I drove out to the levee on my own tonight to catch some of the solar eclipse. Upon arrival I was more than happy to see a small crowd of about twenty people finding the right spot to view with or without their devices. I especially chuckled over the young man nearly putting his head into his box to check out what was happening. The man and the woman watching through their iPad sparked my curiosity, too. With a smile on my face I strolled through the people to stake out a location where I thought I'd avoid the tree line on the Mississippi. I knew that we wouldn't make it to complete eclipse since the sun was already on its way to set, but I was still very excited when I saw the first little space of the sun covered. I took a few shots hand held then realized that I wouldn't see much more where I was standing because of the sun's drop into the trees. Scooting over a bit helped that, and I set the camera on the tripod in back display mode where I could see what was happening very nicely. I had a good show with the gorgeous sunset colors and a few wispy clouds overhead. Even with its quick departure, the little that I saw amazed me. Sure it was a tease because I wanted more, but I was happy and satisfied to have been there.
I did get to meet a few folks who were nearby at the conclusion, a couple of them being the people with the iPad. It was a nice exchange of images - mine on the camera and theirs on the iPad in real time. It ends up that the iPad application, 'Star Track' I think it's called, gives you access to a calendar of planetary events, info about each of them, and a way to track and name what's happening in the skies in real time. So thank you Jay, Adria, Marc and Betsy Fraiolis for sharing in the excitement and giving me a look into your media view of the event. :) On the way out I also met a nice group of folks who sat on the levee incline throughout. I have a silhouette shot of them in the set - Corey, Heidi, Lauren and Laura. I hope that they all peek in to take a look. :)
Here's a small album with a few more images of the scene. :)
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