Stunning pictures show the changing state of the moon over London skyline

Photographer James Burns has spent the past year capturing various lunar spectacles in the capital
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Liz Connor|Gareth Richman16 February 2016

From September’s supermoon rising to the magnificent lunar eclipse, photographer James Burns captures some of the most breathtaking states of the moon over London.

His Lunar London project emerged after various evenings of photographing the capital’s skyline led to a string of chance encounters with the moon.

“I had a growing fascination with how I could capture it in the same way I had been the shooting the rising and setting sun for some years”, James told the Evening Standard.

“2015 was a lucky year for moongazing in London. Despite cloud cover across most of Europe, September's supermoon lunar eclipse was visible in perfectly clear skies over London and was an otherworldly joy to behold.”

Eyeing up Miss Moon
James Burns/@London_Rooftops

The photographer says there is a lot of planning and preparation that goes into a lunar shoot - from getting the timing just right to finding a location.

“My first consideration after the weather is where the sun/moon will rise relative to my location”, he says. “In order to align the celestial bodies with London's iconic structures and landmarks, my location has to depend on this information if I want to create the most striking and surreal composition possible.”

The next step in the process is to arrange access to the location that appears to line up most precisely with for example, the moon's rising point and St Paul's Cathedral.”

Thankfully, James says that over the course of a 10 year career as an architectural and landscape photographer, he has a developed a great network of clients and partnerships so rooftop access can be arranged when needed.

The evening after the Lunar eclipse
James Burns/@London_Rooftops

Despite all the best laid plans however, the rising/setting moon can still be extremely elusive to glimpse across London's horizon.

“As everyone knows, when the cloud is of sufficient thickness, it will obscure the sun but the moon is even more vulnerable to being obscured due to it's relatively low brightness”, James says.

Having said that, it is sometimes the presence of the 'right type' of cloud that brings some welcome added drama to the scene so you must always take your chances and make it to location.”

James says that he is hoping 2016 brings us as many beautiful night skies as 2015 did.

'Lunar London' is an ongoing project that you can follow via the London from the Rooftops Twitter, Facebook or Instagram pages.

Follow us on Twitter: @eslifeandstyle

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