When, last August, I saw the full moon rise brilliantly and magnificently near the Douro River behind some large black poplars that grow near the water, I thought about the importance of the lunar cycle for plants, which all farmers know.

We sow and plant during the new moon, harvest cereals and vegetables, and prune and cut down trees during the waning moon, no doubt to avoid disturbing the cosmic rhythm by stressing or destroying a living organism when the forces are growing (Mircea Eliade).

In ancient India, cutting down a tree during the new moon was a crime similar to killing a Brahmin (Alexandre Krappe). To get both the moon and the tree in focus, I took two images that were merged in an image editing program. Focusing was manual. The tree was illuminated with a powerful LED. For the moon, f/19 was used, but for the tree, f/8. The moon was shot at ISO 3200, but the tree at ISO 6400.