{"id":45440,"date":"2026-01-25T17:09:32","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T17:09:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/photographer-over-the-moon-with-et-recreation-on-eglwysilan-mountain\/"},"modified":"2026-01-25T17:09:32","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T17:09:32","slug":"photographer-over-the-moon-with-et-recreation-on-eglwysilan-mountain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/photographer-over-the-moon-with-et-recreation-on-eglwysilan-mountain\/","title":{"rendered":"Photographer over the Moon with ET recreation on Eglwysilan Mountain"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\"MichaelMichael Meighan<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

“We were over the Moon to finally get this one,” said Michael Meighan<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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A photographer is “over the Moon” after recreating an iconic scene from the movie ET in a photo that has been almost two years in the making. <\/p>\n

Michael Meighan and friend Nathan Edwards have tried repeatedly to recreate the scene from the 1982 film, when Elliott’s BMX – with ET riding in the basket – flies by the Moon.<\/p>\n

The planets finally aligned during the first full Moon of the year, when Edwards pushed his bike uphill and into position on Eglwysilan hill, Rhondda Cynon Taf.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Meighan watched through his viewfinder from 1.4 miles (2.3km) away on a residential street in Treforest, Pontypridd, while the pair kept in contact by phone – attracting the attention of curious householders.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"GettyGetty Images | Corbis Historical<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Elliott and his friends try to help ET evade capture in Steven Speilberg’s movie from 1982<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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“They came out wondering what was happening when they saw a man with a huge camera lens next to their house,” recalled Meighan, 39, from Cardiff.<\/p>\n

The care support worker showed them the scene through his camera with plasterer Edwards “huffing and puffing” on the other end of the phone while getting into position following a five-minute uphill bike push.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"MichaelMichael Meighan<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Edwards used duct tape to secure a teddy bear wrapped in a blanket to make it look like ET was sitting on the front of his own bike<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Edwards, 33, from Cwmbran, Torfaen, had fastened into position a plastic wash bowl complete with teddy bear wrapped in a blanket to make it look like ET was sitting on the front of his own bike.<\/p>\n

He then stood and waited for his friend to get the shot which they first began planning in 2024.<\/p>\n

Meighan said he and Edwards had scouted other locations and attempted the movie recreation scene before by using a phone app to pinpoint their required positions given the expected location of the Moon.<\/p>\n

But opportunities for success had been limited with 12 full Moons in a typical year – until they got the perfect weather conditions last Saturday night.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"MichaelMichael Meighan<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Michael Meighan (right) and his friend Nathan Edwards (left) have spent two years trying to recreate the image<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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“We were over the Moon to finally get this one,” said Meighan.<\/p>\n

“We’ve attempted to get this shot a few times.<\/p>\n

“The weather has messed us about, [also] not being able to get the alignment due to where the Moon is rising, but it finally came to.<\/p>\n

“The actual planning is the hard part. Once it’s planned, it’s very simple to execute.”<\/p>\n

They shared a “huge embrace” and celebrated in a nearby pub afterwards.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Meighan paid tribute to the commitment of his friend, as the plan was first discussed following another full Moon photoshoot two years ago.<\/p>\n

“He’s a fantastic person, a fantastic friend and without him this would not be possible,” said Meighan.<\/p>\n

“The enthusiasm that he shows and the dedication to grab the bike, drive to a random location and to do that for sake of this image, it’s just brilliant.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n


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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michael Meighan “We were over the Moon to finally get this one,” said Michael Meighan A photographer is “over the Moon” after recreating an iconic scene from the movie ET in a photo that has been almost two years in the making. Michael Meighan and friend Nathan Edwards have tried repeatedly to recreate the scene […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45441,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[13424,2888,6726,264,13423],"class_list":["post-45440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-pictures","tag-eglwysilan","tag-moon","tag-mountain","tag-photographer","tag-recreation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45440"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45440\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45442,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45440\/revisions\/45442"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}