Total Eclipse of the Clouds

*The one shot I was able to get before the eclipse started at all.*

Well the big talk across the country this week is the solar eclipse that spanned a large chunk of it. I am lucky enough to live within the path of totality…but I was very unlucky that mother nature graced with overcast skies on the day. We had a beautiful sunny day before and beautiful sunny day after…really mother nature??? So we had clouds. To say it was a little bit of a disappointment would be an understatement, particularly to my camera and space nerd self. About a year ago I started prepping, purchasing special lens filters to protect my camera from the intensity of the sun. I’d go out on sunny days to play around with exposure settings. We even had a partial solar eclipse come our way in the fall which I planned to use as practice for the big show. It was cloudy that day as well, and even worse I believe it was raining. But I still held out hope and was optimistic that this time the weather would be good…that was until about four days ago when the forecast starting looking pretty unfavorable.

But I soldiered on in my plans to go over to Highland Park and camp out there for the afternoon. Armed with a book, some snacks and my camera, I found a spot and settled in. I got there a couple of hours before totality was expected and there was already a decent crowd of people, probably less than if it had been clear skies, but people continued to arrive until about five minutes before totality! As I set up my camera I did some people watching, lots of friend groups, some families, people of all ages, lots of dogs, lots of camera and even a couple of telescopes. Lots of eyes looking up to the sky in vain to spot the sun, the putting on and taking off of the eclipse glasses which were rendered useless thanks to the clouds.

I didn’t have a plan as to what types of photos I wanted to get, I was just hoping to get any kind of decent photo of something. If I had thought more, I would have brought my full size tripod instead of just my small one, maybe then I could have gotten a decent photo of the sunset on the horizon. So I set up my camera, pointed it roughly where I could tell the sun was and settled into my book (which is currently The Clanlands, written by Outlander actors Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish; I highly recommend if you’re a fan of the show! 😊 ), I didn’t get too far though as I’m easily distracted by conversations and people around me, and of course all the dogs passing by! I want to pet every one!

*The clouds putting on a show as totality approaches.*

The Eclipse was due to start just after 2pm, which it probably did but I couldn’t see anything, but as it gets closer to the 3pm time, I notice it starts getting noticeably cooler, and the clouds start looking very cool! Which I have to believe was due to the shadow cast by the sun behind the clouds, and that only got more intense as totality approached. In the final twenty minutes before totality, everyone in the crowd gathered start to get more excited, people start standing up in anticipation. In the final minute before full totality I start taking a video on my phone just like many others. The lamps along the walking paths turn on, triggered by the darkness, and it gets dark.

Totality sets in and the crowd cheers before just taking in the moment. I would describe it as a dark dusk, it’s not quite pitch black night time but it’s simultaneously weird, freaky, and breathtaking in its way. To see it get that dark that quickly really does stir something in you. You’re reminded that we are just specs in the universe and what’s happening is something entirely out of our control, which in a day and age where we have control over so much of our lives, and when things are not in our control, we flounder and struggle, as we saw at the start of the pandemic lockdowns.

One perk to being up in a high location is getting to witness the 360° sunset you hear about. To be honest I couldn’t quite understand what they meant by that, but after seeing it you completely understand. And this was the moment I really wished I had brought my full tripod. Because of the darkness, my shutter speed had to be much slower and trying to get stable photo handheld with a slow shutter speed is basically impossible and unfortunately the photo I took on my phone does not do it justice. It was definitely cooler than it was at the start, but it almost felt colder in the coming an going of totality than the moment itself. Maybe that was just due to the adrenaline I was most likely experiencing. My mom, who was watching from her work, said the birds got very quiet. I didn’t necessarily notice that myself but with all the people around I’m not surprised I didn’t. I did notice the dogs got quieter.

*The very blurry image I got of the 360 sunset.*

I really wish totality lasted longer, partly so I could have more time to get photos, but also just to take it all in. Three minutes is not enough time! But sure enough the sky starts to lighten as the moon moves along, and so do the people. As soon as totality ends people are starting to pack up their things and leave, as people do. I choose to stay and let the crowd dissipate before leaving. Despite it being cloudy, it was still something incredible to witness and while it wasn’t the experience I was hoping for, it’s still likely the only chance I’ll ever have to experience a total solar eclipse! The next solar eclipse to pass across the US isn’t for another 20 years, and the next one to cross our region of western New York won’t be for 120 years! But odds are in 120 years it will still be cloudy during the eclipse, like it was 100 years ago during the last eclipse in Rochester, or maybe third times the charm?

Total Eclipse of the Clouds

Eshmore