A Moon Sliver Night's Dream

"If all the world's a stage, then the moon yields light enough to illuminate the comedy we play out here below its sphere. Night by night we watch the moon wax and wane. We feel her tides in our thoughts. In sleepless midnight hours we sense the moon's gentle gravity tugging dark thoughts from deep sloughs untouched by daylight. Gone are daylight's grand vertical confidences. On our backs in moonlight we are the elements jumbled. The world is out of joint. Stones rise into the sphere of air, fire sinks, the waters overlap the land, air bursts into flame. The planet is a ship of fools. The candlemaker pretends to be king. The king is belled like a cat. Night is the play within the play, and the moon presides."
                                                     -- Chet Raymo, "The Soul of the Night"

An hour-long exposure captures the setting of the crescent moon behind a saguaro.

Date: November 24, 2006
Time: 7:18 to 8:28 p.m. MST
Location: Sonoran Desert National Monument, Arizona
Camera: Olympus OM-1 35mm SLR on fixed tripod
Film: Fuji Provia 100F slide
Focal length: 50 mm
Aperture: f/5.6
Exposure time: 70 minutes
Scanner: Nikon Coolscan LS-2000 (cropped)