Hailing from northern Illinois, and the total eclipse peaking in southern Illinois… chance of a lifetime.
At Flora, IL, in the Walmart parking lot.
We were watching the clouds close, they were in the area. The shoot was hectic, grueling, and technically extraordinarily difficult, but we managed to pull it off. Took almost an hour to get the telescope setup. Extraordinarily difficult to align it. Can’t see anything thru it but the sun. So was very difficult. Underestimated the setup, despite having done it before!
tricky parts
Focusing (argh!)!, exposure (holy crap)! moon speed! bright, oh God, the brightness!, earth rotation! the timing!, lights out during totality! drift of focus due to heated equipment! almost straight friggin up! occasional clouds! Totality short! Really worried about the Walmart parking lot lights coming on in totality (we had a plan to block it, and RV was blocking most), but still very worried. They never came on. Whew.
Met some nice people who stopped by. Hopefully they see this.
Here is the whole album if interested in other photos
