PHOTO-A-DAY CHALLENGE

Full Moon Magic

Week 152 of the photographic documentary of my daily life

When others start talking about not being able to sleep due to the full moon, I usually respond with "was it full moon last night?" I don't follow the calendar but if I happen to be out in the evening seeing either the stars or a pretty moon, I'll quickly head back inside to fetch my camera.

This week was no difference. While we received rain, strong winds and heavy storms, I did find time in between working jumps and hours stuck in the trailer to get out and take some photographs. Of the moon and other things.

Butterflies. There is something magical about these creatures. The way they move. They don't just fly. They dance through the skies going up and down and turning in circles.

Butterflies always make me smile and seeing a patch of butterflies sitting on the ground I had to fetch my camera. Of course, as soon as I was hunched down on the ground with my camera, they flew off and wouldn't sit still anymore but with a little patience, I got this picture below of three butterflies in one frame.

The following day we canceled work due to predicted rains. I love listening to the rain while sitting inside the trailer. Something is soothing about the rain dropping onto the roof of a caravan.

Watching the rain move past the window, I crawled out of my writing corner once it appeared to be dry. I wanted to capture the fragile raindrops hanging in between the pine needles on the bushes.

Saturday was a sunny day with just a few clouds in between and I was back at work jumping out of planes.

Even if it scares some of you, I do add now and then a picture from my office views. This picture was taken with a camera mounted to my wrist.

And if the others wouldn't have told me it was still one more night until the full moon, I believed the moon was full already. I got a little upset about the wind turbine being in my shot as the moon rose from the clouds above the horizon but then made peace with it and included the turbine in my moon photography.

On the hedge next to our trailer I often see a couple sitting staring at me while I work on the laptop. Those birds sit on the top of the pine bushes but as soon as I just look at my camera they fly off.

One of them has a very red breast indicating to me it must be the male. Today, I was lying in bed hearing the chirping of their calls. Having the camera next to me, I quickly grabbed the piece and decided to shoot straight through the fly screen.

The male was hiding out of my sight but I got the female finch even looking at me.

Now having a picture taken, I could forward it to my mom and wait for the result.

A common linnet.

My mom is a big bird-watching person and loves to identify the birds for me. And I wasn't wrong, it was the female I captured as the male is characterized with much red.

"The common linnet is a slim bird with a long tail. The upper parts are brown, the throat is sullied white and the bill is grey. The summer male has a grey nape, red head-patch and red breast. Females and young birds lack the red and have white underparts, the breast streaked buff." — Wikipedia

And one of my long-lost friends came by a little later as well. At the beginning of the season, we watched up to 16 deers per day graze peacefully on the meadow in front of our trailer.

As the season proceeded and the high grass got cut, the deer disappeared almost entirely hiding in the forest. We'd only see one or two of them while going for walks.

But today, today one of my friends returned. It was late in the evening and I shot through the thick glass of the trailer window but the deer was there. In the crop field.

But since this picture wasn't the greatest, I added one of the full moon rising. The clouds were thick on the horizon but just past the wind turbine, I managed to catch a glimpse of the shining beauty. See the title image.

Tuesday was another day of pretty skies. The winds were strong all day long and the clouds moved fast above our heads. I took the pictures below just before sunset.

It began to rain around midnight last night and the storm was going on through the night until the late morning.

It's noon and we're supposed to start working in an hour but the thunder is rolling across our trailer and it just began to rain again. I'm not so optimistic about today's jumping but do the best of it.

Curled up in bed, I'm reading and writing while taking in the weather with my eyes and ears staying dry inside the trailer.

This has been my week in photographs. 7 days. 7 photographs. Anyone can join. Once. Or weekly. It doesn’t matter. We welcome everyone! Dennett started this photography challenge in 2020 and many have participated ever since.

Dennett / Erika / Eileen / K. Barrett / Juan / David / Mia / Susan / LensAfield / Kim / Barbara / Diana / Barb / Sandra / Shruthi / Ellie / Pene / Olive / Gustavo / Jane / Penny / Jillian / Shell / Ivy / Lisa / Lynne

And these are the previous weekly photo essays:

Join my email list here if you would like to read more photo essays or sign up for the Medium membership to receive unlimited access to my and other writers’ stories out here (I will receive a commission fee in return).

Shutterstock | Instagram | YouTube | Mailchimp | Amazon | Redbubble