"Full Moon Flypast"
Photographer: Michael Marston
POTM September 2007

"Camera 1D MkIIn Lense Canon 400mm L f2.8 ISO 50 1/40 sec manual focus.
 
This image had been on my mind for quite sometime and presented me with a real challenge to capture, as the weather conditions, timings, position of the moon and trajectory of the aircraft etc... all had to come together at the right moment in time.
 
A rather chilly but clear winter's night in August at about 8.30pm, finds me standing once again out in the cold doing the dance to stay warm and trying to avoid being bitten by I don't know how many mozzies!!
 
Feeling rather dejected after seeing the previous aircraft (once again) fly just out of the moon's light, I was seriously contemplating packing up and giving it away for another evening when I noticed the familiar flashing lights of further recently departed Virgin Blue 737 out of Brisbane Airport seemingly heading straight for the moon.
 
I had barely enough time to line up the lense on the white and grey ball in the night sky, make sure the camera was steady on the tripod, check the settings and focus, partly press the shutter remote, then look again for the flashing lights of the aircraft... yes... yes... yes... click!
 
The shutter sounds just as the aircraft enters the moon's field of view, then waiting waiting (how did we ever manage with film??) those precious few milliseconds for the image to be written to the card and displayed on my camera screen... woohoo!! I can safely say I was really "over" the moon and couldn't wait to see it on a much larger monitor screen to make sure it was sharp enough and also providing the sense of motion I was looking for.
 
And that for me is the nature and joy of photography, the thought, the planning, the efforts, the disappointments, the patience, the luck and finally the rewards of a moment in time that your looking for, captured as you see it and entirely within in the camera."

 -  Michael Marston