May 12

As I drove home last night from work, I noticed that the moon, low on the horizon and peeking from between clouds, was strikingly beautiful. This was in Jamaica Plain, and there was no good vantage point to pull over, pull out my camera, and get a photo.

There's also the problem of getting a good photograph of the moon. It's tough when it's almost full, because it's so bright and the sky is so dark.

I turned right onto South Street near Forest Hills Station and found a gap in the trees through which I could shoot the moon. This was half manic inspiration and half pragmatic photographer; since the moon was low on the horizon, it would work to silhouette the trees if I positioned myself right, and since I wasn't likely to get a crisply clear, perfectly-exposed photo of the moon (especially with the clouds lit up all around it), those silhouettes were what was going to make this shot.

This shot was taken at 12:28:10 am, the last of a series of shots. As soon as I saw it on the camera screen, I knew I had the Photo of the Day for today -- with 23½ hours to spare!

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