Solar Eclipse in the Path of Totality

 Well....the long awaited and anticipated 2024 "Great American Eclipse" is here and gone.
In it's wake there are multitudes of photographic records of this amazing event. Here's our story....

Our home here in Clark County was in the "Path of Totality," meaning that the sun would be completely obscured by the moon during the event. I could shoot the same images that you see here from our deck...however, for me, part of the experience is watching others responses and also seeing the event from the landscape aspect. 
I decided to shoot from our nearby Buck Creek State Park, and spent some time earlier this year checking various locations there using the PhotoPills App. This app allowed me to visualize what the placement of the eclipse would be in different areas f the park. I ended up choosing the Buck Creek Marina....a location that ha served us well for many other sky events. I shot the 2017 Partial Eclipse there in the exact same spot that we used yesterday. 
We arrived at the Marina early, anticipating large crowds. The crowds didn't materialize as we thought.....although there were plenty of folks enjoying the astronomical show. As totality was reached, we could hear folks all over the Marina, Beach and even across the lake at the Visitor's Center cheering. 

  
We were shooting the eclipse with our Olympus gear as well as with the Vaonis Vespera smart scope. You'll be able to see the difference in the totality images. The Vespera tracked the eclipse throughout...shooting an image every 2 seconds. Here's a video clip of a few of the 6,000 images from the Vespera. 

Here's one of only a couple of totality images caught with the Vespera....note: user error. I got too excited and removed the solar filter before disabling the safety and the scope shut down. Oh well, better than nothing!

And the other image. This one shows Bailey's Beads....the effects of the sun's light reflecting off on the moon's craters.

In comparison, here's a totality shot form the OM-1 and 100-400 with solar filter.

As noted, one of our reasons for shooting at the park was the ability to see others enjoying the eclipse.

Immature Eagle at Old Reid

 An interesting Eagle experience today.... Friend & fellow photographer Bill tipped us on an Immature Bald Eagle at Old Reid just as we were heading out the door this morning. So, of course we headed that way. The Eagle was brunching when we arrived and we shot some images (I've blurred the prey details). When the eagle finished brunch, it roosted in an Old Reid tree for a bit and posed for pics. We left and did a quick look at Buck Creek State Park. On the way home, we decided to drive through Old Reid again. The Eagle was perched on the edge of the pond, less than 100 feet from some anglers who were catching Crappies. It was keeping an eye on them! When they tossed a small Crappie on the walkway, the Eagle immediately flew over to it, grabbed it, and began munching. While it was pretty cool to see, this interaction with humans isn't a good thing. Unfortunately, wildlife that becomes habituated and begs for food from humans can lead to their demise. The Eagle obviously has been used to getting handouts prior to today. It was interesting to watch, though. It's the closest we've ever been to a wild Bald Eagle.