The Blood Storm Moon - March 13th - 14th - 2025

The Blood Storm Moon - A total lunar eclipse

In the hood, it was beautifully clear with no rain in sight and only around -1 C, so thankfully there was no risk of camera equipment freezing or getting wet during this captivating Celestial event!  The light pollution wasn’t an issue and there was no haze what so ever.  It was amazing conditions for the vibrant visibility of this special transformation.   I was hanging out alone in my backyard to take these images bundled up with a cup of tea.  A total lunar eclipse occurred in the night sky just starting slightly before Midnight EDT on March 13th 2025.  It continued through to March 14th 2025 and this rare spectacle ended at around 6:00 am.  It could be observed anywhere from the Earth’s Western Hemisphere.   

The Earth positioned itself directly between the sun and the moon causing the moon to turn a deep, coppery-red shade.  The redness comes from the Earth’s atmosphere, bending the light and causing the shine onto the moon’s surface.  The totality phase when the moon was entirely covered by the Earth’s shadow lasted for about 65 minutes.   

Here was the official times listed for the phases of the lunar eclipse:


11:57 p.m. EDT:   The start of partiality (this is when the Moon enters Earth’s penumbra, the faint, outer part of the Earth's shadow which partially blocks sunlight from the Moon). 

1:09 a.m. EDT: This was the start of the eclipse by the umbra (the umbra is the darkest part of Earth's shadow that falls on the moon during a lunar eclipse). 

2:26 a.m. EDT: This was when the entire Moon was in the umbra. 

2:59 a.m. EDT: This was the eclipse maximum (This is the time for the Deepest Red Color as the Moon passes through the umbra’s central point).

3:31 a.m. EDT: This was when the moon was about to leave Earth’s umbra. 

4:48 a.m. EDT: This was when the moon was about to leave Earth’s penumbra. 

5:59 a.m. EDT: This was the time when the eclipse ended.  Until next time!

I took photos and video clips up until about 3:15 am.  After that, I was starting to get really cold and I didn’t want to risk any equipment damage. Observing a lunar eclipse with the naked eye or binoculars is completely safe.  No special equipment is needed for viewing.   Due to its slow progression, it makes it quite easy to photograph under the right weather conditions.    

Equipment used for these shots was: 

Canon Powershot SX50 - My favourite camera ever!

Tripod – a must have for these types of shoots to get the clearest image possible and better adjustments for stable focusing. 

Intervalometer (wired) - This helps with shutter adjustment and minimizes shaky hands in the cold.  

The settings recommended for best shots experimented were to use ISO 400, f/8 aperture, and a focal length of 300 – 500 mm.  Be sure to adjust shutter speed and zoom ranges as the eclipse unfolds to increase or reduce exposure slightly.  I kept having to adjust my tripod positioning because the moon image kept moving and shifting towards the right, which you can see in the series of photos below.

The next total lunar eclipse visible in Canada will take place on the night of March 2nd – 3rd, 2026.

For video clips of these photos, please scroll below or visit my YouTube directly: https://youtu.be/cwGBu68oajU?si=3lQnx6dCAsfi7zV9

Ducks in our Pool

Some lovely ducks enjoying a swim in our pool.

Hallow-Week 2020

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With the cancellations of trick-or-treating and other Halloween festivities this year, the pandemic did not stop this extremely rare and special Halloween treat that was observed in the sky.  On October 31st 2020, there was a breathtaking view of the “Blue Moon” (meaning two full moons in the same month).  The last time a Blue Moon happened on Halloween was in 2001, but it could only be viewed in the Central and Pacific Time zones.  It happened across all Canadian/US time zones in 1944 – 76 years ago!  According to the Farmers’ Almanac, a Halloween Full Moon occurs approximately once every 19 years, but not always.  It may fall on the 30th of October or the 1st of November on “All Soul’s Day”.  Depending on where you live, a “Halloween Blue Moon” is seen only once every 38 years.   

On November, 2nd 2029 and October, 30th, 2031 – the moon will be completely full, so for Halloween on both of these years, it will be an almost-full moon in the sky.  Even if the moon is a day or two away from being 100% full on any Halloween, it still gives off a great deal of light and looks completely illuminated.   The following “Halloween Blue Moon” dates calculated from the Farmers’ Almanac will take place in 2039, 2058, 2077 and 2096.  This pattern is a 19 year cycle, five times in a row. Here are some images from Hallow-Week 2020!

October 25th, 2020

October 31st, 2020

Penumbral Eclipse - July 5th 2020

In the early hours on July 5th 2020, there was a “Lunar Eclipse”, but in terms of “visual effects”, you could barely notice it and it was really lame.  Pretty much as lame as the entire year of 2020 so far!

In my datebook it stated “Lunar Eclipse at 12:44 am EST”.  Well, it did not specify if it was “full” or “partial” or “Penumbral”.  This was a “Penumbral Eclipse” which is the fainter and extremely less impressive “visual” because the moon only falls into the secondary shadow of the Earth (which is called the Penumbra.)  Basically, all that happened was the moon had a subtle change and just dimmed down slightly.    If I wasn’t aware of it being an “eclipse” in my datebook, I would have just assumed that it was just a cool and beautiful full moon, which it was!  

A lunar eclipse with the awesome “visual” effects that everyone wants to see will only happen during a “partial” or a “full/total” lunar eclipse. 

A “partial” lunar eclipse is when the Earth is just slightly out of alignment with the moon and the sun which will result in only a portion of the moon being covered by the Earth’s shadow.  The visual display of this will result in a crescent chunk “cut out” on the moon.

