Ancient cultures viewed a total lunar eclipse as animals or demons swallowing the moon. The event could portend something evil or for rulers aware of its impending arrival a chance to coerce their subjects. Today, for many of us old enough to remember, it may call up a pop song from the 80’s or simply be an uncommon event to break up the everydayness of our lives.
Wednesday night was forecast to be snowy but happenstance brought skies extra clear due to the chilly weather. I doubt I would have photographed the eclipse had my kids not prodded me on. I’m glad they did, their enthusiasm was all I needed. In many ways it brought me full circle. One of the reasons I first got a camera thirty years ago, when I was close to their age, was so that I could photograph through a telescope. Very quickly the telescope fell away but the camera remained. Now it is 2008. Instead of a telescope I have a telephoto lens, instead of film I have digital capture and instead of myself to please I have two children wanting to bring a print into school the next day.
I met their deadline and wondered about what it all meant. The excitement of opening an image to see hundreds of stars not visible to the naked eye was still fresh. To have an orange moon sitting there, off to one side, almost three dimensional in feel, was all the more beautiful.
This is my first post in this blog. I don’t know what it will portend or what is to come. I am a professional photographer by trade, a father and a husband. I adapted to the digital age early and I am all too ensconced within it. I suspect that my posts will touch on all of these areas at one point or another.
Jon Roemer