Happy Lunar New Year!

Moon Over San Francisco Bay
Originally uploaded by Ame Otoko

The Lunar New Year fell on February 3rd this year, which was fortunate for me because on February 4th I was picking up a friend in the hills of the East Bay and captured this beautiful shot of the San Francisco Bay. The skies have been incredibly clear lately, but that night we had some interesting clouds which made for a beautiful purple and pink sunset (which I completely missed). However, I caught this image instead - a sliver of the moon following closely behind the setting sun.

Lunar New Year begins with a new moon and ends 14 days later with a full moon. Because this was the day after the New Year, the moon was in its phase of just beginning to reveal itself, presenting this wonderful opportunity to shoot it over the sunset.

Incidentally, this was the third time I was in the area with my camera in the car with me, but the other times, the perfect moment did not present itself. Sometimes patience really pays dividends!