SUN & MOON
Several years ago, the buzz began about the total solar eclipse that would sweep across North America on April 8, 2024. People started making travel plans, and cities geared up to handle throngs of expected visitors.
Because we were in an area of near totality, I didn’t see the need to travel. Still, I wasn’t photographically excited in part due to lackluster results of an annular eclipse months earlier.
Having photographed most everything from Arctic oil drilling to Zebras galloping, I had some photographic guilt for my lack of interest in astrophotography. Still, I felt an obligation to take advantage of the relative ease of photographing this rare celestial event so did the research to be ready.
My plan was to just shoot from our high-rise balcony. However, an invitation to visit friends near Little Rock offered fun, plus we’d experience totality. As it turned out we had clear skies there while back home in Austin it was mostly cloudy.
For days I incubated ideas of how to photograph the eclipse differently. There are hundreds of good record shots of eclipses whether by sequential photos or having a dramatic foreground. I couldn’t come up with anything and hoped the location would give a last-minute inspiration. But alas, I opted to simply record the phases through totality.
In processing the files, my first decision was whether to go with the reality that the sun, by definition, is white, but convention goes with a happy yellow-orange color. I got it. Color looks better. It was easier to stay true to the sky just being a deep blue, not black, as is often shown at totality.
I finished with a selection of seven images in a straight line. I sent it around to friends who enjoyed it. But it was not a photo for my GEMS file. For one thing, I still believe a photo needs to be good enough to be worth printing for wall display. The ratio of this photo was 1:17, not very enticing.
Image size 10”x170”
Recently our hosts in Little Rock asked about acquiring a print of this sequence to hang in their lovely home. Thinking the format odd, I began to play with something I’d consider putting on our own wall. I love panoramic photos and have shot them for years, first with specialized film cameras and now via digitally stitched images. But my native format is the perfect 2:3 ratio of a 35mm camera. I started with a seven-shot sequence near the middle of a blank canvas. Because we are not truly up or down within the universe, I flipped and rotated the sequence for a row of three. Three is a universal number repeated across religions, civilizations and even workout regimes. That left blank spaces on the canvas. Every article on photographing an eclipse strongly recommended pausing to take in the event. For me, that included spotting some disc shaped highlights falling on granite tiles as light shown through the leaves of a Japanese maple. It was a reminder to look down when everyone was looking up.
The incubation took a long time and as usual yielded unexpected results- rekindled by our friends’ request for which I am grateful as I otherwise would not have revisited the photos.
Finally, I had something wall-worthy.
Eclipse Elements final print size 30x45”