Last November we had a 'supermoon' - the day when the moon is full and also closest to earth in its orbit around the earth. I decided to go out that morning to my favorite place to photograph the moonset. The moon was setting that morning at around 6:30am, so I got up around 5:30am and made my way to Richard Bong Recreational Park here in SE Wisconsin. I took some photos as the moon slowly descended to the western horizon, but was a bit disappointed since the atmospherics were not especially good that night. Once the moon had set I thought about heading home again, but then realized that, being a full moon, it wouldn't be long before the sunrise would take place.

I knew exactly where to go.....my favorite lake in the Park. It was still quite dark when I reached the lake, with the faint glimmer of light on the distant eastern horizon. Soon, as the sun made its way up over the horizon around 6:55am I couldn't believe the sight slowly unfolding in front of me! The magical combination had occurred - clouds over head with a clear horizon. The sun progressively lit up the underneath of the clouds above but also, and this is the magic, there was a perfect reflection of the glowing deep oranges and reds and pinks in the clear, perfectly still water in front of me!

Turning my camera round for a more sideways look at the lake a few minutes later and I shot this lovely photo with the amazing array of different hues of soft pinks. Again the beautiful sky was perfectly mirrored in the glass-like water. Magical. 

The moon was disappointing, but this sunrise more than made up for it!

My equipment consists of a Canon 60D body with 15-85mm f3.5-5.6 image stabilized lens on a Giottos Carbon Fiber legged tripod and Manfrotto 486RC2 ball head.

Recently a camera manufacturer called Light Company has sought to obtain high quality images like these from a cell phone sized camera. The advanced technology camera actually utilizes 16 lens modules and then integrates the images into a single high resolution image. The photos taken here with my Canon equipment would be good candidates for the Light l16 compact camera. I am proud to be part of Light Company's #VantagePoint project!

The images here and others like them can be found in the Favorites Gallery and in the Year 2016 folder.