First Came Golden Hour

What with rain, clouds, smoke and wind, I haven't been taking many photos for almost a month. However, with an almost full moon last night, I predicted a suitable spot and headed out. Alas, when the moon did rise, cloud cover kept it out of view.

All was not lost, however, for I was able to snap some photos while I waited. I did have quite a wait too, as I got to my spot about 3/4 hour earlier than necessary as there was a lag between general rising time and when it would be visible in my location.

I was in a somewhat elevated Park and Ride lot near the highway and was able to look down on the farm on the other side, which I captured it bathed in golden light. Well, perhaps bathed is too grand a word, but it was golden hour that photographers are rather keen on.

A little later, in the opposite direction, the sun was lowering beyond the trees, creating some interest in the sky. It wasn't grand, but it was something while I waited for the moon, which never did show up.

Then, I took a horizontal photo of the same sky and saw that a bit of sun was peeking out at tree level.

Then it peaked a bit more and became pretty bright. To keep the sun from blowing out (ie going to white) I had to underexpose by quite a lot. I like the results well enough. Despite using my longest lens, the first photo is highly cropped. The second is somewhat cropped. In both cases I like the effect of the intervening trees and clouds.

I took one more photo of the full scene with no cropping or processing whatsoever.

While I didn't get the [moon] photo that I wanted, I did manage to take photos that I think were worth the effort. The sun behind the trees was certainly unexpected and not something that I have photographed before, so I am happy enough