Full Moon to Full Moon

Posted on December 4, 2017 by vanbraman

This morning as I left home for work I could see the full moon slowly setting in front of me for the entire drive to work.

Full Moon, Lachish, Israel, Archaeological DigI could not get a picture this morning, but thought I would share this picture of a full moon that I took at Lachish in Israel.

The full moon was actually on Sunday, but it still looked pretty full this morning.

Full Moon, 1/320 Exposure, Camera Practice, Night SkyAs I left the office tonight I was again driving toward a large beautiful moon that was slowly rising. Of course the moon was then just past full, but you really couldn’t tell unless you looked closely.

The picture above was not taken tonight, but a few years ago when I was trying to figure out settings to use in taking eclipse pictures. See my post: Almost Full Moon

Altamont Pass, Moon, Full Moon, Traffic, Altamont CrossI did take this picture tonight. I simply picked up my camera, turned it on and pointed it ahead of me and clicked the shutter.

It is really blurry, but it is an interesting effect. This is just at the western base of the Altamont. For many years now there has been a large cross outlined in lights on the hill. The moon was really beautiful rising over the hill. The moon of course was nice and crisp in the clear air and you could easily see features on the surface.

Zanuzi Park, Tracy, California, Moon, Full MoonWhen I got home I took a walk to get a few more steps since I had not walked much during the workday. I decided to take a few pictures of the gazebo in the nearby park. I tried a few different automatic modes to see if I could get a half-way clear shot of the moon. I had no luck. Next time I need to play with the manual aperture settings. Then I may have better luck.

However, this picture brings back images in my mind of how beautiful the moon was above the gazebo. I just can’t show them to you 🙂

First Moon Photo, Henry Draper, First picture with telescope, Louis DaguerreThese moon pictures also remind me of a post that I wrote several years about First Photos. Click on the link to find out more about the first pictures taken of the moon.

Now to think about what to write about tomorrow night for my 2,000th post.

Do you have any ideas?

Steven

Posted in Astronomy, California, Nature, Seasons | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Tracy Hills Construction Begins

Posted on December 3, 2017 by vanbraman

The large Tracy Hills development off of Corral Hollow and I-580 has finally broken ground.

Tracy Hills, Construction, Tracy, California, Large DevelopmentIn October I started to see construction equipment staging at the site and snapped a picture as I drove by one Sunday morning.

Tracy Hills, Construction, Tracy, California, Large DevelopmentA week later there was even more equipment lined up and you could see that some work was starting.

The Tracy Hills development will have almost 5,000 homes when it is complete, so is a major project. It has been in the planning stage ever since I moved to Tracy, so it has taken a long time to finally break ground.

Tracy Hills, Construction, Tracy, California, Large DevelopmentThis morning you could see that a lot of dirt has been moved as they start working on the infrastructure of the community.

It is estimated that houses will start going up in May of next year, so a lot of work has to be done.

Tracy Hills, Construction, Tracy, California, Large DevelopmentHere you can see some of the equipment that is being used to prepare the ground.

Tracy Hills, Construction, Tracy, California, Large DevelopmentHere is even more. There is a lot of equipment on site. It takes a lot of work to prepare the ground.

It will be interesting to see this project come together as it is the largest ever development project for Tracy.

Steven

Posted in California | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments