My husband, John, and I set up on the Montrose bridge the evening before the full moon, when it rises an hour earlier at dusk. The goal was to photograph the rising moon over the Houston skyline as the sun set, creating a warm glow on the buildings. Another necessary element was to have Buffalo Bayou winding through the center with buildings and trees reflecting on its surface. We arrived early, checked out several spots, chose the best location … and waited. From the lunar navigation app on my iPhone, it appeared the moon would be rising behind a cluster of buildings and we would not see her until about twenty minutes after she surfaced the horizon. Unfortunately, she rose too far to the right. I still got some pretty good shots and was accepting of going home with less than I hoped for. Then we thought, “let’s take a walk across the Rosemont Bridge to see it from a different perspective …”
Before arriving at the foot of the bridge, we encountered the Tolerance sculptures, created by Barcelona based artist Jaume Plensa. I saw potential in combining the June Strawberry Moon with the sculptures. As I approached one in particular, Moon Kissed came to me. I proceeded to make many tripod and camera adjustments in order to be precise in my placement of the moon. I shot many frames, made a final adjustment, realized it was in the exact right spot and broke out in what my husband calls a celebratory, victory dance. I call it
“Don’t quit five minutes before the miracle … “
