I decided I could best watch Saturday’s annular eclipse from my own yard and imagined a lazy morning on the patio, sipping tea and nibbling on edible delights as I occasionally popped off a shot or two.1
I set up two different cameras, each on their own tripod, each with different lenses and filters, both zoomed way into the sun. The sun moved really fast and, for that matter, so did the moon. Which means I spent almost three full hours running back and forth from one camera to the other, repositioning each so the sun would more or less be in the center of the focal area. It ended up being an exceptionally busy morning.
One of the first shots I got was the one above, only about 5 minutes into the eclipse. I was surprised I could see such a big bite out of the sun so soon. “Ring of fire” expectations notwithstanding, the cookie bite proved to be one of my favorite views. Another favorite was the sun immediately after annularity, showing up as a slender crescent with only the smallest opening.
You might remember that I love sunflowers in every form … perhaps especially in their decaying stages. I’m also obsessed with flower composites, multiple flowers within another flower.2 So you probably won’t be surprised to know that I took numerous photos of the sunflower below, which I thought showed its inner flowers particularly well.
I drove up to Colorado a couple of weeks ago via the Million Dollar Highway, just as I did last year.3 The road is close to the old Red Mountain Mining District, which may partially explain the color of the golden river below.4 While I thought it was beautiful mixed in with all the other fall colors, it seemed scary as well — I definitely didn’t want to get too close to it.
Last, a trip back in time. Ten years ago, I took the photo below of a sign for the Conejos Ranch, not too far north of the New Mexico-Colorado state line.5 I imagine I was fascinated by the old, worn sign and abundant weeds, evidence of a resort long gone.
Apparently, I took another shot of the same place five years ago. The sign had disappeared by then, and some of the wooden veneer was starting to peel off what appeared to be an old boxcar. See how the little aspen in front of the vertical windows above had grown so much larger in the image below?
It’s larger yet in the photo I took last week. I remember walking around the place at one point, trying to learn more (and, of course, searching out further photos). I was too scared to do the same this time around, worried that I’d plunge straight through the rotting wood around the structure.
I’ve never intentionally set out to be a documentary photographer, but apparently it comes with the territory.
I live in Albuquerque, which was smack in the middle of the eclipse path.
You can learn more about flower composites here.
More fall foliage pics coming your way soon.
This waterway would almost certainly be called a river in New Mexico, but it’s merely a creek in Colorado.
Conejos means rabbits in Spanish and, more to the point, it’s the name of the river down the hill.
I wondered where your eclipse pix were!
What did you have over your lens?
💜💜💜
I don't know if this article is about a river near the mining district you were close to, I thought it interesting to discover just what turned the river mustard-yellow:
https://www.voanews.com/a/gold-mine-wastewater-turns-river-yellow/2909395.html