Eclipse-chasing in remote parts of the globe is a way of life for some, but that doesn’t stop millions from peering into the skies to capture these mesmerising moments, says Jamie Carter.
“The great thing about photographing solar eclipses is that you only have that moment, you can’t repeat it,” says Tommy Tat-fung Tse, 50, who runs a jewellery business Hong Kong, “You never get a second chance.”
A veteran of eight total solar eclipses, viewed from Hawaii, Australia and Indonesia, Tat-fung Tse (or Mr Total Eclipse, as he calls himself) is completely obsessed with photographing the precious few minutes of totality when the Moon blocks the Sun’s light completely and throws everyone standing on a 112-kilometer wide path of totality – the shadow of the Moon – into pitch black for a couple of minutes.
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At that moment, the Sun’s solar corona is revealed as a shimmering, ice-white structure that he cannot resist. “The corona is like silk, and if you shoot it at different exposures you can capture different effects,” says Tommy, who takes eight cameras to eclipses. He travelled to Wyoming in the USA for the total solar eclipse that took place August last year.
Totality is a magical few minutes and the reason why some people chase eclipses across the world. “It’s actually better just to look at totality with your naked eye than through cameras, but I just cannot resist taking photographs,” says Tommy. “I am obsessed!”
If eclipse-chasing sometimes seems to be the preserve of geeks, astronomers, mathematicians and map-makers, it’s not exclusively so. “I have never looked up at the sky during an eclipse and seen science,” says filmmaker and artist David Makepeace, also known as The Eclipse Guy (eclipseguy.com), whose short film Still Hooked explores the metaphysical appeal of the event.
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Makepeace, who has seen 22 total solar eclipses in 15 countries and on seven continents, set-up five cameras on a remote Indonesian island last year, but only one of them was trained on the Sun and Moon. “I tried to shoot from many angles so I had things to cut to, to make it all more exciting, and to show the effect of the eclipse on both people and on the environment.”
The results are stunning, though he’s wary about advising others to follow suit if it’s their first total solar eclipse. “For first-timers, I would say don’t bother shooting the eclipse,” he says. “Totality will feel like five seconds because you’ll be out of your mind with excitement and amazement.”
Instead, he says, eclipse observers should rattle off a few wide-angle shots on a phone during Totality, then just stand and stare as the Sun, Moon and Earth line-up – with you. “The event itself will remind people that they are part of something much bigger than they normally conceive of, and a feeling of awe and wonder and power,” says Makepeace. “Some people say that seeing an eclipse makes them feel insignificant, but I have the complete opposite feeling.”
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The mantra that there are no second chances with eclipses doesn’t actually ring true. Despite the Moon’s shadow hitting any one place on the Earth’s surface an average of once every 375 years, the USA will get another total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024. “All the eclipses between now and then are really just dress rehearsal for the biggie 2024.”
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