01/09/2026
Weeks before I left for Paris I put a call out to the PhotoPills community asking if anyone based in the city could point me toward a good spot to photograph the full moon rising behind the Eiffel Tower, since the moon happened to be rising the very day I was due to land. Gwen Blanck, a wonderful guy from Paris, reached out and offered to show me the location himself. Landing after a long flight and figuring out the Paris Metro on no sleep is stressful enough, and to make things more uncertain there had been thundershowers rolling through all day, so I really didn't know if the moon would show at all. Gwen and I climbed through the suburbs and up some steep hills to reach the spot, and when we got there the horizon was thick with cloud. I told myself that even without the moon, this angle on the tower would be worth the climb. Then, low on the horizon, a glow began to build behind the clouds, and the moon slowly revealed itself rising beside the tower. This shot had all the highs and lows of chasing a moment you can't control, and it only came together because I refused to give up on it.
