Back in the summer of 2017 a total eclipse of the sun was taking place on the east coast of the US. I was lucky enough to live very close to the path of totality. I had not experienced a total eclipse since I was in the first grade and all I really remembered about that experience was poking holes in tinfoil to look at shadows on the ground. With that as my only memory of an eclipse I wasn’t very excited about the event but sometimes you have to be open to life and not have expectations.
“Comparing what you see during an eclipse to the darkness at night is like comparing an ocean to a teardrop.”
Camping on the “bald” the night before the eclipse.
I knew I wanted to be in the path of totality to experience the greatest contrast from daylight to almost complete shut out of the sun’s light. I also wanted to be at a higher elevation with a nice long distance view so I could see the moon’s shadow move across the earth. With all those factors to take into account, it narrowed down the places where we could view the eclipse. I broke out the map and found a spot along the Appalachian Trail that would hopefully provide all the elements I was looking for. On the day before the eclipse we loaded up our camping gear and photo equipment then drove to the trail head. We had about a six mile hike to the spot we would camp and view the eclipse. On the day of, I set up my camera in a spot that I hoped would work for the shot I wanted to capture. Unfortunately a thick cloud cover had moved in and it didn’t look as if we were going to get to see the eclipse at all but as the time moved closer the clouds moved on just in time to start to see the strange warm dimmer than normal light coming from the sun. That strange light signaled the coming of the event. It starts about an hour before the the actual eclipse and slowly gets dimmer and dimmer until you start to see the moon start to peek in front of the sun. At that same point if you have a long distance view you can see the moon’s shadow heading your way. I had set up my go pro on the tripod to film the entire event. Due to having to carry all my gear in I was limited to one tripod. In the video you’ll see a bit of shake due to me adjusting and repositioning the camera. Instead of doing the extreme close up shot of the moon moving in front of the sun I wanted to do something I’d never seen. I was fascinated by the idea of seeing the eclipse and the shadow of the moon on the horizon all in one shot. So as the eclipse took place I realized I was going to be a little off with my guess of it’s placement in the sky but with a bit of adjustment I was quickly able to line up everything to my best ability. It’s an interesting thing for photographers to photograph an event and to still give yourself a chance to experience that event but I’ll leave that for another day.
The shot I envisioned.
Eclipse are are strange things. You can almost feel them. The air seems heavy. The animals act different and go quiet. Hell, it seems everything goes quiet. Even humans go quiet. In this moment I was shooting franticly knowing I had only seconds to get this once in a lifetime shot. It was all there, the eclipse, the moon shadow on the horizon, and an unexpected twist of the false sunset at the shadow line. I knew I had it but it was a challenge to get the correct exposure as it changed with every stage of the eclipse. Even in my hurry to make sure I had the shot I would pause to take in the moment because this was a once in a lifetime photo but it was a once in a lifetime moment for me as well.
Then as the moon continued its path through space and revealed the sun to us on that tiny mountain top, the strange light returned as we watched the shadow line move away from us across the surface of the Earth. The bats went away and the birds and insects returned.
The post eclipse strange light and the moon’s shadow on the horizon.
Below is a super short time-lapse video of the go pro footage. It’s a little shaky due to being on the same tripod I was shooting on but you can get a sense of it.