We're heading from LA to Las Vegas at the moment, taking a couple of days to make it a desert road trip. It'd been cloudy most of the day, with occasional rain to green the spring desert still further, but as the sun set the skies cleared, leaving a high scattering of clouds and contrails in the dark desert night. It's the right weather for bats, out here in Bat Country.

It's high up here in Barstow, nearly 2200 feet above sea level, in the clean clear desert air, washed down by today's rain. Tonight's Supermoon is especially clear and bright, pulling the eye towards it and seeming to fill a large portion of the sky. Of course it a perceptual illusion, but it's convincing...

I've got my DSLR with me, so I fitted the big Sigma 55-200 lens and went out into the cold motel car park to try and photograph the moon. It took a couple of shots to get the speed right - I keep forgetting that when photographing the moon you need to be as fast as possible, as you're photographing reflected sunlight from a high albedo body.

A judicious crop, and here you all go - a high desert supermoon.



Barstow, California
March 2011