Definition of reach/shoot for the moon: to try to do or get something that is very difficult to do or get an ambitious businessman who is always shooting for the moon.

According to my photographic mentors, shooting the moon with a camera is “very difficult.”  It involves ambition, patience, creativity, and practice to avoid capturing just “a white plate in the sky.”

I’ve showcased many a white plate in the sky. I admit my jealousy at the absolute cleverness of those professional photogs who find ways to put the moon on top of steeples, rolling against a skyscraper, or manage a few ancient petroglyphs in their full moon photos.

Without an amazing telephoto lens that would break my back, but with a lens that I can manage, and a tripod (most of the time) I’ve tried to find interesting ways to present the moon. My attempts at shooting the moon most always includes editing.

The best part of other folks shooting the moon, even if it resembles a white plate in the sky,  is that it shows how much we love our planet, sun, stars and moon. Nature can be magnificent any time of day or night.  We are each interconnected with every bit of it and I think that’s why we yank out the cell phone camera for every hyped-up full moon.