2024 Total Solar Eclipse

This was the most spectacular natural event I have ever witnessed!

When the 2017 solar eclipse took place, I was living in Milwaukee, WI at the time. I really wanted to photograph the event, even though it wasn’t 100% total.

I took an extended break from work (a very long lunch hour) and set up my camera and tripod in the empty lot next to my place of employment. Not having the proper filtration, I fashioned a lens filter out of an old floppy disk that I cut apart and taped to the front of my lens. It worked…sort of. I could see the eclipse just fine, but it wasn’t crystal clear like I wanted. I found out that another eclipse was going to happen in April 2024 and I was determined to drive south to anywhere to photograph it.

Fast forward 7 years later…I made that trip.

About 2 weeks before the eclipse, I started my intense planning and choosing a small town on Google Maps. By this time I knew I wasn’t going to stay in some way overpriced Motel 6, it was too late for that. Just to let you know how expensive they were, a normally priced room was $87/night. Eclipse price….$807! And what’s funny, most of these hotels that were charging exuberant prices were nearly empty.

I drove down to Albion, IL. the day before the event. Why Albion? It was dead center in the path and was away from large cities and crowds. I arrived there in the early evening on Sunday and drove around a bit trying to find a good location for the next day of shooting. No matter where I ended up at, I had to sleep in my car and I determined Albion was NOT the place to be alone in my car in the middle of the night. I decided to move on to another town.

I drove farther south about 10 miles and ended up in Grayville, IL, just 1 mile from the Indiana border and still dead center in the path of totality. I choose one of the hotel’s parking lot and camped in my car for the night.

Morning came, I’m up at 6:30am after a night of NO sleep and a stiff neck. Made coffee out of the back of my vehicle with a little camp stove and a handful of powdered donuts for breakfast. A few people rolled in about mid morning and by 12:15pm I was setting up my shots. There were about a total of a dozen people that arrived to witness the event and got to meet a few and we exchanged social media credentials.

The main camera that captured the eclipse. Attached is a 100mm-400mm lens (at 400mm). The angle of the sun was at 56º so it really had to crank that camera pretty high in the sky.

The first shots of the moon passing in front of the sun started at 12:45pm. I took a few bracketed shots and spaced them apart about 10-15 minutes each.

This image was about 2:03pm looking north. There was a little bit of a glow in the sky and clearly the street lights were on. A weird and wonderful experience nonetheless.

Then…TOTALITY! Off came my filter and I just kept shooting for those 270 seconds. It was the most spectacular event I have ever witnessed. It got colder but I didn’t notice any bugs flying around. I did see the stars and planets that you normally don’t see during the day. I looked around and was just in awe. I grabbed a few photos with my iPhone just to document what the surrounding landscape and buildings looked in near total darkness at 2:00 in the afternoon. It was bizarre as hell.

Full Totality

2:00pm the moon completely in front of the sun. 4½ minutes of pure bliss!

Full composite put together in Photoshop. This will be hanging on my wall soon.

Did my last set of images around 3:15-3:30pm when the moon finally passed to the other side of the sun. It was time to pack up and make my 6 hour journey back home. I was on the road soon, checked the traffic maps…all looked good. Within the next hour the traffic started to slow down to mostly bumper to bumper 3mph crawl because everyone was heading back home. And…because of no sleep the night before, I was starting to doze off behind the wheel. I was not going to make home that afternoon so I had to find a low priced hotel as soon as I could.

I found a Super 8 or something like that in Mattoon, IL, just 100 miles from my starting point. Price with tax and my old man discount was around $107. Got into my room around 6:30pm, walked next door to the Steak ‘n Shake for a burger and a shake and brought it back to my room. Lights out at 9:30pm. I was up and back on the road at 8:15am. I made it back home at 3:30pm and laid on my bed for another 3 hour nap, which I needed.

Brand new hotel. I might have been the first customer in the room I booked.

I do make these solo trips every once in awhile, but would I like to bring someone else along? Sure, but…it is what it is, and I do enjoy spending time with myself on occasion.

If there were to be another full eclipse within the next couple years, would I photograph it again? I don’t know. I don’t know how I would photograph it differently.

When is the next full eclipse? Aug. 12, 2045. Good chance I might be around at that time. But at least I witnessed a full totality eclipse in my lifetime. Cross THAT off my bucket list!