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There’s very little to say about this except that it’s beautiful. It’s simply the moon, rising, shot through a long lens through a Canon 5D Mk III, with no post production, grading or any modification to the video whatsoever.

As such, it’s a wonderful illustration of how something as simple as a telephoto lens can make us see the world – and other worlds – in a different way.

Our brains are simply too good at dealing with perspective and contextualising all the extremes in the world that we see. When we look at a moonrise from a normal distance, we don’t see it like this: a giant yellow orb, dwarfing – of course – the tiny people on the hill. The lens puts it out of context, and we struggle to deal with the consequences. Are people really that small? Is the moon really that big?

Good use of music, too.

Here’s what the maker of this video, Mark Gee, says about it on Vimeo:

Full Moon Silhouettes is a real time video of the moon rising over the Mount Victoria Lookout in Wellington, New Zealand. People had gathered up there this night to get the best view possible of the moon rising. I captured the video from 2.1km away on the other side of the city. It’s something that I’ve been wanting to photograph for a long time now, and a lot of planning and failed attempts had taken place. Finally, during moon rise on the 28th January 2013, everything fell into place and I got my footage.

The video is as it came off the memory card and there has been no manipulation whatsoever. Technically it was quite a challenge to get the final result. I shot it on a Canon ID MkIV in video mode with a Canon EF 500mm f/4L and a Canon 2x extender II, giving me the equivalent focal length of 1300mm.

Full Moon Silhouettes from Mark Gee on Vimeo.