This was captured during the night of the Super Moon. It was an unintentional capture, as my goal was to capture the sunset on that day. The sunset did not turn out as good as I thought. As I was about to leave, I decided to stay a little longer after the sun had completely set and the sky turned black. I stayed for about 30 minutes or so, not expecting anything to happen. But suddenly, I saw a halo glowing behind Half Dome. At first, I did not relate it to the moon. I was wondering where the light source came from. Then, the light got stronger and brighter, and I realized that was the moon rising! I couldn’t believe my eyes that it was rising right behind Half Dome, as I had not done any research about the moon rising on that night. I quickly set up my tripod and tried to photograph in the darkness. At that moment, all I could see were the silhouettes in the foreground and a dark sky with very dim light coming from behind Half Dome. I couldn’t see the composition but could only rely on my memory of where things were during the day.
After processing, I’m quite pleased with the result of how it has turned out. It was the first time that I photographed the moon rising. I did not expect it could create beams just like the sunrise. They created a leading line back to the main subject on both sides. It was so fascinating and breathtaking to witness the whole process. So many magical lights and conditions can happen around this iconic landmark in Yosemite. Sometimes unintentional moments can happen better than planned moments. It is such an inspiration to continue on my journey in landscape photography.
