4-8-24

I am adding this post a little late from the actual event. Many excuses, but better late than never.

A little back story, back in 2017, my brother John and I traveled to central Oregon to witness a total solar eclipse. I had only seen a couple partial eclipses in the past, but the opportunity to see a total eclipse within only a few hours from us was just too compelling. There were a lot of different reports of extreme crowds, gasoline shortages, long traffic jams, etc. etc. We had prepared for any and all of the above.

We traveled to eastern Oregon hoping to miss most of these issues as it is sparsely populated. I researched different areas and found an old gravel pit that I felt would suit our needs. Without all the details, we witnessed the event, which lasted just over two minutes, and I cannot express how amazing it was! I never thought it would be such a rewarding experience that it was and couldn’t stop talking about it.

I found out there was going to be another total eclipse in 2024, stretching across America from south to north. As I looked at the path, I realized it would go almost directly over Indianapolis, Indiana. As luck would have it, my son lives in a northern suburb of Indianapolis – Fishers. So a plan was hatched to travel and see another total solar eclipse. When I told my brother, he instantly wanted to go along with me. Unfortunately, my wife could not get out of work and could not also accompany me on the trip – which I was highly disappointed with.

The next part of the planning was how to get there – fly or drive. Considering I obviously wanted to not just witness the eclipse, but also photograph it, I started adding up all the camera gear I would want to take along with me. Hearing several horror stories of stolen camera gear from airline workers, I thought it would be best not to go that route. So instead of flying, it was decided to take a nice road trip. It is approximately 2,200 miles to Indianapolis from northern California. Without trying to push our bodies to their extremes, we decided to use three days to get there and actually arrive a couple days ahead of the event as a buffer.

When the time came, we were off! I will not go into all the details of our trip to Indianapolis, as it would take up a lot more pages. But without any issues, we arrived as planned. My prior planning gave me a couple options on where to set up for the event. Obviously, I needed a clear view of the sky (my son lives in a residential neighborhood). From his front yard, the sky was blocked by trees. However, from the far reaches of his backyard, could probably work out okay. My main thought was a city park just a few blocks from his house. It has a large expanse of lawn which I figured as long as we showed up early enough, we shouldn’t have any problems with a spot that has a clear unobstructed view.

The morning of the event, I was getting everything ready to go. We drove to a local market to get last-minute supplies as we had expected to be sitting in the park for several hours. As we returned, it was pointed out that my son’s neighbor’s house was currently vacant. The owners had sold the house just recently and the new owners had yet to move in. Standing in the driveway was a clear view of the path of the sun. Immediately, a new location was born and we didn’t have to worry about other people interfering.

Using ‘Photopills’ app on my phone, the predicted path of the sun was shown and I set up my tripod so no obstructions would interfere. I had brought my star tracker to also use during the event. The tracker has two different modes, one to track stars and another to track the sun. Typically you calibrate the tracker by centering it on the north star. Obviously, that isn’t possible in the middle of the day, so I used a method to set the ‘probable’ true north. I knew it wouldn’t be perfect, but as long as I was close, there would be less need to keep moving the camera on the tripod head to keep the sun within the camera frame. It is surprising how quickly the sun will move through your camera frame, especially with a 200mm zoom.

My intention was to try and get all aspects of the eclipse. From the very beginning of the partial eclipse through the total eclipse and then back to the partial until it was finished. My plan was to later put all these images into a composite photograph showing the different stages. Of course, the main goal was to just experience the event. I also wanted to make sure the photographic part of this did not take away from the total eclipse experience itself. Seeing photos of a total eclipse does not even come close to “experiencing” it in real life – which of course is why we drove three days – one way, to watch a three-minute event.

I did a lot of planning and practicing to try and be as prepared for the eclipse as I could be. It’s not like you can just run outside and see an eclipse over and over, practicing until you get it right. So as much prior preparation and research you can manage will help you at the time of the actual event. The total eclipse lasted for just over three minutes. Believe me – it goes by REALLY, REALLY fast. Before you know it, it’s over! Hopefully, your preparedness worked out, your settings were good and of course, the camera didn’t die on you.

I was really excited to witness another total solar eclipse. Sure, everything didn’t work as well as I had hoped. There were a few light, whispy clouds that came through, but they did not seem to matter much in the photographs. The weather was the great unknown and naturally nothing you have any control over. It was nicer than the day before when there was rain and a lightning storm that rolled through. We knew there would be a chance of a storm or just clouds blocking the event but I just took the chance.

Once I returned to California, I was able to put this composite photograph together. It turned out even better than I had hoped. I think it gives you an idea of the entire event, even without being there. Of course having been there – it is a reminder of a great adventure and event!

You can see an expanded version of the whole adventure, including the trip out there and back on my YouTube channel – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcsTPuEL9ec&t=1290s&ab_channel=DonHasemeyer