The moon is an incredible subject of interest, but in order to truly make the most of it in a photograph, you need to time its position to coincide with other subjects, which can take a tremendous amount of planning and a healthy dose of luck. The planning takes a bit of knowledge, a lot of patience, and some flexibility as well. You can do some work to help ensure the weather pans out for you, but at the end of the day, if the weather doesn’t cooperate when the moon is going to align with your subject, you’re kind of out of luck.
With that said, a health dose of luck can overrule all of that, and this was one of those images. This was completely unplanned, and I only noticed it while walking from the car to where I was staying for the night. The sunset-lit clouds broke just in time over a mountain to align with a lovely moon-set over this peak. I expected none of that, and was simply in the right place at the right time with my camera in hand. Sometimes luck can make an image possible, if you’re prepared for it!