Living in Portland, Oregon, I was one of the lucky ones. The full lunar eclipse that happened tonight was in full clear view, out from behind any cloud cover that seemed to plague most people on my side of the globe who tried to view it. The craziest part of it all was that I almost forgot that it was going to happen. As a nature photographer, missing something like this would have haunted me for years. Well, at least until 2010 when we get our next one.

At around 5pm, I realized that I needed a spot to view this eclipse in its full glory. Elevation was a must, as I really wanted to get some shots of the eclipsed moon over Portland. Since it would appear in Eastern skies, I decided to head up to the OHSU campus (the upper section, of course) to get an unobstructed view. As soon as I got there, I was happy with my choice. The view was excellent! The haze in the sky gave a nice atmosphere too. Who knows if it was moist air or just plain smog.. but it looked sweet. And both St. Hellens and Hood seemed to be floating over the city. It got me excited to see our friend Mr. Moon.

At around 5:45 I started getting nervous. Where was the moon? Poor guy was trapped behind the clouds. I was so afraid the eclipse would come and go without seeing any of it! At almost exactly 6pm, I sighed in relief as the tiniest sliver of the top of the moon peeked through the clouds over Mt. Tabor. Whew!

I learned a great deal about taking pictures of our wonderful heavens. Even a half-second difference in shutter speed severely affected the sharpness of the resulting shot. That moon sure moves fast across our sky!

Well, feel free to check out the resulting images in my gallery. As always, I love to see comments on the shots, so comment away!

While visiting the northern Oregon coast this past weekend, I managed to take some time for some shooting. The area was blessed with wonderful weather the whole time I was there, making for some excellent light to play with. I concentrated my photography on sunset in Seaside on one day, and a walk around Haystack Rock the following day.

Enjoy the Oregon Coast photos! Please feel free to register so you can leave comments in the gallery!