Portfolio > Thirteen Moons > Snow Moon
Snow Moon, February 27, 2021
The Rule: Choose a color to match the sky while standing just west of the bridge by Kiwanis Pond.
Photograph, digitally manipulated, 49x144”
Falling at the end of February, this was a very late Snow Moon. The month had been snowy, and there was still snow on the ground for my photo. I had become very interested in the color of the sky, especially at night. The sky at night can be pale, lit by moonlight, or, not infrequently, tinted red. Pale skies at night are caused by the reflection of artificial light from a cloud covered sky; red tinted skies are also caused by light pollution at night. During the Cold Moon, typically thought of as “dark”, this was no different.
On the first day of the Snow Moon I took a panoramic photo standing just west of the bridge on the north side of Kiwanis Pond. The colors were each chosen from the same vantage point. The digital photo is divided into 24 strips, beginning with midnight on the left. The colors were created in photoshop to match the colors I saw. The digital color numbers are marked on the mural along with the times I observed the color of the sky.
In the 1760s, Captain Jonathan Carver, who had visited with the Naudowessie (Dakota), wrote that the name used for this period was the Snow Moon, “because more snow commonly falls during this month than any other in the winter.” Another common name for this moon was Hunger Moon, because food was scarce and hunting was difficult.
The Rule: Choose a color to match the sky while standing just west of the bridge by Kiwanis Pond.
Photograph, digitally manipulated, 49x144”
Falling at the end of February, this was a very late Snow Moon. The month had been snowy, and there was still snow on the ground for my photo. I had become very interested in the color of the sky, especially at night. The sky at night can be pale, lit by moonlight, or, not infrequently, tinted red. Pale skies at night are caused by the reflection of artificial light from a cloud covered sky; red tinted skies are also caused by light pollution at night. During the Cold Moon, typically thought of as “dark”, this was no different.
On the first day of the Snow Moon I took a panoramic photo standing just west of the bridge on the north side of Kiwanis Pond. The colors were each chosen from the same vantage point. The digital photo is divided into 24 strips, beginning with midnight on the left. The colors were created in photoshop to match the colors I saw. The digital color numbers are marked on the mural along with the times I observed the color of the sky.
In the 1760s, Captain Jonathan Carver, who had visited with the Naudowessie (Dakota), wrote that the name used for this period was the Snow Moon, “because more snow commonly falls during this month than any other in the winter.” Another common name for this moon was Hunger Moon, because food was scarce and hunting was difficult.
Snow Moon
