Karma karma karma karma karma chameleon
You come and go, you come and go
Loving would be easy if your colors were like my dream
Red gold and green, red gold and green

Boy George’s dreams have nothing on us.

On our final night at the Eastern Sierra Photography Workshop, we hauled our equipment to Mono Lake with the hope of catching the Super Moon.

We stood along the narrow wooden walkway facing the tufas. The row of black tripods and high tech cameras contrasted with the serene lake view.

A tourist nearby asked, “Are you with a photography group?”

“Yes, we are. Our instructor’s over there and he’s from LA.” I pointed to Keith.

“Oh, we’re part of a photography group too…from Redding!” The tourist said excitedly and started taking photos of the lake.

She didn’t make it too long though. After five minutes, she wished us well and left. Our photography “group” was prepared to wait as long as necessary. I didn’t know what to expect that night. In my perspective, the entire weekend was a succession of pleasant surprises: seeing waterfalls, hiking in Yosemite, off-roading, swatting off red ants as we leaned into fragrant desert flowers…but the best surprise was meeting this eclectic group of photographers who were fun, positive and kind.

As part of the waiting ritual, we adjusted tripods, took a round of test shots, looked intensely into LCD screens and snacked on treats that the “three nurses” Ruby, ER and Ro supplied for us. It was beneficial to have these ladies with us if we needed CPR, but more importantly, these ladies came with an SUV stuffed with candy bars, trail mixes, chips, fruit and offered us sustenance exactly when we needed it.

Eventually, the sun set behind us and into the mountains. The eating and talking stopped as we snapped to attention.

No amount of photo-editing compares to the colors produced when the moon and clouds mingle in the sky.

As we waited for the moon to reach above the clouds, the colors changed and they were…well…I can’t describe it…please see below.

Taken with Fujifilm Finepix X100.