Bunnies Dancing in the Moonlight
“When the Moon is big and bright. It’s a supernatural delight. Everybody’s dancin’ in the moonlight.” -King Harvest
This image took a lot of work to complete.
This statue is so cool, called The Dancing Hares, and made from scrap metal with whole tools and things hidden within for you to discover up close. it is near my kid’s preschool. I used to sit in this park and read while waiting for my kid to be done with school for the day.
After learning about night photography, I thought of this statue.
How cool would it be to photograph this statue with the full moon? -So cool.
By this point, I had moved over a hour away, that distance is actually considered near-by for this type of photography, but I still had to plan the outing to the minute. Moonrise happens much faster than you might expect.
My first attempt in October 2023 was a combination of a full moon photograph from my rooftop at home, and a rainy day photograph of the rabbits.
Full moons were just not having clear nights when I was attempting to fulfill this Dancing Bunny dream. As opposed to waiting for the weather to clear, and moon to align with the statue, I went to see the bunnies on a cloudy, rainy evening and took some photos with a stormy dark sky. The next night was clear at home, so I went to my rooftop and photographed the moon while I had the chance.
It would be 4 months before a “real” moonrise at the bunny statue composition could be completed, which I talk about in the next section below.
Do bunnies howl at the moon? This composition with the cloudy sky and bright moon looks like they might, very witchy indeed, like a moonlit spell circle or something.
The moon is smaller than in this image because it’s a micro moon- meaning its orbit is farthest away from Earth, in apogee.
In February of 2024 I finally got my real live moonrise at the dancing bunnies statue photograph.
I still like the composite better. It feels more impactful to me, but I am glad that I saw my vision through to the conclusion.
And I’m happy to call the final image the one I first created from bits and pieces.
I still kept going and proved to myself that I could see my vision through to reality. This is not a wasted image, or night of creation.
This is a lesson in perseverance and proof that art isn’t always about doing it the “right” way.
The moon had to rise at the right angle to be photographed within the statue of bunnies. This doesn’t happen for every full moon. Where the moon comes up in the sky actually varies throughout the year. Febuary was my first chance for the moon to be at the correct angle, and the sky to be clear when the full moon was rising. It was well worth the wait, I just happen to like the drama in the composite image I created the previous October.
I prefer the image showing the full bodies of the dancing hares under the big full moon. The trees are graced with Autumn color, the sky is alive with looming clouds, and the moon presents magic to the whole scene.
It really makes me sing in my head every time I look at it.
“We get it on almost every night
And when that old Moon gets so big and bright
It’s a supernatural delight
Everybody was dancin’ in the moonlight”
“If in life you stumble, make it part of the dance.”
If you are interested in purchasing an art print from my portfolio please email me today at Cori@cojackphotography.com