The much anticipated and publicised 2017 Total Solar Eclipse occurred on 21 August.  This particular Solar Eclipse event is unique because it is the first Total Solar Eclipse in 99 years to be visible across the entire United States, from Oregon on the Pacific coast to South Carolina on the Atlantic coast.

I vividly remember the Annular Solar Eclipse that took place on 10 May 1994 when I was living in Chicago and in-part because of this, I was motivated to try and photograph this Solar Eclipse.  I had never before photographed the sun in such a manner, so I did some research, conducted a few test shoots, and hoped I might be able to capture some images of the Solar Eclipse event.  Now living in central Illinois, I was not able to travel to a more ideal locale due to other obligations, as such, I would experience a maximum Partial Solar Eclipse of 93% obscuration.  The predicted Solar Eclipse event was set to begin at 11:51:50 local time and ended at 14:43:06 local time with the maximum 93% obscuration occurring at 13:18:41 local time.

Even knowing that the Solar Eclipse event was occurring, I admittedly was not as fully prepared as I should have been.  When I finally sought to order an ISO 12312-2 filter, a couple of months in advance of the event, sellers were already sold-out or prices had become exorbitant.  I was fortunate to be able to order an ISO 12312-2, 30 cm square sheet filter from Thousand Oaks Optical.  But now I had to carefully cut the filter sheet to obtain a size (⌀95 mm) that would be adequate for the lens I intended to use.  Then I had to make a filter holder and a way of attaching it to the lens.  To make these items, I used 0.5 mm Styrene sheet.

About This Photograph

The above photograph was taken during my final test shoot prior to the day of the actual Solar Eclipse event.  The weather on this day was comfortably warm, a bit windy and was periodically cloudy throughout the day.  Over the course of several hours, I often had to wait until there was an unobstructed view of the sun.  I particularly like this image because the sun is partially obscured by clouds and several sun spots can clearly be seen.

Having performed several test shoots and knowing that I could confidently capture an image of the Solar Eclipse event, I was now forced to contend with the likelihood that the weather would not be favourable for experiencing the Solar Eclipse event nor photographing the actual eclipse event.  The forecasted weather showed mostly cloudy all morning, overcast by 10:00 local time, 49% chance of storms from 12:00 to 14:00 local time and mostly cloudy with diminishing chance of rain for the remainder of the day.  All I could do was keep my fingers crossed and hope for a break in the weather.