You never know what adventures you’ll find yourself in as a photographer, or as a family member of a photographer. Having James for a brother-in-law, and being a photographer myself, I happen to find myself simultaneously in both of those positions.

However, sometimes it’s not even the photographer in the family who initiates the photography adventures, as you’ll see in the story below. . .

I was sleeping soundly when my phone’s buzzing slowly pulled me out of dreamland. I glanced at the clock to see if it was somehow morning already, and then down at the phone. My sister Julianna’s name displayed on the screen. Julianna?! Was something wrong? Why on earth would she be calling me at 3 AM!? 

I answered very sleepily. 

“Lydia!!” Julianna’s voice whispered. “Are you outside??” 

Somehow I maintained my composure despite complete confusion. . .”Ummmm no, I’m in bed,” I responded.

She continued in a (very) excited whisper. “It’s the lunar eclipse!! And it’s amazing! You HAVE to see it. Go outside. You have to see it. James is on his way out here, he’s getting his camera. The moon is all big and round and red and there are stars ALL around it!! You HAVE to see it.” 

Well, now that I was fully awake, I shrugged and figured, “May as well.”

So I climbed out of bed, was joined by another sister and we headed out to the back deck. I peered up at the sky to locate the moon. 

There was COMPLETE CLOUD COVER. 

“Umm, Jul, I can’t see the moon at all, and certainly not any stars. The sky is covered in clouds here.”

Julianna, on the other end of the phone, was dismayed, but not for long. “Well then do you want to video call and experience it WITH US?!?”

I blinked and thought, “Is it worth staying up for a lunar eclipse I can’t even see?” 

But now that I was fully awake, I shrugged and figured, “May as well.”

And that’s how one of my sisters and I found ourselves sitting on the couch for the next 40 minutes “experiencing” a lunar eclipse with Julianna and James.

The moon was just a blurry little dot on the phone screen, but Julianna narrated what was happening. In the background, there was James with his camera and tripod, taking pictures.

Having taken pictures of the moon before (though not an eclipse), I wondered what James was experiencing as he photographed the lunar eclipse. I remembered that the moon moves a lot faster across the sky than one might think. You can only adjust your shutter speed so low before the moon becomes a blur. With that limitation on the shutter speed, and limitations on aperture & ISO, combined with the low light setting that the moon is in, success in moon photography is not particularly beginner-level stuff. So, I was looking forward to seeing what the pictures would come out like.

“The moon is reddish, with a tinge of light around the edges. Can you see that on the screen?” Julianna asked.

Sure, yeah, we could kind of see that our blurry dot had a red tinge to it!

James researched how long it took the eclipse to get to totality, how long it would stay there, and how long it would take to get back to normal and we all decided we’d just stay up for totality.

Once totality had finished and clouds were starting to roll over the West Virginia skies, we all bid each other goodnight and headed happily back to bed.

After that mid-night photography adventure, I was eager to see what that blurry dot looked like through the lens that had captured it in person!

Photos from the Photography Adventure!

This first shot was blurry due to a multi-second exposure.

But here’s a collage photo of the phase when the moon began to reappear, with exposure for the regular moon surface and the eclipsed side also exposed too. Very cool to see!

And here was James’ favorite shot of the eclipse! I love the red tone, and the light sprinkle of stars around it. No wonder there were so many exclamations of “ohhhh WOW” from across that video call! It must have been amazing to see in person.

“I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.” (John 12:46)