“Red Hook Moon” by Peter Alessandria was featured in the Exit section of the August September 2016 issue.
Alessandria had to get tricky to shoot this image. Here’s how he made it happen:
“This photo was taken in early May around 11PM from Red Hook, Brooklyn. It is the Crescent Moon setting behind the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. I use The Photographers Ephemeris app which allows me to “chase” the moon and I am continually looking for landmarks here in the New York to line up with it.
The location is pretty tricky. Brooklyn in general is lovely, but this particular part is not so nice. I was shooting through a 12-foot cyclone fence topped with razor-wire, some of which was hanging down next to me and tore my jacket. The street is a dead end, and I was surrounded by trash and broken glass. There were also delivery trucks backed up almost to the fence leaving me less than three feet of working space.
Because of its proximity to the water, this spot has a pretty fierce wind blowing almost all the time, making it difficult to shoot with a long telephoto lens, even on a tripod. And to top it off, there is a downed power line hanging from a utility pole two feet away from where I shoot—I’m assuming it isn’t live.”
His camera is a Canon EOS 7D, with a Sigma 150-600mm ƒ/5.6-6.3 DG OS HSM lens. It was set with an exposure time of 1.3 sec., aperture ƒ/6.3 and ISO 100.
To see more of Peter Alessandria’s work check out his website, peteralessandriaphotography.com.
