The Sky at Night

A single shot of the Full Moon of 10th May 2017 rising over the well loved landmark of White Nancy, which stands above Bollington, Cheshire. This was taken from a footpath 2.4km away after calculating the direction of the Moon in advance

After a lot of perseverance, I finally managed to get a shot that I have been after for quite a few years. I had worked out previously that it should be possible to take a shot of White Nancy above Bollington silhouetted against the Full Moon. My ethics dictate that I was always going to do this in camera rather than in Photoshop so I had to find an accessible point in line with the Moon and the folly, preferably between one or two miles away and with an unobstructed view. I'd scoped out a footpath near Whiteley Green earlier as having the best potential - trying to replicate it from the same place is pretty useless as the direction of the Moon rise changes each day. As the Moon appeared over the ridge I realised I would have to change my position by at least a hundred meters to get the desired placement. Thankfully I have a light tripod and did that distance in sub 10 seconds (in my mind at least!). I wouldn't have managed that with the heavy telescope that I originally planned on using!