Moon
It was pitch dark, and he was walking through the park with a backpack, a tripod attached to it. Once he found a good place, he unloaded the camera from the backpack, put it on the tripod, checked the exposure, installed the mic, and once he made sure everything looked right, he hit record.
“Hi gang!” he shouted, exhilarated, to the thousands of viewers who would watch this once he edited and uploaded it.
“One of the questions I constantly get asked is how do you take a good shot of the moon in the city? What lens are you using, what camera, what are your settings? And let me tell you, gang—you've got this all wrong, and today I am here to help you out. To get a good photo of the moon, well, you need to have a good moon, like we have tonight!”
He gestured grandly towards the sky, the camera shifting autofocus to the full moon looming over the park. He returned to the frame with two thumbs up.
“What a beauty tonight, gang! The moon gods have blessed us with an amazing, crisp, white full moon. Ugh, I am excited—mind me saying, I'm over the moon about shooting it tonight.
Okay, okay, but back to the checklist.
The second thing you need is a quiet area with as little light as possible. Your city park will suffice; if you live in the suburbs, don’t be afraid to drive a bit farther into the unknown. After you have found a place, the third most important thing is to observe the moon.”
He stepped out of the frame again, letting the lens autofocus on the lunar surface as he turned his face fully toward the sky for the first time that night. “You might think that the moon is...is...” his words turned into a whisper as the camera was rolling.
He looked at the moon and saw, for the first time, that the moon was looking back at him. His camera would later reveal that the moon held his gaze for exactly 12 minutes and 36 seconds. Once the staring was done, he just muttered:
“Okay. Good”. He shut down the camera, packed his bag, and left the park.
Part of the Dreams and Fears series.