CraigBILL

After driving to a remote ranch hours before the April 2024 total solar eclipse started to darken the landscape around us, all weather indications were over 85% total cloudy and stormy along the Texas projected path of totality.  The weather anxiety was exhausting!  We made our way, knowing that capturing the eclipse on cameras AND simply experiencing it with naked eyes was pre-heartbreaking.  I set up the equipment and tried to enjoy the Spring warmth and indigenous Texas wildflower cover around me.  As the event time neared, the cloud cover remained thick, but every so often the clouds thinned enough to see the outline of the Sun.  This gave me some excitement and encouragement.  And before you knew it, the moon started it's advance.  Little by little, the Sun's disk was stolen from sight.  And then the swirling clouds allowed for a few lucky shots!  Just barely... just a few exposures...  Just enough to get want I had always hoped for!  Sifting through the different exposures later that day, it was evident that most did not make it successfully with the shifting light values - but that last shot before complete cloud cover was it!  I though I was lucky to have as many exposures as I did, but as it turned out only two were successful. Super close call!  The stormy clouds actually helped to make the entire scene, but if there was completely clear skies, the shot would not have the same "feeling" - and would likely have been just documentary.  In landscape photography, the weather can be the boss - sometimes your enemy, sometimes your success.