NZ visual diary - entry 24

the moon bewitches an evening sky

We lived for three years at the edge of Cornwall Park in the Auckland suburb of One Tree Hill. The park, some 172 hectares (425 acres) of land, was placed in trust by Sir John Logan Campbell in 1901 as a gift to the people of New Zealand.

It was an extraordinary privilege to share for a time a backyard fence with the park.

The view from our balcony was spectacular:

I'll come back to this view in a subsequent post.

The image atop today's post was taken in the wee hours of the morning. In warm weather, Dolph and I slept with our balcony doors open and, on the night I captured this image, I was awakened by the belching of cows and bleating of sheep. It was a cacophony of ruminant distress.

My eye caught sight of the cloud-shrouded moon and I knew some photography was afoot.

It was a tricky exposure -- how to capture the evening colours without overexposing the moon -- and I was vexed for some time as I experimented with various manual shutter settings.

I do believe the vexation was worth it. I am quite fond of the image.