About the Cover…
12:02 p.m. CDT
About the Cover…
Eclipse Chaser
April 8, 2024
San Marcos, Texas
Betsy Cross
Photos: Betsy Cross with permission
Notes on April 8, 2024
I’d been watching the weather forecast for days. There were no surprises.
Who knows how to shoot a total solar eclipse? Even in a clear sky.
But still it was irresistible. I took the day off from work. I had to try.
Solar filter—check!
Camera batteries charged—check!
Extra camera card—check!
Tripod—check!
Folding table and chair, laptop, eclipse glasses—check! check! check!
I waited between shots, sometimes for 5 minutes and longer. As clouds sped by, I lost valuable seconds searching for the sun just to get off a single shot or two. I knew I was losing my only chance, my last opportunity for eclipse visibility. Then…
Quilt for the ground—miss!
Air mattress or foam pad—miss!
Floor cushion for a pillow—miss!
Tripod totally unnecessary—miss!
Eclipse glasses in my way—miss!
…as we approached totality, I lay on my back, camera pressed against my face, waiting for the sun…
During those long minutes while I waited, I was listening. The summer tanager and the cardinal, the white-eyed vireo, the titmouse and the Carolina wren, the goldfinches. I noted them all and wondered if they would stop calling. But they didn’t stop.
… still I waited, up to 20 minutes to take the next shot, the last shot.
When we reached totality, there may have been the slightest pause in bird song. Were those crickets or cricket frogs I heard in my neighbor’s yard? Not sure.
I lay waiting, listening, mesmerized by the moment. It was dark and different. In the end, the light returned, and the sky was completely white—360 degrees of white, sunless sky. And I heard the vireo on the branch closest to me.
And in slideshow format…
