Moonflight is just a name I give to pictures showing a plane flying past the moon. Over the years, I have managed to take a few of these moonflights. The first time I showed them on the internet, there were some people who were incredulous and a couple of them even questioned whether the images were digitially altered to superimpose the plane on the moon. Trust me, making the actual images from the camera is really easier than hacking the photos together in Photoshop at least for me.
The latest Moonflight I took was during the lunar eclipse on the 26/06/2010. As I was photographing the lunar eclipse in progress, there were also many planes departing and arriving at Changi airport at the same time. As the moon was still rising from the horizon, I guessed that there might just be a chance that sooner or later some plane was going to fly between me and the moon. As it turned out there were actually 2 hits that did that. The first moonflight was not captured well with some bluring of the plane due to slow shutter speed so I upped the shutter speed to get the shots below. This plane actually passed just under the moon but then turned back and managed to cross the moon perfectly allowing me to fire off a burst to capture its flight into the moon.
#1 Moonflight 2010
#2 Moonflight 2010
#2 Moonflight 2010
My original Moonflight shots was made in 2007 when the moon was full and the plane almost stretched the diameter of the moon. I also had to wait many moons to get the perfect condition for this shot. The window of time where this kind of shot is possible is just a few minutes each month and the weather must be almost perfect at the same time so making moonflights require a lot of patience and a bit of luck as well.
#3 Moonflight 2007
Finally, even if all the conditions are there, being at the right location also counts and having a home at the right place is trully, priceless.
