Favorite Photo, November 13

Dr Yim plays Eric Satie’s “Vexations” a total of 840 times. Lamoni, Iowa. November 13, 2018.

My favorite photo for this date was created at a rather remarkable and rare event. Dr. Yim, who teaches at Graceland University in Lamoni, Iowa, did a performance of legendary avant garde composer Eric Satie’s “Vexations”. He played it 840 times which took 27 hours and 22 minutes.

Why do this?

The idea comes from Satie’s notes which talk about playing the piece continuously for a total of 840 times. It was decades after Satie’s death when a team of pianists did that for the first time in a public performance. One pianist would play until weariness set in, then another would play.

Doing this as a single performer is much more rare. Dr. Yim did his performance without a break. During the entire 27 hour and 22 minute performance he did not even stand up for a stretch break. It was an incredible act of determination and commitment.

I think doing this is the pianist’s equivalent of climbing Mt. Everest without using oxygen tanks. You do it because the challenge is there.

Super Moon, November 13, 2016

Super Moon, November 13, 2016

My second favoraite image for this date was taken on the night of a “super moon”, an over hyped media term. It means the full moon is a little closer to earth than usual and a little bigger (about 10-14%) than it usually is. The difference in size is barely noticeable to the unaided eye. But it does get people outside to look at the moon.

I used a Canon 7D Mark II camera with a Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 L series lens. The digital field of view crop of the 7D gives an equivalent 35mm focal length of 480mm. The exposure was f/11, 1/100 second, at ISO 100. This image is cropped from the original frame.

Super Moon. Lunar maria (seas) labeled in white and craters in cyan.

Super Moon. Lunar maria (seas) labeled in white and craters in cyan. November 13, 2016

For those of you who are curious, here is the same image with the seas and some major craters marked. Apollo 11 landed at Mare Tranquillitatis (the Sea of Tranquility).

Links

Series: Favorite Photos by Date – all about this series

How to Photograph the Super Moon – or any full moon

Field of View Crop in Digital SLRs

The Best Night, Astronomy, and Astrophotography Books