Yesterday, folks in the East were treated to a "wolf moon" -- on this night, the moon will be closer to Woodhaven than usual, making it appear 30 percent brighter and 14 percent larger. Because of its uneven orbit, the moon's distance from Woodhaven varies -- and its closest point each month is called its' perigee. On the rare occasion the perigee coincides with a full moon, that moon is called a wolf moon.
As soon as we read about it, we were pretty sure we'd be out there, snapping pics. Well, I say "we" -- but Mrs. Project Woodhaven was actually pretty sure that due to the fact that it was friggin' freezing outside, that I was on my own. And so, with the mercury dipping down to around 14 degrees, I bundled up and hit the streets of Woodhaven, leaving the house around 1 AM.
Here was my first shot of the evening. Isn't that a cool shot? Is it me, or does that tree have almost a "wolfish" appearance? Imagine that the moon was the wolf's eye -- you can almost see a snout and an open, grinning set of jaws.
The picture above was taken all the way at the end of Park Lane South, where the road overlooks Franklin K. Lane. Chasing the moon isn't as easy it I thought it was going to be. Just taking pics of the wolf moon would be easy. Heck, for that, I wouldn't have to leave my backyard. I had something else in mind. So, through trial and error, I drove around Woodhaven -- with the heater at full blast -- and found some interesting spots in which to frame the Wolf Moon.
Here was my first success -- at Forest Park Plaza. Now, they said that Mars was going to be visible right next to the moon, but it was a little overcast and hazy last night. But the moon was certainly big and bright!
This next picture was taken further along, from the middle of Jamaica Avenue. It was nice the way the moon was peeking down from between the tracks. By the way, many thanks to the car service driver who almost ran me down while taking this picture. Patience is clearly not your strong suit.
For this one we had to drive up Woodhaven Boulevard a bit. It would have been nice to walk into the woods to get a better framing -- but it was still 14 degrees -- and windy. This is a bit dark, but you can see the well-known tower in Forest Park at the bottom right of this picture.
Here we are on Atlantic Avenue, in front of the clocktower of the old Lalance & Grosjean factory -- or what is now known as Pathmark Plaza.
And in the same vicinity, we're in the northbound service road of Woodhaven Boulevard, peeking over the top of the bridge crossing Atlantic Avenue.
Around this time, the batteries in our camera died. Our new camera, the Kodak Z915, operated on AA batteries -- so we sped along to Sam's Deli on 87th Street. got ourselves a midnight snack and a few double-As. Then we drove up to Forest Park to have lunch, er, to get more pictures. We pulled off the side of Forest Park Drive and took this picture of the moon through the trees. I love the reddish-hue of the trees in this shot -- looks like the blood of the wolf, roaming the moors of Woodhaven . . . .
-- I must confess, though -- that reddish glow likely came from my car's hazard lights. As Bob Ross would have said, it was a "happy little accident."
Here's another one from Forest Park, this one was taken after my post-midnight snack from Sam's. It was around 2:30 AM at this time, and I had to walk a bit into the woods to get this shot. It was very cold.
Here we are just outside of the Seuffert Bandshell, at that little ticket booth. We saw something else at the bandshell last evening -- a very unusual sight -- which we'll share with you later today in a separate update.
We're still near the Dome in this picture -- looking through the glare of one of the classic Forest Park streetlights. Those suckers give off a ton of light!
Here we are, back on Jamaica Avenue, somewhere around 3 AM or so. A drunk stumbled by and wanted to know what I was doing. Actually, demanded to know what I was doing would be a better description. I tried explaining about the Wolf Moon, but that seemed to anger him -- he said I was trying to be funny. So I told him I worked for the city, taking pictures of the parts of the elevated train that most needed repairing. I wish I had brought my video camera with me -- he would have been a great interview!
And a final shot for the night, taken with Drunky watching me closely.
I got back to the house at 3:10 -- a little chilled, but it was worth it. I love Woodhaven at night -- and got some pretty cool pics. And as I said earlier, I saw a few other interesting things which I'll share later. The one picture I wanted and didn't get was the moon and the steeple of St. Thomas the Apostle together -- I swung by STA 3 times -- but the moon was never in a good position, and I could never quite manage it. Hope you enjoyed sharing Woodhaven's Wolf Moon with me :-)
If you have any comments, or would like to suggest other projects, drop us a line at info@projectwoodhaven.com or projectwoodhaven@aol.com .
