I set out during my lunch break to Red Rock Canyon National Conservatory Area, a 15-minute drive to a local national park where I sometimes eat lunch at the Red Rock Vista. I had my camera gear and hopped onto the trail head that starts at the scenic overlook. Walking down the trailhead from the vista, I took a few pictures here and there. I got to a wash at the bottom of the trail and had a great view of the surrounding Mountains rising up from the desert floor. I set up my tripod and took a shot. The next day, I was showing the picture to a colleague, Jorge. He said it should have been a black & white. I agreed with the reply “Ansel Adams would have had the moon somewhere in the picture.”
I wanted the real thing. So I went to the U.S. Naval Observatory website, which told me when the Moon would be setting early in the morning. I wanted the sun to rise in the east, while at the same time, the moon to set in the west. With the moon setting in the west, it would put the moon just over the Red Rock Canyon mountain range and the sun would already be up in the east illuminating the rock face.
Driving west on the southern beltway (I-215) from Henderson to my Summerlin office…there it was and you couldn’t miss it! The Moon was starting to set behind Red Rock. The observatory website described today’s moon as:
“Phase of the Moon on 9 September: waning gibbous with 94% of the Moon's visible disk illuminated.”
I turned off at the Charleston exit and headed west to the Red Rock Vista overlook, rather than continuing on to work. The timing for the moon-set was perfect. I took a couple of pictures on my way down from the overlook to the wash. Then, I took the photo of the moon over Red Rock. However, forest fires locally and in California had put some haze into the sky and the moon wasn’t as crisp and defined as I hoped. My Ansel Adams will have to wait.
