back to main page

Why 29moons? Quite simply it's the number of phases the moon goes through in a month. This is known as a synodic month. A synodic month is 29.53 days (29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes, 2.8 seconds) and is measured from New Moon to New Moon. A New Moon occurs when the Moon intersects an imaginary plane between the Sun and Earth - that is, when the Moon is directly between the Sun and Earth. A synodic month is longer than a sidereal month because the Earth-Moon system is orbiting the Sun in the same direction as the Moon is orbiting the Earth. Therefore, it takes about 2.1 days longer for the Moon to return to the intersection where the New Moon occurs. The synodic month is the most common way of expressing the lunar cycle.
Since my style of night photography is based on the amount of light provided by the moon I decided to go with 29moons. Ninety percent of my photographs are taken on the 4 nights preceding the full moon. I like the amount of light that the moon provides then and it comes out early enough that I'm not out all night. Most people think that I take pictures of the moon when I tell them I am a night photographer. I guess I can see why they do because they don't realize how bright the moon is and the amount of light that it reflects. Timed exposures easily capture this light and produce the surrealistic pictures you see on this site. There are many different styles of night photography out there and you can see some of them by checking out my links page. Night shooters are a whole different breed of photographer.
What equipment do I use?

back to main page