Manhattanhenge And The Super Moon

Despite dabbling in photography (ie owning an SLR camera) for many years, I've never taken any "good" pictures of a sunset or the moon. There have been pretty ones of a sunrise at the beach or moody ones of the clouds after a rainstorm. But of the sun melting into the horizon, or the moon illuminating the night sky? Nyet.

Last night seemed like the opportunity of a lifetime: Manhattanhenge and the Supermoon would occur within minutes of each other! How could I not try to kill two birds with one stone, right? But despite my planning, I couldn't find that perfect spot to observe both astrological phenomena. And my efforts were also foiled by clouds hovering close to the horizon, so I lingered at my Manhattanhenge spot longer than I should have. (I was hoping that perhaps the second sunset would prove better than the first nonexistent one. I researched staying for a second sunset, which occurs about 20 minutes after the sun dips below the horizon; however, since I couldn't see the sun behind the clouds, I kept staring at the spot where I thought the sunset should be and hoping there would be some sort of sunset miracle.)

Anyway, here are some of my Manhattanhenge shots:

At this point, the chances of seeing a Manhattanhenge sunset were 50/50.

Panic started to set in and onlookers started snapping their cameras at anything in the western sky.

At this point, the sunset was taking place behind these clouds and onlookers crazily took photos of anything, and mumbling how they were going to fix their shots in Photoshop.

After I left my Manhattanhenge spot on 42nd Street, I ran around until I could find a secluded spot to take pictures of the Supermoon. I forgot to change the white balance on my camera, and this is the only decent shot I took.

It looks like the sun. Oh, no!

I have another opportunity to take pictures of the Supermoon on August 10. Let's hope I don't forget to change my camera settings!

To make myself feel a little better, I went to Grand Central Station and took some photos of the Grand Hall. Here is one that I like:

Saturday night ghosts of Grand Central. 

I hope that my luck changes on August 10 and I can get some decent shots of the Supermoon. As for Manhattanhenge, I hear the sunrises are also worth a photo shoot. They occur in the winter, so I'll have to bundle up--what a strange thought to have on a hot, humid summer day!

xoRichela