Photographing the 2024 Solar Eclipse
As I write I sit in Arkansas a day after the 2024 total solar eclipse. I drove roughly 10 hours from Alabama to the Caney Creek Wilderness to put myself in a position to make some images, camp in some beautiful environments, and experience full totality.
I had an image in mind that I wanted to create, but once I started scouting the area I’d chosen I realized just how ambitious my idea was. I was hoping to include a mountain top in the frame, but because the sun was so high in the sky (61º) and the mountains in the area were so heavily wooded, no such vantage point existed that I could find.
After recognizing this was the case I decided to simply photograph the eclipse itself without other elements from the top of a mountain I had hiked the day I arrived in the area. This left me with nearly a full day to simply enjoy camping, which I thoroughly took advantage of thanks to some gorgeous sites.
On the day of the eclipse I hiked up Buckeye Mountain and set up early. Ever since I started planning the weather had been in question. First totally clear, then high altitude clouds came, then thicker lower level clouds covered the sun, then receded, then came back, then receded again, all up until the final minute.
Clouds come in and out just before the eclipse
The view from Buckeye Mountain, Arkansas, looking southeast during totality. The edge of the moon’s shadow causes the appearance of a 360º sunset at the horizon.
Fortunately the skies opened for game time and we were presented with the stunning sensory experience that is eclipse totality. Daylight dimmed as if covered by a cloud, but the hard quality of light remained oddly constant. The temperature dropped considerably and became more humid as it approached the dew point. The sky darkened to black and revealed stars. And at the horizon, a 360º sunset became visible. This is when I was particularly grateful to have some clouds in the area which seasoned the effect.
The effects of totality combine to make the experience eerily destabilizing.
It all culminated for me with this image, a stack of several photographs made before, during, and after totality.
My rendition of the 2024 Solar Eclipse, captured from Caney Creek Wilderness, Arkansas.
