Eclipsed Eclipse

Nature has the power to fill us with awe, we humans can’t stop admiring Her. A total solar eclipse is certainly one rare event that make us feel tiny. I highly anticipated the solar eclipse of April 2024, as the path of totality was going over Central Texas.

I spent some time preparing to photograph this celestial event, determining exposure settings, making sure the lens and filter were clean, batteries full and the tripod handy.

The weather forecast was a little bit of a concern and it proved to be correct. The cloud cover over the Hill country was thick and dense. It broke open at times, allowing for a quick sight of the eclipse and for a few snaps. A lucky moment happened when the clouds opened for a few seconds right when the moon almost blocked the Sun.

A lucky moment

The sky did not open again up afterwards. We could not watch the Sun’s corona. And that is a bummer. However, we experienced the darkness of totality: light kept falling quickly, dogs started howling, birds stopped singing. Some mockingbirds that are nesting nearby my observation spot were behaving in an unusual way before the Moon completely obstructed the Sun.

A handheld shot of totality’s darkness

Am I disappointed? Perhaps a little bit. After all, we all wanted to see the Sun’s corona. During the days preceding April 8th, I kept envisioning prints of the Sun’s corona and of the Hill country during this strange moment.

Life is filled with surprises and opportunities. Who knows, I might see another solar eclipse somewhere on our beautiful planet.

A wide angle shot of the eclipse, the Moon and the Sun can be seen. This calls for a large print.