Full Moon Euphoria

There’s something about cemeteries that fascinates us—the older the graves and monuments and the greater the history the better. So when I heard that the Historic Riverside Cemetery Conservancy was holding “Full Moon Euphoria”, a chance to photograph one of Macon’s oldest and most picturesque graveyards in darkness under a full moon, I jumped at the opportunity. The gathering produced a fun group of photographers, amateurs and professionals alike, and I had a great five hours of shooting.

I have always enjoyed shooting long exposures. So many wonderful things can happen when you leave the shutter open for a long time; in the case of this night, from fifteen seconds to over four minutes. With a shutter locked open, movement can create interesting blurs and virtually imperceptible light can fill in with dramatic effects. But in the darkness, while shooting statues and monuments over a century old, the long exposure reduces photography to it’s purest element—capturing light. Using a speedlight or a flashlight, or both, I was able to explore the best way to illuminate these stone edifices to show the things that make them so beautiful.

My favorite part of photographing these monuments was trying to capture their depth and texture. Weathering, broken limbs, and a healthy coating of moss and lichens made them much more interesting. Finding angles to show off these textures was challenging and great fun. And it’s no surprise that the same principles that create great lighting in a fraction of a second in the studio carry through to exposures of stone sculptures greater than three or four minutes.

Unfortunately, the moon that so beautifully lit this serene setting also made some aspects of the shoot virtually impossible. I really wanted to freeze some of the monuments against the blur of rotating stars in the sky beyond. But the moon, coupled with the light pollution of Macon, made the sky very bright. I want to go back to Riverside soon in complete darkness and try those shots again. Until then, you can see a few of my favorites from the night here.