I’ve dreamed of seeing a total eclipse of the sun all my life. When I read there was one on August 21st that passed dead-center over the town of Newberry SC, I was overjoyed. This was my chance. My wife and I had lived in Newberry in 2013. I had friends there. I had a place to stay. I wouldn’t need to pay $1000 for a hotel room.

I had friends who owned Enoree River Vineyards and Winery (a slight plug for a great vineyard and great wine.) They were throwing a party for 300 people at their winery. My friend even had an official pair of Newberry Eclipse 2017 glasses saved for me. I bought a 4×4 ND5 SolarLite polymer filter sheet from Thousand Oaks Optical, the good stuff, and made a filter holder to that I could quickly remove it from the front of my 300mm lens, 450mm on my crop frame D7100, when totality climaxed. I read everything I could find about shooting the eclipse and studied a myriad of images. I wanted to have a great picture to hang on my wall to remind me of the experience and, I admit, to brag about. I was pretty well set.

[Read More…]