I’ll admit, I was not hyped up about this event. We didn’t live in the full path of totality and I didn’t want to buy any special equipment to photograph a once-every-20-year thing.

It wasn’t until this weekend, when Tara and I were talking about fun ways for her science class to experience the eclipse that I really gave it any serious thought. I have this core memory of watching an eclipse through a paper plate (pinhole camera) in science class back in the 1990’s, so with that memory rattling around in my brain, I decided to read a couple of blog posts to see what I needed. Turns out, I didn’t need to buy anything! I already owned all the equipment I’d need! #ExcitementIntensifies

For the photos, I leaned into my hands-on experience shooting all the Full Moons last year, so it was a piece of cake to get set up. I shot on my Sony A7R4, with the Tamron 35-150mm. The Tamron had two filters attached, an ND10 and a CPL. I was also tethered to my MacBook over Wi-Fi. The tether allowed me to view the eclipse and make fine tuned adjustments without having to stare at the sun.

Thankfully, the clouds held off just enough and at 13:59, the eclipse reached 70-75%. The temperature also dropped 6 degrees! I didn’t hear any cicadas and the bats didn’t come out, but it was still cool experience! I shot the photos below at f/22, 1/1000 @ ISO 100

The next Total Solar Eclipse will happen on August 12, 2045. And Alabama will be in the path of totality. I’m looking forward to experiencing it!