RH Speirs | Photographer - July Cityscapes, 2022

16x9 Cityscape of the downtown skyline from Tom Campbell's Hill Natural Park, Calgary, AB - July 7th

3x1 Panoramic Cityscape (8 shot) of the downtown skyline from Tom Campbell's Hill Natural Park, Calgary, AB - July 7th

For about a year or so now I've taken an interest in trying to incorporate the Moon into some of my photos, when it's possible that is (I don't have much interest in taking photos of just the Moon by itself). At first I was using the combination of Google Maps and the Time and Date website to figure out potential photo ideas that involved both an interesting subject and aligning the Moon with it. Sometime during November 2021 I purchased the Photopills App, and that made things much less time consuming to make detailed plans. I would plan things out months in advance using the Planner feature within the Photopills App, and had a bit of success here and there using it. I found that far more often than not the plans would end up being cancelled simply due to too many clouds..ended up being a lot of wasted time. So now I just monitor the short range weather forecast (about a week or so ahead) and decide based on that whether or not I want to make any detailed plans for potential photos using the App Planner.
Depending on many factors, a Full Moon cycle (4 or 5 days) can produce a small handful of potential opportunities that might work out. In June of this year I didn't get one single shot of the Moon during its full cycle because of a cloud filled sky for days on end. Most months prior that would net me one or two opportunities on average..breaks in the endless clouds here and there. This July though was very opportunistic with photographing the Moon, and I took advantage. It's just so great when the sky isn't full of clouds along the horizon all the time..sure hope we see more of this in the future.
I'm still fairly new to the whole somewhat serious photography gig, especially when it comes to processing/developing low light Moon photos after they've been captured. I've been experimenting a little with things I've never tried before on the photos within this gallery, but for the most part most of these images have just had a fairly basic edit done to them. If I end up ever taking any of these photos to print I'll have to spend more time trying to get things just right before doing so.
I suppose everyone has their own ideas about what they find fun/engaging/entertaining. For me, given my current circumstances, this was a great week of getting out for plenty of opportunities to capture photos of relatively nearby places and things. All of it really, I just find it to be satisfying..from the imagining, the planning, the capturing, to the processing. FUN! FORTUNATE! THANKFUL!

The West Village Towers and rising Moon (Waxing Gibbous 95.8%), from West Hillhurst off-leash area (Grasshopper Hill), Calgary, AB - 9:02 PM, July 11th

This next image (below) is a cropped out portion from the image shown directly above.

The West Village Towers (tops) and rising Moon (Waxing Gibbous 95.8%), from West Hillhurst off-leash area (Grasshopper Hill), Calgary, AB - 9:02 PM, July 11th

The West tower of the West Village Towers and rising Moon (Waxing Gibbous 95.8%), from West Hillhurst off-leash area (Grasshopper Hill), Calgary, AB - 9:07 PM, July 11th

The West Village Towers and rising Moon (Waxing Gibbous 99.3%), from West Hillhurst off-leash area (Grasshopper Hill), Calgary, AB - 10:08 PM, July 12th

The West Village Towers (with other buildings) and rising Moon (Waxing Gibbous 99.3%), from West Hillhurst off-leash area (Grasshopper Hill), Calgary, AB - 10:08 PM, July 12th

The West Village Towers (with several other buildings) and rising Moon (Waxing Gibbous 99.3%), from West Hillhurst off-leash area (Grasshopper Hill), Calgary, AB - 10:26 PM, July 12th

Several members of my family were in attendance at the Bell Grandstand Show on the evening of July 12th..I managed to capture a couple of images before the air between myself and there, became filled with smoke from the amazing fireworks display.

GMC Stadium during the Bell Grandstand Show (Calgary Stampede), from Tom Campbell Hill Natural Park, Calgary, AB - 11:02 PM, July 12th

GMC Stadium during the Bell Grandstand Show (Calgary Stampede), from Tom Campbell Hill Natural Park, Calgary, AB - 11:09 PM, July 12th

Scotia Bank Saddledome and setting Moon (Full Supermoon 99.7%), Calgary Stampede, from Tom Campbell Hill Natural Park, Calgary, AB - 4:37 AM, July 13th

3x1 Panoramic Cityscape (8 shot) of the downtown skyline [Sunset, Golden Hour (sun elevation 1.2 degrees)] from Edworthy Park, Calgary, AB - 9:34 PM, July 13th

3x1 Panoramic Cityscape (8 shot) of the downtown skyline [Sunset, Golden Hour (sun elevation 0.4 degrees)] from Edworthy Park, Calgary, AB - 9:41 PM, July 13th

Several Downtown West End buildings and rising Moon (Full Supermoon 99.5%), from West Hillhurst off-leash area (Grasshopper Hill), Calgary, AB - 10:55 PM, July 13th

The Eest tower of the West Village Towers (with other buildings) and rising Moon (Full Supermoon 99.5%), from West Hillhurst off-leash area (Grasshopper Hill), Calgary, AB - 11:00 PM, July 13th

The West Village Towers (tops) and rising Moon (Full Supermoon 99.5%), from West Hillhurst off-leash area (Grasshopper Hill), Calgary, AB - 11:10 PM, July 13th

The West Village Towers (tops) and rising Moon (Full Supermoon 99.5%), from West Hillhurst off-leash area (Grasshopper Hill), Calgary, AB - 11:12 PM, July 13th

The Encore Condominiums (tops) and setting Moon (Waning Gibbous 99.1%), from West Hillhurst off-leash area (Grasshopper Hill), Calgary, AB - 5:38 AM, July 14th

The Encore Condominiums and setting Moon (Waning Gibbous 99%), from West Hillhurst off-leash area (Grasshopper Hill), Calgary, AB - 5:42 AM, July 14th

The Encore Condominiums and setting Moon (Waning Gibbous 99%), from West Hillhurst off-leash area (Grasshopper Hill), Calgary, AB - 5:46 AM, July 14th

While on a visit to the Marshall Springs ponds in Fish Creek Provincial Park for some wildlife photography, I happened to noticed the Moon in a fairly clear sky that morning. I kept it in the back of my mind as I was watching out for birds flying by. I would have liked to capture a bird in flight with the Moon in the background. Well that just didn't happen as it was a fairly slow morning of activity among the bird life down there. I did however capture this photo (below) of the setting Moon over the nearby Housing complex while waiting for other interesting things to present themselves. Not a whole lot of thought went in to it honestly..just having some fun I suppose. The photo probably wouldn't appeal to anyone, but perhaps the people that live there.

Sanderson Ridge (Housing complex, portion) and setting Moon (Waning Gibbous 88.4%), from Marshall Springs, Fish Creek Provincial Park, Calgary, AB - 8:32 AM, July 16th

July Cityscapes, 2022 - Calgary, AB

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