Last evening, returned home from a lovely dinner gathering with Symantec, Cynthia was already in bed. I opened the window, cool air greeted my face. As I extended my vision from near to far, from the golf course on the other side of the reservoir to the pitch-dark sky, I saw a bright dot. It was the moon! Quickly I dashed to my dry cabinet, switched to my telephoto lens, set up the tripod, and started taking photos of our only natural satellite. The moon does rise up faster than I thought, so does the speed of rotation. And if I line up the photos I took in sequential order, I can see how the moon rotates.
Different photographers have different preferences on subject matter. Cynthia’s brother for instance loves to take pictures of insects found in around his Jakarta home at the macro level. He would proudly show me images of insect eyes and hairs and what not. I could faint looking at those. As for me, I enjoy taking pictures of the monuments, candid pictures of the moment, and celestial beauty like the moon.
Avid readers of my site may think: Wait a minute, is this a déjà vu? I have seen a photo just like this before. Indeed, that was last December. I think the photograph of the moon then was a little bit too bright. Also, no longer do I need to hand hold the camera now that I have a tripod. Hence a different setting that seems to make the moon looks a bit more 3D.
Last night’s moon reminds me of Italo Calvino’s “Cosmicomics (1965)”. The short story “The Distance of the Moon” is the most beautiful piece of literature I have read that is based upon our moon. Italo Calvino remains as one of my all-time-favorite authors. Some of his books I have read more than once. His work has made it to Harold Bloom’s “The Western Canon (1994)”. Unfortunately, my zest of writing book summaries did not quite take form until 2006. Perhaps in this upcoming 2010, I shall have a book marathon on all his works of fiction and have the book summaries posted here.
PS. No post-processing on this photo. It is as it is, cropped of course. Exposure setting: M mode, 1/800 second, f/8 and sensitivity: ISO 200. Now, I wish I have that 600mm lens (that costs nearly S$20,000!).
10 replies on “It’s Time Of The Moon Again”
The moon last night was very distinctive. I was in my girlfriend’s car in Bishan when we saw it.
Shyue Chou – You noticed it too eh? I was tempted to do another photo shoot on the moon last night. With the cloud, the mood looked mysterious. But unless I do some photoshop like others do to cut-and-paste the moon over some landscape images and make the moon looks much bigger, the cloud blurs out the details of the moon’s surface. So I just admired the moon from a distance.
Yes, very distinctive!
Oh Brother… Something funny to share with you…Yesterday I talked with mum on phone…
She told me, ‘Your brother have bought a lens that costs S$20K wor!!!’
I replied with a laugh, ‘No la. That’s impossible.’
She insisted and said, ‘Yes, he did! He mentioned that on his blog and father read it.’
I said, ‘Oh really? No la… His lens can’t cost that much.’
She replied, ‘But he did mention that by himself on his blog.’
I reassured her, ‘Shouldn’t be la. Benny knows the price of his lens. It can’t cost THAT much. May be the translation site translate the price wrongly.’
Today, I logged in and checked which is the blog saying that. Haha! I think the translation site missed out ‘I wish I have…’. 😛 Anyway, I don’t believe that you would mention the price of your lens so publicly on your blog! hehe.. 😛
Lora – Wow … this is very hilarious! No wonder one day I got a call from mother and she acted very strange. She kept saying that I am very rich. Now I know! She said my lenses cost 20k and I thought she meant HKD. Even so, that is a lot of money. Maybe two lenses combined?
Anyway, has she got the confirmation that I have not spent S$20k on that lens?!
I had tried to tell her that it is impossible. However, as I didn’t see what you exactly wrote yesterday when she mentioned, I could just explain based on guessing by common sense. To play safe, I think another confirmation is necessary… 😛 I may drop an email to Dad to clarify la…
Lora – Yes, please send in confirmation. Mother is acting very strange lately!
Come to think of it. I think I mumbled something like, “Well, of course we need to invest for better photo quality. And the pictures turn out good right?”
Crap. I knew I have to pay attention when people are talking to me on the phone!
Oh… your reply is…. a lesson to learn, huh? 😛
Anyway, I dropped the email to dad already. 🙂 Don’t worry.
Lora – Yes, lesson learned, conference my sister into the call next time.
How come we have not tried teleconferencing yet?
[…] Apparently, technology is so advance these days that websites can be translated into another language on the fly. But not so advance to accurately translate the meaning of I wish I have that bazooka lens that costs S$20,000. This gives ‘lost in translation’ a whole new meaning. If I have that kind of money to blow, my photograph of the moon would certainly look better than this. […]
[…] me, I have waited long enough and have decided that someone from Earth would do. Talking about the moon, today Cynthia and I have visited the Hong Kong Space Museum and have watched the ultra realistic […]