Mother Nature often stages wondrous events for us to see. One of these arrived today.

Those of us who arose early on this crisp Michigan morning had a perfectly clear sky to witness a full lunar eclipse. I peeked out my bedroom window and against a dark, black backdrop viewed a single bright orb slowly become a silhouette behind the earth’s shadow.

To get an better look, free of trees and leaves, I headed to my office a few blocks away to take in the magic show from an unobstructed balcony.

Once there, I grabbed a camera, a long lens and a tripod.

Here’s the lovely scene that graced the western sky.
 

here is where we’re just about approaching the full eclipse	as the moon settles toward the horizon, daylight is starting to lighten the sky
Here, the sun has awakened and brightened up the sky. At this juncture the trees are starting to interrupt our view and we’re about to loose sight of the moon. The sky gazers further west, perhaps in Nebraska or Colorado, are able to view the next stage – the unveiling of the moon as the earth shadow recedes from the sun’s path.

 
 
I thoroughly enjoyed the sights. In case you missed this morning’s, we’ll be treated to another lunar eclipse in April 2015.

What a wonderful way to start the day! Thanks again to Mother Nature for a fine performance.
 
 
Written by: Arnie Lee
 
 

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A Visit to the Lake

This article is the another in a series of articles that I’ve called “About this photo” to draw attention to a few of those memorable photos that may be hiding in a shoebox or on your hard drive.

Every once in a while I find myself wading though the large collection of old pictures that grace my house.

Some are piled randomly in the proverbial shoe box(es), others are stored as strips of negatives and still more in yellow slide containers.

I find this exercise very enjoyable as I rediscover many of the past events that I recorded along the way.

Here’s an image that’s roughly 50 years old. Yet I’m amazed that I can recall many of the circumstances and details of the day on which this photograph was taken.

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My girlfriend and I were in college and year was 1970. We traveled 150 miles or so to enjoy the sandy beach in Holland along Lake Michigan. Although the hour was late and despite the moderate cloud covering, the sky remained quite bright owing to the extended daylight saving time. As my girlfriend was enjoying a spectacular sunset, I backed up a bit to include the pier and tower, placed my camera at a lower vantage point and snapped. The result 50 years ago was this 2-1/4″ transparency which you can see is underexposed.

Yet regardless of its technical (de)merits, this is a memorable photograph for me. It carries me back to an era of youth and free spirit. It takes me to a time in our lives when we had less responsibilities, when we had no idea what the future would hold for each of us either separately or both together.

As it turns out, we’ve been married since 1972 so I guess it’s safe to happily share this photo.

Why don’t you start wading through your photo archives and share them with others?
 
 
Written by: Arnie Lee