I'm sure few people are unaware at this point of the solar eclipse that could be seen today in North America. I'm no astronomy buff, and it was impractical for a number of reasons for me to travel anywhere in the "path of totality," but I started to have serious fear of missing out as the eclipse drew closer, so decided to take the afternoon off to see what I could see in my area.
I ended up heading to the roof of my building around the time the eclipse started to be visible here, special eclipse-viewing glasses in hand. A small group of people were assembled up there, also watching the eclipse. During part of the time I was on the roof, cloud cover prevented me from seeing anything, so I alternated between reading my book and putting on the special glasses to check out the eclipse's progress. It was a surreal experience. Since the eclipse-viewing glasses block out all light except sunlight, it felt like I was seeing the moon against a dark sky while I was wearing them. Yet, it was the middle of the day. Attempting to photograph the eclipse was a similarly odd experience. I would locate the sun in the sky while wearing my special glasses, hold the camera in front of my eyes (thereby blocking my view of everything), take the picture, and hope for the best. I'm pleased to report that the pictures I took do indeed contain the sun. However, they all look suspiciously like they were taken on a normal day.
Today was fun, but maybe I'll try to be a little more ambitious the next time a solar eclipse can be viewed in North America. It would be fun to have an excuse to travel somewhere new (assuming I won't be living in the "path of totality"). I'm sure thousands (at least!) of other people are taking care of photographs, but it would also be fun to take a few good pictures of my own. It looks like I'll have several years to prepare!
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