{"id":231933,"date":"2026-01-11T03:05:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T03:05:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/231933\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T03:05:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T03:05:11","slug":"photographer-over-the-moon-with-et-picture-recreation-two-years-in-the-making","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/231933\/","title":{"rendered":"Photographer over the Moon with ET picture recreation two years in the making"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MichaelMichael Meighan<\/p>\n

“We were over the Moon to finally get this one,” said Michael Meighan<\/p>\n

A photographer says he 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 his friend Nathan Edwards have tried repeatedly to recreate the scene from the 1982 hit film, when Elliott’s BMX – with ET riding in the basket – flies by the Moon.<\/p>\n

The planets finally aligned during last weekend’s first full Moon of the year, when plasterer Edwards pushed his bike uphill and into position on Eglwysilan Mountain, 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

“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 Edwards “huffing and puffing” on the other end of the phone while getting into position following a five-minute uphill bike push.<\/p>\n

\"MichaelMichael Meighan<\/p>\n

Michael Meighan (right) and his friend Nathan Edwards (left) have spent two years trying to recreate the image<\/p>\n

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

\"GettyGetty Images | Corbis Historical<\/p>\n

Elliott and his friends try to help ET evade capture in Steven Speilberg’s movie from 1982<\/p>\n

“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

\"MichaelMichael Meighan<\/p>\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<\/p>\n

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","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Michael Meighan “We were over the Moon to finally get this one,” said Michael Meighan A photographer says…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":231934,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[437,434,435,436,438,146,85,46],"class_list":{"0":"post-231933","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-artsdesign","12":"tag-design","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-il","15":"tag-israel"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231933"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231933\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/231934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}