Recently got back from spending a couple nights camping in Hoosier National Forest in Indiana. Wasn't there for the trees though, had come to see the moon blot out the sun. Still, even in the middle of the forest with a total solar eclipse occurring I couldn't help but indulge in a little street photography.
Other than a brief few minutes of totality, you can't see the eclipse with your naked eyes. For the two and a half hours of partial eclipse you need special glasses and they filter out everything but the sun, so you're looking at something like this.
Some folks there weren't worried about all that, they were just trying to ride out the eclipse it seemed. Either that or they were cattle rustlers.
I'd ordered a filter for my DSLR not much different from the eclipse glasses but it ended up not fitting anything but my partner's film camera. The eclipse glasses worked just fine for phone cameras but I completely forgot to take any with mine.
Most folks, when they notice you pointing a camera their way, put on their best public face and smile. Not my family.
Not everybody was staring at the sun, for some it was mainly a picnic in the woods.
Somehow, no matter where you go there's always someone feels compelled to pull their phone out and play music for everyone. Does anyone know if those anti-drone EMP rifles work on smartphones too?
Just after 1500 everything finally lined up and we had totality for an all too short couple of minutes. Can't quite pin down what but there's something about seeing it in person that makes any photo of it seem inadequate.
If you ever get a chance to catch a total solar eclipse, don't pass it up, it's such an amazing experience. Don't know that I recommend bringing your pets along though, poor thing was quite alarmed when the sun went out, made even worse by the fact that their humans weren't getting excited.