Plans for the April 8, 2024 Total Solar Eclipse

In 2017, I travelled with my wife and son to Grand Teton National Park to watch the total solar eclipse. I chose that spot after consulting a historical weather pattern map, concluding that it was a great place to watch with a high probability of clear skies. It was a fantastic experience. My son was a teenager at the time and dubious about the whole trip. At the end of totality, he turned to me and said, “Now I’m ready for the one in 2024.”

Unfortunately he won’t be with us this time; he’s in college. But my wife and I are going.

My photo of the 2017 eclipse

My photo of the 2017 eclipse

Again, I checked historical weather records for cloud cover along the path of totality. This time it’s not great. The best place within the US appears to be in Texas. So that’s where we’re going. If I can believe the weather projections, there’s a 50-50 chance of clouds.

It was ridiculously hard to get a hotel reservation last time. This time we were able to get a room in Austin. So I’m planning to stay there the night before the eclipse, and check the weather forecasts for the next day to decide where to watch the eclipse. Afterward, my wife and I will start the long drive home to Virginia, with no particular plan for where to spend the night.

I’m undecided with respect to the location at which to watch the eclipse. I’m generally hoping to find a location somewhere close to the center line of the path of totality between Waco and Fredericksburg. But of course a few million other people probably have the same idea. We could just drive to the general area and look for a place to set up. But I wanted something a little more concrete as an option, not wanting to be stuck on the road somewhere in traffic unable to find a suitable place. I need a place where I can linger for several hours with a clear view to the south and access to a bathroom. 

So I decided to make a day use reservation at a state park. I reviewed my options, selected several parks, made a rank-ordered list, and waited several weeks for the reservation window to open. I made an account on the web site. A few minutes before the window opened, I navigated through the reservation process up to the point where it was possible to actually make a reservation. I attempted to reserve at Lake Whitney, pressing the button seconds after the reservation window opened. The result: server error. Lots of others had the same idea. I tried repeatedly: more server errors, until all of the reservation slots were taken. It took less than a minute. I tried my second choice: Meridian State Park. I was able to make a reservation there. So I have a limited access location (hopefully not crowded), not on a highway, with bathrooms, where I can linger. It only cost me $10, so if I find a better place I’ll just abandon this plan.

I wanted a backup location. Meridian State Park looks like there isn’t a lot of room to park with a good view of the sky. I searched more. I made a reservation in Gatesville at the baseball field complex. There are parking lots, bathrooms, concessions, and not very many trees. I’m hoping I can get a good spot for a clear look at the sky.

I love a photographic challenge, and total solar eclipses are definitely a challenge. I need a better plan than I had in 2017. I got some acceptable results then, but I can do better now. I have better equipment. I have the experience of last time from which to learn. I’ve found better resources to help me make a better plan. Presuming I have a good location and sufficient time to set up, here’s my plan:

1. Set up a GoPro to create a video of us as I go through the camera setup, wait for totality, watch eclipse, photograph all the way through the end of the partial phase, then tear down.
2. Set up a DSLR on a tripod with a wide angle lens to capture the partial phases with an intervalometer. Switch to video right before totality; switch back to the intervalometer immediately after.
3. Set up a second DSLR on a star tracker, use a laptop computer with a programmed shooting plan. Mostly ignore this one during the eclipse; let the automation do the job. The success of this one depends upon a good shooting script (using Eclipse Orchestrator) and a good polar alignment job. I tested the script and realized I needed a higher-capacity card. I’ve also practiced daytime polar alignment, with good results (the tracker keeps the sun centered).
4. Set up a third DSLR on a tripod to shoot manually. This one is my best lens and my best camera. I’ll set an intervalometer to run during the partial phases so I only have to keep the sun in the field of view. During totality, and for the transitions into/out of totality, I’ll shoot manually, with a plan will leave a lot of time for me to just look at the sun.

So there’s my plan; now all I can do is hope for clear skies and trouble-free travels. In the meantime, I’ve practiced setting the cameras and computer and tracker up. I’ve discovered some issues that I’ve learned from. I know it won’t all go to plan, but I’m hoping I get it mostly right.

Wherever I end up, it won’t be as photogenic as in 2017, but that’s OK.

Our view while waiting for the 2017 eclipse

My son said it was cold that morning before the sun came up

San Antonio Zoo

During my recent trip to San Antonio I visited the zoo on a dark, dreary, drizzly day. Some of the animals cooperated for photographs. My 70-200mm f2.8 vrii lens was an excellent tool as I spent much of the time fiddling with exposure as the light varied widely. I had to work pretty hard to stay on top of exposure settings, bouncing ISO and shutter speed up and down, mostly shooting at f2.8, sometimes opening up to f4, always on the edge of underexposure because of the darkness.

Restless Cheetah

There were lots of pelicans, and they're huge. The white feathers meant I had to drop ISO settings every time I tried to photograph these or other white birds. It's easy to blow those white feathers out and lose all detail.

Pelicans are Huge

There must have been a hundred flamingos, and it was really hard to shoot them in the dim light. They wouldn't sit still; and they crowded together.

Managed to Isolate One of the Many Flamingos

This stork posed in one of the walk-through bird enclosures. It actually flew up to a perch and sat there looking at people walking through, no skittishness in this one. The dark feathers and dim light meant I really had to bump the ISO up.

Abdim's Stork

In the bird enclosures it was sometimes possible to capture images of the birds at the feeders. They're pretty messy.

Got Food?

Cape Starling

For a small fee, visitors could hand-feed giraffes. This one was munching on a large green leaf.

Giraffe Eating

These guys are huge; second largest bird species in the world.

Southern Cassowary

In one of the several bird enclosures that we could walk into, the birds cooperated by sitting still as people fed them. Darkness meant I was shooting these colorful birds wide open, with the background and even some of the bird's body completely blurred.

Messy Eater: Rainbow Lorikeet

Among the many birds, there were some that did not belong to the zoo. This green heron was eating the free zoo food.

Green Heron

If you look closely, the streaks of rain are visible around the heron's beak. The wattled crane was another white bird that forced me to drop ISO. This is a huge, ugly bird.

Wattled Crane

Is this guy's name Pumbaa?

Warthog

Zebra

Aransas National Wildlife Refuge

I'm in Texas visiting my daughter. I took a trip to Aransas NWR, primarily to see if I could find some Whooping Cranes.

This place is on the Gulf of Mexico coast. I drove the long road to the end at the large viewing platform. There must have been a hundred vultures in the trees, and the platform was coated with vulture shit.

Black Vultures

There were lots of pelicans in the water, visible from the platform. No cranes. So then I drove the wildlife loop. There was very little action. I did spot this Kestrel, a new species for me.

American Kestrel

I reached the main road and headed back to the entrance. There were quite a few deer.

White-Tailed Deer

Driving along, I found this bird along the road, another new species for me. Its size and wing feathers remind me of ospreys. My wife says it has bad hair, like Donald Trump.

Northern Crested Caracara

And there was the occasional flock of White Pelicans circling.

White Pelicans

And I left, not knowing whether I'd managed to photograph any whooping cranes. When I checked my images on the computer, it turns out I did capture a pair at extreme distance.

Whooping Cranes

So, mission accomplished, but not exactly satisfying.