The Moon, Almost Full

In the daytime there was an interesting effect at the Viewpoint. The sun was shining, and it was very clear. But again there was a kind of reverberation in the middle distance, especially around the bay. I could see the effects of wind down there. There were speckles on the water. There was a very great difference in the quality of the colors down there and up above. I don't know how I could convey this in a painting--much less a photograph. The problem is that in order to appreciate the colors down below, around the bay, you have to see all the details--the different layers of blue, green and straw color and all the water, trees, bushes, houses and streets--but to appreciate the colors above, you need to look at a much broader area. Once you do that, you can't focus on the details below. From having taken thousands of photos at the Viewpoint, I can tell you that in a shot of the entire view, you won't get more than a ghost of the areas in the distance. If you enlarged that particular section of the photo you would, but otherwise the detail is so compacted that it becomes more or less invisible--or at least insignificant. We don't see the way the camera does. We look at one thing and then the next and make a kind of mental construct that's much more than a two-dimensional scene within a rectangle. I know I'm hardly the first human being to notice this, or to point it out, but I just have to express it for myself--to verbalize it to myself.

This evening the moon was almost full. Tomorrow it will be full. It used to be easier to see the moon rise above the park. The trees are older now, and a good deal taller.