“Abiding Lights”

Glenwood Springs subdivision on Fontana Bay in Fontana, Wisconsin

August 20, 2024

“Abiding Lights” – After the Perseid meteor shower peaked last week, the moon was the star of the night show on Monday, August 19 when the glorious orb appeared as a super blue moon, a rare occurrence not scheduled to happen again until January and March 2037.

The special lunar event reminded me of this photo I did June 14, 2003, in Fontana.  I was on one of the municipal piers along Lake Street and captured the moon over Glenwood Springs subdivision on the south side of Fontana Bay.

Due to perspective with the telephoto lens I used, the closest pier is at the public beach. The next one over with the boats looks to be at the Country Club Estates lakefront. However, the pier could be along the Abbey channel entrance, and the next one could be the Country Club pier. They are compressed due to foreshortening.

This is a busy photo! Therefore, lots of details can attract the eye. For instance, look how much moonlight is reflected on the water. Granted, the reflection is distorted due to my time exposure (probably 30 seconds) and the water movement.

The brightest shore light and its reflection are interesting, too. Look how the film rendered the light. I did not use a filter to create that effect. It is caused by the mechanics of the lens, the details of which I do not know. I never have delved too deeply into the technical aspects of photography beyond those necessary to embed a scene adequately on film or in pixels.

One of the strangest effects is the faint circle inside the moon. That does not show on the paper print I made in my darkroom long ago. But, the circle appears when I scanned the negative into a digital image. Scanning often picks up more detail than the lens of a darkroom enlarger. I doubt such a detail would be possible using a digital camera of the same scene, since such dramatic highlights usually are “blown out” with such a format.

And, how about those clouds? They are not too prominent, but they provide nice framing at the top of the photo as the moon illuminates them.

Glenwood Springs is densely populated with houses, piers, and boats, as evident by this photograph. Look how the house lights, yard lights, pier lights, and shore path lights play off the structures.