SOLAR ECLIPSE 2024!
I mean. That was SOMETHING, wasn't it? I had not pre-planned anything, but the day of the eclipse, I realized that I was going to be working from home that day and all alone. That's when...about an hour before "start of eclipse time", I decided to figure out a way to photograph this incredible event. I didn't have filters and all the things necessary to do a proper job, but I wanted to try. Worst case, I put the camera down and enjoy the energy! I did have glasses. (I had been invited to a party that had been canceled due to not knowing if the clouds were going to obscure it.)
So I tore up one of the eclipse glasses, taped the look through part to my camera lens and went into the back yard. I also taped glasses to my iPhone to see if I could time lapse it, but that was a FAIL. Hey, I tried.
But the photos were SO MUCH FUN TO TAKE! I got some really cool photos of the whole event, while I sat in my back yard being mindful of the birds and cows and even our cats. I'd heard to watch how animals react and I was ALL IN!
After the eclipse, I came in to look at the computer and see what I'd gotten. I knew I wasn't going to have some award winning something, but I knew, I had enough to be excited about. Because they WERE MINE!
Then I looked at Facebook.
I saw so many cool photos from all different people! And by "cool photos" I mean, the excitement with which people shared their experience! iPhone photos, blurry photos, blown out photos, great photos, planned photos, epic photos. Photos of the eclipse and photos of people in funny glasses. Videos of people cheering. Videos of people gasping. Photos of huge groups of people, families, couples, friends and solo. One experience, so many ways to experience it...so...
WE ALL SHARED OUR PHOTOS.
And nobody judged. Nobody competed. Everyone was just happy that we all had the same experience. We were all so happy to share what we'd seen from our own point of view! If we attempted the sun or if we stuck to who we were with. If we were driving and shared the dash cam (the photographer Matt Meiers did that) or made a pinhole camera (photographer Kesha Lambert and photographer Byrd Williams IV did this method) we shared it. And we were so happy.
So LESSON NUMBER ONE
Share your art and your experience. Don' worry about if someone is better. Better is subjective and competitive and comparison is the thief of joy. TAKE THE PHOTO. SHARE THE MOMENT. And as always, PRINT THEM. If it was an incredible time, please don't leave it to technology alone to save your photographic memories.
TAKE THE PHOTO. SHARE IT. PRINT IT.
now...
LESSON NUMBER TWO
For the love of little pinhole cameras...if you're going to share an amazing photo. CREDIT THE MAKER.
Poor Chris Sholz who created such a gorgeous composite of the eclipse and bluebonnets. That photo has shown up on my social media eleventy seventy million times with credit going to whomever posted it. They never cared enough to give him credit. The problem is not only is it super shitty to do, it's copyright infringement. You can't steal work. Sorry. Can't.
What you CAN DO and SHOULD DO is:
Say "OMG look at this amazing thing DONE BY (whomever)" and let people know who did the amazing thing. RIGHT!?!?
So those are two of my takeaways...as far as big outward things go.
Which means, in the spirit of the new energy that the eclipse brought in...
Let us all be so happy of our experiences. Let us all be so welcoming of other's experiences and how they lived them. AND...when SHARING someone's experience....let us be honest and say it was THEIRS....even if...if was a more "beautiful" representation of our own....
YES. I think life of excitement and sharing and including sounds gorgeous. And yes, I am sharing some of my photos...
I honestly wish I could share EVERYONE'S photos! But since I can't...I'll keep looking at them all, loving them all, and being so happy that we all got to share in this amazing experience!
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