Tag Archives: full moon

Weekly Photo Challenge: Shadow

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This may be a different take on this week’s subject, but I couldn’t resist sharing one of the biggest shadows in the sky tonight (2/10/17). The Snow Moon was in a penumbral eclipse and while not as spectacular as a full eclipse, you can definitely see that it was in the outer shadows of the earth.A penumbral lunar eclipse takes place when the Moon moves through the faint, outer part of Earth’s shadow. The left photo was the 96% full moon on 2/9/17, while the one on the left is tonight’s full moon. The same settings were used on both to get the same exposure.

This post is in response to the WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge: Shadow.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Inspiration – Night Sky

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The night sky has been the inspiration for poetry, prose and praise.

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Northern Lights in Iowa -6/22/15

“If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore; and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown! But every night come out these envoys of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nature and Selected Essays

Blue Moon - 7/31/15

Blue Moon – 7/31/15

“It is a beautiful and delightful sight to behold the body of the Moon.”  – Galileo Galilei, The Starry Messenger, Venice 1610: “From Doubt to Astonishment”

Thunderstorm – 10/2/13

“37 My heart pounds at this and leaps from my chest. 2 Just listen to His thunderous voice and the rumbling that comes from His mouth. 3 He lets it loose beneath the entire sky; His lightning to the ends of the earth.4 Then there comes a roaring sound; God thunders with His majestic voice. He does not restrain the lightning when His rumbling voice is heard.” – Elihu Job 37:1-4, the Bible (HCSB)*

First Quarter Moon - 10/1/2014

First Quarter Moon – 10/1/2014

3 When I observe Your heavens,
the work of Your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which You set in place,
4 what is man that You remember him,
the son of man that You look after him?
5 You made him little less than God
and crowned him with glory and honor.
6 You made him lord over the works of Your hands;
You put everything under his feet:
7 all the sheep and oxen,
as well as the animals in the wild,
8 the birds of the sky,
and the fish of the sea
that pass through the currents of the seas.
9 Yahweh, our Lord,
how magnificent is Your name throughout the earth!

– King David, Psalm 8:3-9 (HCSB)

This post is in response to the WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge: Inspiration

*Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB), Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville Tennessee. All rights reserved.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Extra, Extra

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The “Honey Moon” was visible in the Northern Hemisphere on Friday the 13th.The name comes not from the traditional wedding month, but from the moon’s yellow tone as it seen through more atmosphere, traveling a path closer to the horizon in opposition to the sun’s higher path as the summer solstice approaches. Because my amateur photography is characterized by a lot of trial and error, I was searching for moon photography tips online. I discovered this site and app, The Photographer’s Ephemeris. It allowed me to add the extra, extra for which I was looking. While the full moon was beautiful in its own right (extra), I was wanting the moon’s reflection in water (EXTRA, EXTRA).

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The app gives the times of sun/moon rises and settings, as well as the coordinates of each with a compass feature. Knowing the angle of the moonrise, the app enabled me to do a map search on my phone of various lakes in my area to find a place to set up for the shot with the most water in the foreground.

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The TPE app will prove to be very valuable in calculating sunrise/set pictures, as well. Check out the video to see some of the additional features.

There are few things in the visible, celestial realm as enthralling as a full moon. To think that it has no light of its own but is just a reflection of the sun brings to mind so many spiritual applications. The example that I like the most has to do with Jesus’ words to His followers that we are to let our lights shine.

14 “You are the light of the world. A city situated on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand, and it gives light for all who are in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.  Matthew 5:14-16 (HCSB)

As followers of Christ, we have no natural spiritual light but only a reflective light of the glory of God in our lives. When we are living fully in His grace and under the control of the Holy Spirit, we are motivated to show His loving kindness to others. They see our good works and begin to get a picture of God’s love for them as we radiate a bright reflection of Him.

However, just as the earth begins to cast its shadow on the moon, eclipsing and even blocking out the sun’s reflective light on the moon, worldliness in the life of a Christian diminishes the reflected glory of God in our lives. The less of Christ the world sees in His followers, the more unlikely they are to grasp the glory of God.

May the full moon be a reminder to you, follower of the way, to shine brightly the way for others!

Click HERE for more examples of “Extra, Extra.”