Total Solar Eclipse 2024 Photography

The solar eclipse of April 2024 was cutting across the United States for the last time in a couple decades, so of course we jumped at the chance to see them. The entire family piled into the car and we headed out on a road trip.

We all went to the one back in 2017 - we traveled down to a bird sanctuary as a family and made a day out of it, even keeping the kids out of their first day of school. It's one of our favorite memories. So we knew how special this could be.

Leading up to the eclipse, we kept a close eye on the weather. Clouds looked like they'd ruin the party across most of the US. But one of the more promising places was the Ozarks, which was where we planned to go anyway.

Our target was Eagle Point on Lake Wappapello, a recreation area in Mark Twain National Forest that was right on the line of totality. After leaving a few hours early and a few traffic snarls, getting there was fairly smooth. My 7-year-old was feverish and sick, so it was a laid back car ride, but my wife and older kids were getting more and more excited as the event got close.

We set up shop. I got 2 cameras, a time lapse on my phone, and a 2nd phone for info, notes, and other random pics. It was less busy than I expected. There was definitely a crowd, but there was room to spread out, and most of the people there were in a good mood and happy to be sharing this event with others.

The moon started to eat away at the sun, and excitement started to build. The 80 degree day got cooler, and the landscape got darker. Day time insects went away. Camera geeks talked about their gear and past eclipses.

If you've never seen the totality, the last minute is wild. It gets dark, fast. The stars and planets come out. Shadows do really weird things. The last bit of light hangs on, creating a diamond ring illusion in the sky.

Then, when the sun is completely covered, you're on another planet. Everyone gasps and cheers. You get a little scared, and start to understand why early humans were so terrified of these events and saw them as omens.

This eclipse looked like a diamond flower in the sky. Petals of corona streamed out from the moon's jet black disc. A bright diamond ring of light encircles the sun. Dots of red stood out on the ring. These were solar flares multiple earths tall. Absolutely insane that these were visible to the naked eye.

I was absorbed in seeing it with my eyes. and listening to my kids chatter away at what they were seeing. So I wasn't as focused as I could have been on the photos. But this is those one-of-a-kind things that you cannot see anywhere else. The memory and being present is the most important thing.