Photographing the Supermoon and Bloodmoon / by Andrew Wilson

The early hours of the 28th of September saw the rare occurrence of a Supermoon and Bloodmoon in the same night. Despite a day in work, getting sucked in to an episode of 'This Is England '90' and being tempted to go to bed, I knew this was perhaps something I would not get a chance to see or photograph again.

So I made my way out to the streets of Liverpool, shortly before 12am, and decided to see what I could get from some nearby landmarks. Eventually, after making my way around the city centre, I ended up at the Royal Liver Building at the Pier Head, circling around it until I found a spot I liked.

 

The Supermoon moving behind the Royal Liver Building

 
 
 
 
 

I was joined at this spot by some like-minded photographers, which was welcomed after walking around with expensive gear late at night. Even though my equipment is insured you can still feel a little paranoid about being mugged! Of these people I got to know a friendly guy called Carl, who took a particularly good photo that you can see here.

This was my second time shooting long exposure photographs during the night, and I've realised just how different it is from a technical standpoint to shooting during the day; a different discipline as I imagine macro photography will be when I give that a proper go.

 

One of the Liver Birds facing the Bloodmoon.

 

As for the photographs I would have liked to have captured some closer and more detailed photos of the moon just for my own personal satisfaction, but in a rare instance I felt limited by my equipment by not having enough reach from my lenses. I generally prefer to give context to a situation like this as a photo of the moon can be taken anywhere, even in space! So I didn't worry about getting a "perfect" photo of the moon, and concentrated on the scene in front of me.

So after a few hours and eventually feeling tired and cold I got back in at 4.30am for a nap! Unsurprisingly I was a bit tired for the remainder of the day, and although I don't think I took my best ever photos, I'm glad I went out and gave it a go.

The Bloodmoon made its appearance around 3am!