By Gail Hinshaw.
Just Hanging There
By Gail Hinshaw
Third winner Image Review 16
Canon EOS 5D Mark III; EF 70 – 200mm f/2.8 IS III USM lens + Extender EF 2x III
Foreground: 185mm; 4.0 sec; f6.3; ISO 200
Moon: 400mm; 1/20 sec; f6.3; ISO 200 – blended with foreground image.
In October 2020, the approaching Halloween Micro Full Moon was a very interesting media headline and I was excited to see how different it would really look from our normal view of the Moon.
Hoping for clear skies, I was ready for the Moon to rise, but as the time ticked by, the clouds accumulated and it was obvious we weren’t going to have clear skies! The clouds were thick close to the horizon and it looked hopeless, but I stayed and was rewarded with a small window of opportunity and some amazing colours as I spotted the glow of the rising Full Moon.
I was standing near this huge Ironbark and noticed the twigs just hanging there. I thought it would be a perfect scenario to capture the Moon as it rose, surrounded by dark, moody clouds and held by twigs, just for a moment. Nature’s creation of a Christmas Bauble.
After a few minor position changes and patiently waiting for the opportune moment to press the shutter, it all came together for a special moment in time.
Don’s response
Photographer Gail Hinshaw’s “Just Hanging There’ is one of those rare images that I find both playful and strangely moving.
Conceptually speaking, it’s also a good example of thinking photographically. By that I mean how Gail noticed those branches and instantly re-calibrated her initial intention (to get a nice moon picture).
While some photographers would not have used a composite to capture what could not have been created in a single exposure, I think this picture shows that sometimes by going against convention, a photographer can tell the full truth of an experience.
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