On Monday, April 8,  the 2024 solar eclipse zone of totality passed across the Texas Hill Country, a few hours drive from my Houston home.  Having only witnessed partial eclipses in the past,  I booked reservations in the Fredericksburg, Texas area hoping to photograph the eclipse.

Weather forecasts starting about a week out did not look favorable, as the area was predicted to be under cloud cover on the day of the eclipse.  I decided to go ahead with the trip anyway and hope for a break in the clouds.  Expensive, non-refundable reservations had something to  do with that decision.

I travelled to the Firefly RV Resort just outside of Fredericksburg, Texas,  which was located only 3 miles from the center of the zone of totality, ensuring a long viewing period.  The site proved to be perfect in all regards except weather, as I was able to setup on the back of the RV pad to photograph the eclipse, with all my gear and RV amenities a few steps away. A Sunday afternoon arrival ensured that I avoided heavy traffic into the area, which reportedly was of epic proportions on Monday despite the cloudy weather.

Monday morning dawned completely overcast with zero sun visibility.  About mid-morning, the clouds started to clear a bit, offerring hope for an unobstructed view.  This view of clearing blue skies about an hour before totality, in the exact location for viewing the sun, got me excited.

As we reached first contact,  I began my photo captures, using pre-planned and rehearsed exposure settings with my solar filter on my 100-400mm zoom lens.  This partial image was shot at 300mm, and cropped a bit for this photo.

Shortly after first contact, heavy clouds rolled in,  obscuring the sun and offering just brief glimpses of the partial eclipse as clouds moved by.  I found that there was not enough light to find the sun through my solar filter,  and photos taken without the filter were still blown out with any cloud clearing during partial eclipse.  Also, given the difficulty in locating the sun when recomposing,  I finally gave up and took remaining photos at 100mm to ensure capture as the sun moved thorough the frame.

I finally hit the right combo of cloud cover and light intensity with this photo, which shows the eclipse just before totality.

The image above is the last time I saw the eclilpse with my eyes or through my lens until well after totality.  Just as totality began,  huge, dense clouds moved in front of the sun, obsuring everything.  I had my camera set to capture a 5 shot exposure bracket every 10 seconds throughout totality, so I just sat back and enjoyed the event.

After returning home,  I discovered one of my exposures during totality had a barely-visible image of the corona, so I was not completly shut out. While this one won't win any awards, I am very happy to have it.

Witnessing the eclipse from the zone of totality was an awesome experience, and unexpectedly emotional.  I'll turn 65 next month, and while I hope to be around for the next total eclipse in the US in 2044, it remains to be seen if I will be and able to witness it at that time.  I'm thrilled to have seen and photographed this one.  And I'm actually pretty pleased with the cloudy partial eclipse image above (just before totality), as it captures my eclipse experience, which is one of my primary objectives in my landscape photography.