A dark start to spring
No worries, nothing bad happened! Nor did I come down with the winter blues. I'll explain the title in just a few moments. First of all, my apologies for the long radio silence. In all honesty, besides being a busy time of year for me personally, winter is not my favorite time of year for photography. I enjoy going out to take photos after snow storms, but come mid-February, I'm kind of done with cold mornings, blue fingers, runny noses, and shoveling snow. And the same goes for my craft. I long for early spring mornings surrounded by fog and lush green pastures.
But, as the days have been getting longer and the sun has come out from behind the clouds, I've been getting that photography itch once again! And what better way to satisfy that feeling than a certain once-in-a-lifetime event taking place in the Green Mountain State among other locations? If the image above didn't give away the mysterious title, you must have guessed it by now. I am, of course, talking about past Monday's solar eclipse.
Ok, all silliness aside, this was a pretty spectacular phenomenon, and I'm certainly grateful that we were lucky enough for it to visit Stowe! The excitement was palpable as I set up my equipment downtown near town hall. Lots of people had descended on the steps of that building as well as patios and sidewalks along Main Street. I'm glad my family and I were there and not in our still muddy back yard.
The last time I witnessed a total solar eclipse was in 1999 in France. We found out after the event that my friend had forgotten to load a roll of film in the single camera we'd brought with us. Not that it mattered much, because a thick layer of clouds had hidden mother nature's beautiful show from view anyway. Well, not this time! The weather cooperated, and I made sure to load my camera -- not with film but an SD card, needless to say. I was well prepared.
This doesn't mean a bit of anxiety didn't hold sway over me. A solar eclipse is a fast-changing event, more so than a sunset. One moment you're using a filter, but moments before totality that filter needs to come off your lens and you're scrambling to adjust your exposure settings within seconds as the moon creeps before the sun. That part of it was a little stressful! It's not like I'm doing this every week either. See some images from this sequence below.
From here on out it was smooth sailing! I had the opportunity to fiddle with my settings a bit, keep shooting (every second using a timer), and yes, also take an actual peek at the sky. What a great event. It was absolutely marvelous. I was bummed it was such a fleeting moment, for I wouldn't have minded another 5 minutes (or indeed 50) of just hanging back and enjoying the view.
Anyway, see some more results below. As always, thank you for your interest in my work! Hope to see you all on Facebook and Instagram soon! If you were directed to this page from there, please consider subscribing.
