Moonset over the Mississippi

A cold clear January morning. I am out in the frozen marshes along the Mississippi River. There is not much in the way of cloud cover this day. The sky is full of stars and the moon hangs high in the west. There is a heavy frosted quality this morning.

There are several views of the bluffs that could be a great image with a sunrise over them. With no clouds I start looking west at the moon and and the river.

As the stars fade and the blue returns to the sky, I frame up the snow, grass, distant bluffs, and moon into the frame. I make an image. I wonder if the film will pick up any of the stars that I quickly losing in the blue morning sky.

The temps are cold but everything on the camera works perfectly, even at -10. I have had the camera on the tripod for about an hour and only made a couple of images. I see the light is getting brighter and I start to think about how to best capture the coming sunrise.