be a fun environment. I invited the 3 ladies to join us here at FocalWorld, but it would have been great to have been down there with a 100 other photographers and I could have passed out a few more FocalWorld cards and gotten some more potential members.

But I will say the 3 ladies I was next to made for a very enjoyable evening. And what's funny, is they also drove down from Anaheim. So they are practically neighbors to me, and yet we met for the first time in San Diego.

Jim

 

[Bill Richards]

That would have been fun! A picnic would have been great, I wasn't quite that prepared, though I did have a bottle of water with me.

The 3 ladies next to me said the Hilton, so perhaps there were 2 groups? One at the Sheraton and one at the Hilton? As long as there is room for everyone to set up, it can be a fun environment. I invited the 3 ladies to join us here at FocalWorld, but it would have been great to have been down there with a 100 other photographers and I could have passed out a few more FocalWorld cards and gotten some more potential members.

But I will say the 3 ladies I was next to made for a very enjoyable evening. And what's funny, is they also drove down from Anaheim. So they are practically neighbors to me, and yet we met for the first time in San Diego.

Jim

I was near the Sheraton, but most of the photographers were a bit west of me between the Sheraton and the Hilton (near the public parking lot).

Funny about your "neighbors". There was no where in OC to shoot the super moon???

 

[Bill Richards]

Check it out! Go to this local news web site and scroll a few images down.

 

[JimFox]

I was near the Sheraton, but most of the photographers were a bit west of me between the Sheraton and the Hilton (near the public parking lot).

Funny about your "neighbors". There was no where in OC to shoot the super moon???

OC doesn't really have any skyscapers, a few 10 story buildings perhaps. Costa Mesa has a couple of 20 or 30 story buildings, but they are scattered abit about and not into any kind of skyline. The closest place for skyscrapers would be Los Angeles. But the main area there to capture the skyline from is MacArthur Park, but sadly it's not a very safe place to capture photos from. So San Diego is the closest place with a nice iconic looking skyline.

OC has awesome beaches, but it's not a city in the sense of Los Angeles or San Diego.

Well... I also considered Long Beach. You can get some nice skyline views of their skyscrapers from the Queen Mary area. But I wanted to do a timelapse of it also for my YouTube channel, and San Diego sounds a lot better in the title then Long Beach to my ears.

 

[Mike Lewis]

Very nice indeed, and congrats on getting some recognition!

ML