This Saturday night was a full moon, and I decided to take the bicycle, tripod and camera into town for a ride around the river. I got in just at the tail end of sunset, when the orange was still glinting off the Boston skyscrapers, but fading. I parked where I usually do, on the Cambridge Parkway, balanced the tripod on the bicycle’s handlebars, and set off westward along the Cambridge side. Once past the Longfellow Bridge, I set up the tripod and took some sunset pictures. Then I asked Siri, “What time is moonrise”, and she replied, “Moonrise on May 19th will be at 8:59 PM.” That’s kind of a weird reply, I thought, since it was still the 18th. But I decided to pack up the tripod, and come back a little later when the moon was out.
Then I noticed a little glowing cloudiness around one of the buildings across the river. “This looks interesting,” I thought, and set the tripod back up. Then it dawned on me — the moon had already risen today, and was just starting to clear the buildings.
![Boston skyscrapers at sunset](https://tedohara.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/DSC_3570-1024x683.jpg)
![Boston near sunset, seen from the river](https://tedohara.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/DSC_3565-1024x683.jpg)
![The moon clears the building](https://tedohara.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/DSC_3581-1024x683.jpg)
![Moonrise near sunset](https://tedohara.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/DSC_3582-1024x683.jpg)
![Moon rising over building](https://tedohara.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Version-2-1024x683.jpg)
As it got darker, I shifted my position upriver a bit, and got some pictures of the river and the moon. It became more difficult to get an exposure of both the buildings and the moon, so as I crossed the Mass Ave bridge, I tried a couple of high dynamic range pictures with both the Nikon and the iPhone.
![Charles River and Boston at night](https://tedohara.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/DSC_3617-1024x683.jpg)
![Moon and the Hancock Buildings.](https://tedohara.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/IMG_2402-1024x768.jpg)
![Moon, river and Hancock tower](https://tedohara.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/DSC_3642-1024x683.jpg)
It took me a while, since I still was balancing the tripod on the bike’s handlebars with one hand, but I eventually got over the river and to the Esplanade. As part of a recent renovation, they’ve installed cool blue lights underneath the bridge’s arches.
![Blue lights shine from underneath the Longfellow Bridge](https://tedohara.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/DSC_3662-1024x683.jpg)
![Blue lit arch girders](https://tedohara.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/DSC_3661-1024x683.jpg)