Alone at Aga Khan Park on a Beautiful Full Moon Night
By MALIK MERCHANT
Publisher-Editor Simergphotos, Simerg, and Barakah
The sky in Toronto on July 4 at 9 P.M. was still bright. I was at the Aga Khan Park (2015) which separates two majestic buildings — the Aga Khan Museum and the Ismaili Centre (both 2014) — built by His Highness the Aga Khan, the 49th Imam of the Ismailis and the direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad. The Don Valley Parkway and neighbourhood street and residential lights were coming on, and looked brighter with each passing minute. By 10 P.M. the brightness of the artificial lights completely shrouded my view of the moon that had risen a few minutes earlier. I asked a passer by if she had seen the full moon; she asked me to turn around, and there it was.
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This was my first attempt at taking photos of a full moon. I thought my default 14-42 mm Olympus E-M10 lens would serve the purpose. How wrong I was! There was reflection and glare in every picture. To avoid that, I took a few photos through trees at Aga Khan Park. There was something the rookie photographer was doing that wasn’t right.
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The actual full moon would occur at 12:44 A.M. I returned to my room and took a short Youtube lesson on taking full moon photos with my specific camera. A photo enthusiast recommended I would get some nice shots with the Olympus 40-150 mm lens, using a setting closer to 150 mm! Some other settings had to be adjusted, including the ISO to 200, because the moon is very bright. I did have the recommended lens. My fortunes turned around!
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With a bottle of Canada Dry Gingerale and a sandwich, I returned to the Aga Khan Park, and experimented with the new lens and settings. I was delighted. For several hours, I was by myself. The beautiful moon was my companion. There was silence, except for the noise from the freight train. I took dozens of photos throughout the night.
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I was carrying a Save & Soft Cushion to give me sitting comfort on the concrete sitting area near the ponds as well as on the wooden benches along the Park’s corridor. At around 3 A.M. I moved away from the pond area to a wooden bench near the North Side of the Museum. During an earlier stay in Toronto I had seen racoons at the Aga Khan Park. The wooden benches were wet from the water sprinklers that had turned on automatically. Then, as I was contemplating a move back to the pond area, I saw two racoons at the spot where I had been seating two minutes earlier. Had I left some of my sandwich behind? I used the cushion to prevent my pants from getting wet. I took several photos throughout the night. The moon crossed the Park, came over the Ismaili Jamatkhana dome and descended, cutting through the North Side of the Ismaili Centre. I then lost the sight of the full moon. Would I see it again?
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I ran to to the back of the Ismaili Centre, where the Aga Khan Park continues. The sun was rising fast. Yes, I saw the moon. It was now setting fast. I managed a few more photos before my beautiful companion for the night completely disappeared in the horizon, to the right of downtown Toronto.
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The East side of the Ismaili Jamatkhana was now glowing. The sun had risen sufficiently. It was beautiful, as I had never seen the Jamatkhana dome that early in the morning. I took a few more photos, and managed to get a bird in view as it flew over the Jamatkhana dome. It was time for coffee at the nearby Tim Horton.
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These then are some experimental photos of the full moon that I took for the first time, in the surroundings of 3 magnificent projects that Mawlana Hazar Imam, His Highness the Aga Khan, has built for his Ismaili community, the people of Toronto as well as everyone visiting the city from Canada and afar.
Come! Visit these beautiful spaces on Wynford Drive.
Date posted: July 13, 2020.
Last updated: July 14, 2020.
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Profile of Malik Merchant at Contributors.
Your poetic words do justice to these wonderful Scenes that you shared. Your perseverance and patience is admirable. Thank you so much for Natures Bounty that you took time to share. BRAVO!
Wonderful work Malik.
Capturing the full moon in all its glory & majesty through your lens at different times of the night, you have exposed the museum in a new light: both moon & museum look spectacular! For you to have taken so much time & trouble to painstakingly & patiently photograph the moon, the Ismaili Centre and the Aga Khan Museum as well as the Aga Khan Park is an attestation of your passion to always bring something new, exciting & different to your readers! Keep up the great work!
Ya Ali Madat Malik,
Mashallah! Spectacular! Thanks for sharing. Keep healthy and safe my brother.
Beautiful, and thanks for sharing.
Thank you Malik. It is simply outstanding, beautiful and so serene.
Breathtakingly beautiful. Your soul captures the essence of all.
Great photos. Well done, Malik.
Fantastic photos!
Outstanding photography. It takes tremendous amount of patience and determination to achieve such unique work.
Thank you for giving us such a wonderful sight of the Aga Khan Centre.
Gorgeous pics.
Oh my word! Those are absolutely beautiful pics! And your narration as always is superb!
I feel inspired to go check out the full moon and take the pictures now! Well done, Malik!
Stunning!
Wow!
Nice photography. Made me feel I was right there, observing with Malik 🙂
The Moon at this time was in constellation Sagittarius. Astrologers would have you believe that a Sagittarius Moon represents risk-takers making leaps of faith! Astronomers, on the other hand, do not fantasize, but give us facts e.g. looking at Sagittarius is looking at the centre of our Milky Way galaxy!
Two photos, at 5:05 and 5:17 am, show a bright dot, some 15 degrees NW of the moon. It is planet Saturn, on the boundary between constellations Sagittarius and Capricornus. A basic telescope would let you see its rings! Not visible between the Moon and Saturn, is faraway pseudo-planet Pluto. Planets, the Moon and the Sun, all trace, more or less, the same path in the sky, which helps in identifying visible plants. The constellations along this path are the Zodiacs, on which are based the 12 birth signs e.g. Sagittarius, Capricorn, etc.
Nice article, Sounds like you really enjoyed spending the night at the Aga Khan Park.
Ya Ali Madad Malik: Nice photos. You need to take some aerial photos of the sunrise. May be find a way to get to the roof top of the museum if there is one.
MashaAllah! A through coverage of full moon episode along with appropriate write up 🙂
It gives reason for those who never visited Aga Khan Museum to seriously consider visiting on Full Moon night.
Nice effort and presentation.
These are great Malik. I look forward to returning to see the Aga Khan projects in Toronto.
Absolutely breathtaking photos. Mind blowing angles at which the photos were taken. Thank you for awesome narration and let us also join in this wonderful experience. Allah Bless you always. Ameen
Absolutely beautiful, thanks for sharing.