After sleeping through the October 14th 2023 total solar eclipse (oops), I committed myself to witnessing the April 8th, 2024 one. In the weeks leading up to the event, I bought a 4"x4" square of solar filter with the intention of not only seeing it, but getting some cool pictures of it. In the days leading up, my mom and little brother informed me of their plans to go see it as well, wanting to go up to Waco, TX to see totality (and also so they could tour the Baylor university campus).

Setup

Pictured below are images of the camera setup (Canon Rebel T3i + EF-S 55-250mm lens), and myself using the camera during the event. (In the chair behind me is my little brother, who is now attending Baylor University!)

In total, the partial eclipse lasted for 2 hours 40 mins, and the totality event lasted slightly over 4 mins Event details from Waco, TX . Before totality, I took pictures about every 20 minutes to create a collage of the eclipse as it grew and grew.

During totality, every one of the 252 seconds counted, because an event like this would not happen in the contiguous USA until August 12, 2045 Source . During this time, I took a few seconds to get some other pictures, one from my iPhone 13 Pro camera, and one of the surrounding area. I was kinda stressing about getting good pictures, and after about 3 minutes of continuous picture taking, I put everything down and enjoyed the rest of the event with my own eyes, and the people around me.

Left: iPhone 13 Pro (Telephoto lens)

• 406mm, f2.8, ISO 1600, 1/23s

Right: Canon EOS Rebel T3i (Zoomed in & Cropped)

• 146mm, f9, ISO 400, 1/60s

Below: "" (Original)

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Another shot I prepared for was one of the surrounding area. I knew that during totality it was supposed to get dark, but I wanted to capture the extent to which that happened. To do this, I grabbed an image about 90 mins before totality, and one during. I was really careful in making sure that the framing was as close as possible (I used the camp chairs as a guide).

Left: during totality /// Right: 90 mins before totality

2017 Great American Solar Eclipse

The last solar eclipse I had witnessed was the one on August 21, 2017, on a class day while I was in middle school. It was a partial solar eclipse from Houston, and the school let us observe it for about 10 minutes before having to go back inside for classes. At the time I had my iPhone 5s and some solar glasses, and tried to get a picture of the event. The crescent shape on the left image (2017) is barely visible, whereas the image on the right (2024) shows the eclipse in its entirety with magnitudes more detail.

From the picture metadata, the image in 2017 was taken at 1:25pm, which according to timeanddate , should have put the approximate sun coverage at roughly 64%. On a personal note, the eclipse looked more dramatic in person than what my phone was able to capture.

Left: iPhone 5s

• 29mm, f2.2, ISO 32, 1/32s

Bottom: “”, Cropped

In 2017 I actually brought the same canon camera with me, but I didn’t have the required solar filter, and I was nervous about pointing my family’s camera right at the sun with no protection.

Hawaii (7/ 24-25 /24)

More pictures will be added on a rolling basis

Following TWO photos taken by the deckhand

Sunrise over the Kona hills from the boat

Venice, Lousiana

One of my dad’s favorite spots to go saltwater fishing with chartering. It’s about 75 mi southeast of New Orleans.

8/4/19

Left to right: Scott (older brother), Haley (his wife), me, my dad

8/11/24

My oldest brother (right) and myself (left), my dad isn’t in the picture

Everglades, Florida 8 / 11-12 / 23

Infinity mirror

Built out of wood during my last few days of High School

The Great Conjunction of Saturn & Jupiter

Dec 21, 2020 During this time, the two planets were separated by only 6 arc-minutes. This is the closest they’ve ever been since 1623, and won’t happen again until 2040 (by which time I’d like to be prepared to take better pictures)

iPhone XR looking through the eye-piece of a Celestron [insert] telescope

Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

Lake Jenny

iPhone 13 Pro Ultra-Wide

• 13mm, f1.8, ISO 32, 1/1908s

Grand Teton Sunset

iPhone 13 Pro Wide

• 32mm, f1.5, ISO 50, 1/1295s

“Dramatic” mountain

iPhone 13 Pro Wide

• 26mm, f1.5, ISO 10000, 1.0s

Night sky with my iPhone, Grand Teton

iPhone 13 pro Wide

• 26mm, f1.5, ISO 3200, 10.0s Really wishing I had brought my good camera on this trip. Oh well.