A “full” or “total” lunar eclipse is the most dramatic out of the three.  That is when the sun, moon, and Earth are perfectly aligned.  The Earth’s shadow will completely cover the moon.  This is when the moon travels into the direct shadow of the Earth (which is called the Umbra) from the sun which will cause a shadow to appear on the moon.  The moon’s bright surface will completely disappear and light up with a dark brown or reddish-sunset glow.  This sometimes can last a few minutes or a few hours depending on the orbits of the moon and the Earth.  Then eventually, the Earth’s shadow shifts off the moon and it will be back to normal again.

A “penumbral” lunar eclipse will only cause a slight shadow on the moon because the sun, moon and the Earth are farther out of alignment than a partial eclipse.  The sun will only be partially blocked and it will only create no more than a hint of a shadow on the moon’s surface that really won’t make any visual difference.

So while the “eclipse” aspect itself was not the best, the moon was still lovely as always and I was able to get the slightly darker images of it.

The Blood Moon - October 14th 2019

The Hungry Bee

I was out in the garden and there were a bunch of bees having a snack.

Summer Phases of the Moon 2019

Here are some various shots of the moon throughout the summer of 2019

Summer Garden 2019

The Butterfly in the Garden

Here are some pictures of this beautiful little creature my father found in our garden. While I know there are many pictures here to look at of the same subject, she was simply such a fantastic model - I couldn’t resist showing off how beautiful she really was!

Lightning Storm

These were taken on September 3rd, 2019.

Freezing Moon

I have always loved spectacular breathtaking celestial events!  On Sunday, January the 20th 2019, a rare and impressive lunar eclipse was completely visible to the naked eye for people living in North and South America as well as Europe and Africa.  The headlines in the paper were calling it “A Total Lunar Eclipse and Super Blood Wolf Moon”.   

I titled this photography project “Freezing Moon” in dedication to “Dead” of Mayhem who would have turned 50 this January.  Ironically, my favourite Mayhem song “Freezing Moon” which he sang, was recorded on my birthday many moons ago…AND of course, because it actually was FREEZING! 

A lunar eclipse is when the Earth, moon and sun are perfectly aligned at the same time and the moon is covered by the Earth’s shadow.  The moon was the closest it could possibly be to the Earth in its orbit making it appear brighter and larger in the sky.  The moon changes colour and turns to a bright reddish shade when it travels further into the Earth’s shadow during the eclipse.  Colour change to the moon happens during every eclipse and its colour depends on how much particulate is in the atmosphere. 

This night came with brutal freezing temperatures of -21 degrees (but it really felt like -36 degrees with the wind chill).  I bundled up and adventured outside into my backyard with my trusty Canon which I really pushed to the limits. I continued to go outside every few minutes starting from 10:30 pm to capture the transition of the eclipse and colour change.  Thankfully, there were no clouds and the sky was crystal clear.  Once the eclipse started, it all happened pretty fast!

By 11:39 pm:  It was mostly covered.  You could definitely start to see the red peeking through.

By 11:55 pm:  It was almost covered.  There was just a sliver of the moon left.

At 12:15 am:  The moon was completely covered and appeared the most dramatic as this was when the deepest and darkest red colours were on display in the black sky.

At 12:35 am:  The light of the moon was starting to come back.

At 12:40 am:  More of the light from the moon was starting to come back and I was seriously starting to turn into a popsicle at this point.  It was time to go inside for a bit.

The eclipse finished at around 2:00 am EST on the (21st) but my camera or myself really couldn’t take much more of the cold. 

Unfortunately while taking pictures, I ran into several technical issues. 

1.      I was freezing cold.  I definitely needed my sturdy tripod to stabilize my camera because my hands were shaking.  I tried wearing my fingerless gloves, but wearing gloves (even fingerless ones) and taking pictures isn’t really the easiest thing to do. 

2.      It was super windy.  Even with the tripod, I had to hold the base down so it wouldn’t blow over while trying to stabilize the camera. 

3.      The “zoom” feature on my camera froze several times and got completely stuck so I had to run back in the house to warm it up and then run back outside to take more pictures. 

4.      The battery (that was fully charged for the project) in my camera and the batteries in my intervalometer (which were brand new) needed to be changed due to the extreme cold!  Twice. 

5.      Frost was actually starting to form on my lens which made it difficult for the camera to focus clearly on the moon.   

What was really frustrating for me is that I could actually SEE the moon clearly in the camera.  It was when I clicked the button, the shutter of the camera lagged and was saying... “Nope, sorry, I’m too cold to work but I’ll let you look instead!”  So that is why some of the images are blurry! 

I took a ton of pictures and these were the only ones that I could salvage under such brutal conditions.  One of the greatest things that I really enjoy most about photography is to experience going out in the middle of the night and taking unusual images of something special and phenomenal that you don’t see every day.  And even though some of my photographs were not as clear as I would have liked them to be, under the harsh weather conditions effecting my equipment, I did get a few images that I really liked.  I was happy to witness the eclipse with my own two eyes which I probably wouldn’t have bothered to do if I wasn’t into taking pictures.  For that, and other personal reasons, I feel incredibly privileged that I got to see such an amazing freezing moon.     

The next total lunar eclipse will be visible on May 26th 2021.  Hopefully that day will be a beautifully clear WARM night and I’ll be able to capture that eclipse much better.  I don’t think that the temperature will be -36 degrees in May.  This certainly was a learning experience for next time. 

A Winter's Night

Seasons - Winter

Seasons - Summer

Seasons - Spring