Graduate student’s composition brings together the mystical and the ‘Earth Bound’

During winter break, VAIBHAV TRIPATHI, a doctoral student in electrical engineering, sent us a composite image he created from photos he took of the total lunar eclipse that occurred late night Dec. 20 and early morning Dec. 21. The result is a stunning image consisting of five photos.

“The sky was partly cloudy and after the total eclipse, it became mostly cloudy, not allowing me any photo of the moon either in the total eclipsed state or coming out of the eclipse,” Tripathi, who also earned his master’s degree at Stanford, explains on his photography blog.

“When I planned for the images of the eclipsing moon, I wanted to find something on the earth to match with the mystical (not so in the modern age) phenomenon. Since the weather was not cooperative, I didn’t want to go too far and decided upon shooting from my university’s Oval. The lit church in the night provided the ‘Earth Bound’ structure. I walked couple of hundred yards from the church before taking the base picture at the same zoom as the moon so that the perspective remains the same throughout the composite image.”

Read more about Tripathi and view his work as a photographer at his online gallery. His work also will be featured in the Stanford Art Spaces exhibit from Jan. 28 through March 17.