While not exactly common, total lunar eclipses are something most people get to see a few times. A total lunar eclipse at moonset during the dawn right over San Francisco is a little bit more rare. Trusty old Facebook gave us the heads up on this one, and Joe and I got up at 3:30am to go shoot this possibly once in a lifetime event.

The original plan was to shoot from Treasure Island, but that gave us the wrong angle looking at the city.
 
Plan B was to shoot from the former Navy Base in Alameda, but there was no good, clear view that we could find. We moved on to Plan C, which was to shoot from the beach next to the Ballena Bay Yacht Club, also in Alameda. This would have to do, as the eclipse was already starting!
 
After an hour and a half, the black night sky was turning blue.
 
Sure enough, sunlight was peeking over the eastern horizon.
 
Did I mention we were freezing out there? There were a few other people on the beach shooting the eclipse. All freezing.
 
The sun rose just a little bit too early for the exact shots we wanted. The sky was too light to see the moon when it was closer to the horizon. But hey, for a chance to shoot a rare event like this I won’t complain.
 
 
 
.:Bohan
 
 
 

Tags: alameda, ayala, bohan, dawn, lunar eclipse, moon, night, san francisco, sky