August 21st, 2017: The day of the Great American Solar Eclipse. Hundreds of thousands of people were expected to descend upon Salem, Oregon to experience totality — and I was determined to be one of them.
Skies were expected to be clear, so I bought my plane tickets in advance. I took off from LAX at midnight, and landed in Portland
3am. I rented a comfy Ford Focus and drove an hour to Salem. Traffic was good. I stopped at a gas station to pick up some water and orange Gatorade.
4am. I was about to reach my planned viewing destination, but was blocked off by a park ranger.
“Sorry, we’re all filled up,” she said. “You’re gonna have to try some other parks.”
She listed off a few possible open locations, but I had my doubts. Great. Time to explore Salem for an East facing open sky. That shouldn’t be too hard right?
I drove around some more, and used Google Maps to eventually settle on a nice private residential area hillside with some houses scattered around. I parked along some intersecting roads, got out of my car, and went straight for the grassy hillside to empty out some liquids.
5am. I looked at the clear night sky, and noticed the Milky Way setting to the West. Living in Los Angeles, a clear starry night sky is something I missed dearly. I could’ve napped… or I could take some pictures. I came all the way to Salem to take pictures of the sky and document my experience. This was not the time to sleep.
I let my camera run some timelapses of the setting Milky Way
6am. By now the stars were gone, and I was thinking about sleeping. I hadn’t slept all night and was definitely feeling fatigued. But… the sun was about to rise. So I turned my camera to the East, and watched the sunrise.
6:50am I knew the start of the eclipse was set for 9am. That gave me 2 hours to take a zzzzzz….
…
8:50am. My cell phone alarm went off. Sleeping in a car without a blanket was pretty chilly. My body was shivering, and my muscles were exhausted. I chewed on some beef jerky and mixed nuts for breakfast. Sipped some Gatorade, and got out of the car to stretch. Time to setup my equipment for the eclipse.
9:06am. I snapped my first photo of the sun. A tiny corner of it was being bitten off by the moon.
The next hour was spent letting my timelapse run, and every few minutes adjusting my camera for the sun’s movement across the sky. I equipped my cheap eclipse glasses and peaked at the sun every now and then. I chatted with some adults about my equipment and how I came from LA just for the eclipse.
10:10am By now, a small group of families and children had gathered around the area. The kids were talkative, impatient, excited, and bored all at the same time. The peace and solitude I once had an hour ago was lost, but it was pleasant to have some company. It was getting a bit darker, and an eerie shadow was cast over the land. It felt like I was wearing sunglasses, even though I wasn’t, so my body and eyes were confused.
10:15am The sun was casting eerie moving shadows on the ground. Ripples and waves of light were marching around us. Every shadow was being distorted by the pinhole effect — where light from the sun passing through a small hole will create a shadow with an image of the eclipse.
10:17am Suddenly I heard one of the kids shout out, “WHOAAAA.” I knew what that had to mean. Totality.
I took off my eclipse glasses and looked at the sun/moon. In the sky was something I’d only ever seen in photos — until now. It was absolutely surreal to see the moon swallowing up the sun. The brightness of the sun shining behind the moon, contrasted so deeply with the darkness of the moon.The feeling of wonder, shock, amazement are hard to describe. But I wasn’t here to just experience totality, I was here to photograph it.
I threw off the solar filter from my lens, and adjusted my camera to bracketed exposure burst fire.
I spent most of the time, shooting 9-stop bracketed exposures, with my eyes mainly focused on the camera screen. It was important that I get good shots, and pay attention to my camera since I didn’t want to expose my camera sensors to direct sunlight without the solar filter on.
10:20am I took my last exposure of totality without the solar filter, and quickly stood in front of my lens to protect my camera from the sun. I put the solar filter back on and resumed the timelapse for the remaining portion of the eclipse. The kids were saying to their parents, “That was the coolest thing I’d ever seen!”, and “Thank you so much for showing this to me.”
10:40am The kids and families packed up and left. I was quickly left by myself again. It would be another hour until the moon moved all the way across the sun. I wanted to photograph the entire eclipse from beginning to end. The last time I photographed an annular eclipse, I stopped before reaching the end and it was pretty unsatisfying to watch. One more hour in the morning sun, then I’d be done. The hard part was already over.
11:38am I snapped my last picture of the sun. Everything was quiet. People had long left the area and moved on with their lives. It felt like a furious stormed had passed, and in its wake, everything had returned to normal. I packed up my bags and equipment and drove off accomplished.
1:00pm I drove around downtown Salem trying to find a place to eat. I was craving something hot and substantial. I saw a McDonalds! Free parking and familiar food. The parking lot was absolutely packed, so I decided against trying. I drove some more…
I saw a Vietnamese place, Kim Huong. Pretty good reviews on Yelp. Luckily I found a parking spot and strolled in. The place was bustling with madness — probably a long wait time. I am disheartened but ask for a table for one. Immediately they seated me. Awesome! Another asian guy asked if he could sit at my table, being such a nice guy, I of course obliged. He was a Salem native, and a regular at this restaurant. I brought up the eclipse.
“Yeah I went out to look at it, then went back to work,” he said. Wow, what seemed like a truly miraculous once in a life time event for me, maybe just felt like any ordinary day for others.
I thoroughly enjoyed devouring my pho, and he ate his crispy noodle dish. The waitress got his order wrong the first time, but he was nice enough about it. We part ways, and I go back to the car. I check traffic. Solid red all the way back to the airport. Uh oh. Good thing my flight is at 8:00pm. I think I can drive 60 miles … in ~6 hours…I hope.
5:30pm It’s a good thing I booked a late flight — not that I had many choices left. I had driven 4 hours straight, trying to weave around traffic filled roads, navigating around street parking lots. After this killer draining ordeal, I finally reached the airport. I dropped off my rental car and finally sat at the terminal. Nap. Time.
7:45pm I wake up, board the plane, and make my way to my seat. Huh… looks like the reason I paid extra was because I bought first class seats. I’ve never flown first class, and honestly I felt like royalty. I sit in my giant comfy chair and pleasantly sip on the tiny water bottle they provided. As people walked by my first class seats, I couldn’t help but think about how I would judge myself.
“Ooh, look at that rich snobby guy sitting in first class,” I might have thought. Truthfully though, there were no other seats available, and I didn’t even know I was buying first class seats.
9:17pm Apparently these seats come with a meal. MAN WHAT A LIFE. Really livin’ it up now! I again… thoroughly enjoyed every bite of my unexpected meal.
10:45pm I landed back at LAX. Roughly 24 hours had passed since I started my journey here. The shortest and most ambitious trip of my lifetime — so far.