Photograph of the Week

The last full moon of 2020

by Dana Keith | January 4, 2021
Photograph by Dana Keith copyright © 2020

At first glance, the highly graphic quality of this closeup of last month’s full moon rising over Turtleback Mountain fools the viewer into thinking one is looking at a lithograph. It’s the reductionism that tricks the mind. It comes as a nice surprise to realize this is actually a photograph stripped of all but the most essential details needed to depict December’s “cold moon.”

The starkness of the photograph economically conveys the weather conditions that give the last full moon of each year its name. Moreover, the simple, tricolor palette, the flatness of the landscape and moonscape and the strong diagonal bifurcation of the composition all contribute to the freshness of what might otherwise be tired. stereotypical subject matter.

If you examine this artful image long enough, you will begin to see that this cold moon is not fixed in space nor is it rising. Rather, it is on the downward side of 2020, rolling, one hopes, toward a better 2021.

—Commentary by Tom Hinson, editor, Photograph of the Week

Editor’s Note: Click on the photograph to view it in a light box for even greater clarity.

Professional, amateur and phone-camera photographers alike are invited to submit images to the Sierra County Sun for possible publication in the Sun’s “Photograph of the Week” feature. The deadline for consideration is every Friday at 5 p.m. For further information, click on the Help Us Report button on our home page and then check the box labeled “I want to submit a photo to Photograph of the Week.”

2 thoughts on “The last full moon of 2020”

  1. Interesting and astute commentary. This is a very inspiring part of the Sun at this time of non-connection in person. To have some insight from a soul who has experienced photography in-depth is even more “illuminating.” Thank you so very much.

    1. Yes, I feel so too, Susan, thank you for sharing your own perspective. I’m having as much juice flowing reading the commentary as I am viewing the photos! Thank you, thank you!

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Comment Fields

Please tell us where you live. *

Related
Related
mule deer reaching for octillo blossoms
by Donna Catterick | May 3, 2021
claret cup cactus in bloom
by Rebecca Speakes | April 26, 2021
Lower Cuchillo Creek
by Susie Buhler | April 19, 2021
banana duct taped to a telephone pole
by Robert Galbraith | April 12, 2021
VSS Imagine, Virgin Galactic's newest passenger rocket
by Virgin Galactic | April 5, 2021
Elephant Butte as seen from damsite upper park
by Rick Dumiak | March 29, 2021
Meditation garden, Mesilla Healing
by Raven Willow | March 22, 2021
cedar waxwing in mulberry tree
by Debora Nicoll | March 15, 2021
self portrait with vaccine bandaid
by Kate Skinner | March 8, 2021
by Jessica Griffin | March 1, 2021
sunrise over turtleback
by Ann Sage | February 22, 2021
Metal cactus festooned in snow
by Kate Skinner | February 15, 2021
Animas Creek Labyrinth
by Ken Stinnett | February 8, 2021
High-flying Brewer's blackbirds photographed at sunrise in T or C
by Donna Catterick | February 1, 2021
Photograph of raven and light pole
by Andy Underwood | January 25, 2021
Walmart in Truth or Consequences at sunset
by Kelly Ann Kelsey | January 18, 2021
farolitas against a night sky
by Robert Galbraith | December 21, 2020
Double rainbows visible in Truth or Consequences last week
by David Laurance Packard | December 14, 2020
ice crystals on a log
by Véronique De Jaegher | December 7, 2020
View south from Mud Mountain
by Jessica Griffin | November 30, 2020
Man eating corn on the cob at the Post Office, Arrey, New Mexico
by Robert Galbraith | November 23, 2020
Sunset over Truth or Consequences
by Elise Brianne Curtin | November 16, 2020
downtown Hillsboro with horse grazing
by Dana Keith | November 9, 2020
barrel cactus with purple blossoms partially colored by snow
by Rebecca Speakes | November 2, 2020
Rio Grande spilling over rocks in T or C
by Steven Lopez-Mull Sr. | October 26, 2020
mystery bus on the rio
by Shawn Fisher | October 16, 2020
Scroll to Top