Sunset and Moonrise

In a rare fit of preparedness, I saw that the moon would be full on May 1st and decided to get myself in front of some mountains to shoot that beautiful ball of light as it rose. I went out to a spot near Saguaro Lake and found a pull off for a hiking trail that was perfect. Such a great view of these rock faces. I found a composition and shot the sunset. I'm really happy with the result, but I do wish there were some clouds in the sky. That orange glow on the rocks makes me happy.

After the sunset, I realized that I would have to stand in the dark desert for just under 2 hours to get the moon rising over the mountains. There were several instances where I almost gave up and headed home. But, the weather was nice and the desert was mostly quiet except for the cars on the road behind me. So why not just stay and commit to that moonrise?

As I stood there, I saw something moving the dark, something big. I turned on my headlamp to see a wild horse about 50 yards away from me. Then another and another. They slowly walked behind me inline off into the dark like they had received some sort of cosmic orders to do so.

Finally the light from the moon started to glow behind the mountains and it was only a few more minutes until the moon would pop up in the little saddle between the mountains. I shot and shot as it rose and this is what I came up with.

I think it's an okay image. The moon is extremely bright and hard to shoot into, almost as much as the sun. I love the way the cholla cactus needles pick up the light. I guess I wish the moon was less bright in this image but it was just too high by the time it rose over the mountains to get that big yellow look. Maybe next time. We are supposed to have a rare second full moon at the end of May.