Silhouettes of a Hiking Family Inside a Rising Full Moon

Photographer and filmmaker Jesse Watson made this beautiful 3-minute short film that shows the silhouettes of a hiking family framed within the rising full moon.

Watson shot the film on August 14th, in Yuma, Arizona using a Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K with a 600mm lens. His camera and tripod were positioned between his truck doors to block out wind, and he used weights on the tripod to minimize movement while shooting with the telephoto lens.

The shoot was planned using Google Earth, The Photographer’s Ephemeris, and a lot of Googling.

“Hardest part was finding people that were up for a hike in this [115 degree] summer heat,” Watson says. “Once I had the locations plotted, I set up about an hour beforehand to direct Sarah and her kids as well as getting my video rig set up.

“As soon as the moon was in position everything moved quickly and was out of position within a few minutes. You really don’t realize how quick Earth is spinning until you try to shoot something like this or an eclipse.”

Watson is the same photographer who captured a gorgeous time-lapse of a SpaceX “UFO” launch back in 2017.

Discussion