Solstice. Full Moon

This is a photograph I took of the full moon on solstice eve. Photographers say, “an image I made” not “took,” and I like this much better. I think it more accurately reflects the art involved—but does it sound pretentious? To hell with that.

I wanted to use this image I made as the centerpiece of today’s post for a few reasons:

>I like it. It is ghostly and mysterious but not scary. It feels otherworldly to me, yet it is very much of this world.

>It was taken while walking with new friends, two intensely creative, enormously accomplished but down-to-earth-humble couples I met while conducting a workshop in Mexico. We bonded the first night we met in that I’ve-known-you-forever way that seldom happens. They are funny and kind and fascinating and we got each other’s cultural references. Will we see each other again? I have no idea. One couple—cinematographers—live in Hawaii; the other—jazz musicians—live in Wisconsin. I hope our paths cross again, but even if they don’t, this won’t diminish the power and intensity of that instant friendship.

>I have unsuccessfully pointed my iPhone to the night skies many times, hoping to capture moon, stars, back-lit clouds. (With my “real” camera I would be more successful, but the best camera is the one you have at the moment, as they say.) Sending a flash out into the sky rarely works. This time, I let the camera’s light bounce off a nearby tree, wondering what would happen. This happened. And I am taking a life lesson from it. Focusing on the close-by can illuminate the far-away. (Which, now that I think of it, is just another way of saying “the small story that illuminates the larger theme”…the approach that underlies my writing life. Ha. How about that?)

>Solstice. Full moon. Isn’t that enough by itself?