‘It brings the moon down to Earth’: Mimi Mollica’s best phone picture

A sleepless night led the Sicilian photographer to capture this remarkable lunar image from his London balcony

Mimi Mollica says that his photograph of the moon above London presents something of a dichotomy. “There is an element of surprise in seeing the moon in proximity to our terrestrial life, a ‘wow’ factor,” the Sicily-born photographer explains. “And yet this photo also democratises her; bringing her down to Earth, almost touching a building.”

Mollica took the shot from the balcony of his top-floor flat, which overlooks a skyline spanning from the Docklands to central London. It was mid-spring, and he’d woken around 4am. Unable to get back to sleep, he used his iPhone 13 Mini against the viewfinder of his telescope. He has now captured enough images in this way to fill a photography book, Moon City.

“When I am on my balcony, especially when most of London is sleeping, I feel like the captain of a ship taking to the sky,” he says. “I can sometimes hear hammers and voices from building sites, the hoots of birds or sirens in the distance, but mostly just the quiet. I find it very therapeutic.”

Mollica insists there were “no dirty tricks” involved in editing the shot. “I always try to make my adjustments as I am taking pictures, not after, mainly because I can immediately visualise the outcome,” he says.

He recalls the time his daughter Nora, aged three, insisted the moon, reflected on the canal they were walking beside, was following them. “The moon has always occupied a special place in our collective imagination,” he says.