Chasing the Moon

Last nights photography was rather frustrating. Primarily due to my poor planning. I wanted to photograph the moon just as it crested the ridge line to the east of us. Great idea don't you think? The idea simple in form was hard to execute. Mainly because about twenty minutes before it was supposed to rise I thought it would be a good idea to look it up on TPE (The Photographer's Ephemeris) so I could use my compass to line up the shot of where the moon was going to rise. This is where my biggest obstacle arose. My main computer that died recently is the one that has TPE on it. Our home computer doesn't have it. My attempts at a quick download of the program failed because our computer also doesn't have Adobe Air which it also needed. So much for that idea. I went out into the backyard and waited for the appointed time for it to rise. That much I did know from checking the moonrise and set times in the local weather report. When it rose it was a bright, bright orange behind a tall row of redwood trees blocking my view! I ran quickly to the car and searched for a better view point. Coming down off of the ridge I found a decent spot and I hurriedly created a few images. Below is the best one. This month's moon is called the "Strawberry Moon". It was named by the Algonquin tribes of Northeastern North America. In Europe it was called the "Rose Moon". After photographing the moon I went home and I made sure to install Adobe air and TPE on the family computer. I'll be ready next time! Blessings to all, chris Camera Equipment Used- Canon 7D, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM Lens, Manfrotto 055XPROB Tripod with a Bogen 3055 Ballhead. Camera Settings- Manual mode, ISO 400,F 5.6, shutter speed Squirrel 1/250th of a sec.