At the end of October, photographer Zach Cooley ventured to Arches national Park in utah. There, hecaptured a surreal sight: a full moon framed by the north Windows Arch that makes it look like a giant eyein the sky. In brilliant single-exposure photos, the beguiling visual is almost too perfect to be real.
Cooley’s incredible images represent a lot of planning on his part. “Moon photos like this can involvesome fairly extensive planning, and that was certainly the case for this shot,” he tells My Modern Met. “Iuse multiple specialized photography apps which allow me to see exactly where the moon will appear atany given time and position (Planlt!, The Photographer’s Ephemeris (TPE), and PhotoPills).”
Putting himself in the exact right place at the right time was also key. “For precision alignment, you haveto be standing in just the right spot, and a few steps in the wrong direction could mean you miss thetarget.” Cooley was nervous as the moment approached; he wondered, would he be standing in thecorrect spot? “I was never happier when it appeared in the right place and I knew I could achieve theplanned shot.”
Capturing Earth’s satellite has long been a fascination for Cooley. “I have a memory of when digitalcameras were fairly new and my dad tried taking a photo of the full moon straight above us. It didn’t turnout at all,” he recalls. “He captured the same thing that many today do with cell phones-just a white disc,lacking the details that we can see with our eyes.”
Once Cooley began his photography practice, he made it a point to learn how to take better pictures ofthe moon. “It’s something we don’t normally see in our day-to-day lives,” he says. “Watching a sunset or asunrise is common for many, but it’s not often that we witness the moon at the moment it peeks abovethe horizon, or as it sets and ‘touches’ the landscape.” Through compelling shots like the “eye” at Archesnational Park, Cooley offers a powerful reminder of how marvelous our moon is.
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