Earthshine Moon Sequence

A multi exposure image of Moon setting sequence. From the photographer: “Perseverance and love for one’s land; these are the ingredients that push us to extreme efforts to show the beauties of Sicily under the starry sky. I had been chasing this image for at least a year but I had not been able to make it for several reasons including the weather and, of course, the pandemic.

On January 4th, the right conditions arose and together with my friend Orazio, we headed towards the recovery point. Despite the extreme effort to reach the observation point due to the steep and very bumpy path, not to mention steep, we found ourselves admiring the valley on which this beautiful castle stands. In the distance we could witness the ashen moon that gently approached the horizon until it touched the contours of the Rocca Busambra. The cold, the pungent air and the silence made the moment magical, especially when the castle lights came on, which however created many balance problems during the shots.

The image was taken from the hilly relief of the Chiarastella reserve and shows the castle of Cefalà Diana, a small village in the Palermo province of Sicily. The Castle stands on a cliff about 657 meters high here highlighted by the lights of some passing cars. The construction of the current building dates back to medieval times and today a quadrangular tower adorned with Ghibelline merlons remains clearly visible. In the Middle Ages the castle had a great military and strategic importance given its position which controlled the connection between Palermo and the Val di Mazzara.”

Technical details: Canon 6d, Sigma 150-600, f/5.6, 1,3 sec, iso 3200, HDR f/5.6, from 0.5 to 120 sec