Moonlit grave at Te Hapu, Golden Bay. 9.28pm, 7 February 2012

This follows my Memento Mori post of last month, and records the lonesome hilltop grave of young Cecil Addison, a Tb victim from 1924. The wooden headstone has a carved inscription; the site is protected from stock by a more recent fence. The background blur of colour is my wife Al on her way to a nearby seat bench, unaware of my long exposure.

This uncommon scene has another attribute: it shows both moonlight and twilight, in equal strength. Of course this odd balance of light must occur at some point with every moonrise,  but is hard to notice at the time. The rising moon casts no shadows until twilight has dimmed deeply enough for them to show. Moonlight is a feeble 2 watts, so all other light (such as twilight, street lights) outshines it. Each full moon when I am out with my camera I tell myself I must be on the watch for this intriguing moment of light balance, but even so,  it usually eludes me!

2 secs at f2. Nikon 50mm; ISO 2000

Posted by Barney Brewster

Tags: coast, Golden Bay, graves, high ISO, long exposure, moonlight, moonrise, movement, Nelson, Nikon D700, people, twilight, water

Categories: Memento mori, Twilight photography