July 22, 2009 Solar Eclipse
Posted by BCS on July 22, 2009
It was a busy morning for me.
My wife had to leave the house very early for a job interview and requested for me to wait for my son to be picked up by the school service before I leave. Because of that, I was only able to leave the house at around 8:33am.
Thinking that I was already late for work anyway, I decided to drop by the bank (which was along my way to the office) to settle some matters. I got to the bank at around 9:10am and finished my business there 15 minutes later, after which I hurried off to the office.
I had been hoping, since when I first heard about it a couple of weeks ago, that I would be able to take a snapshot or two of the solar eclipse that was going to occur today. And, knowing that the greatest eclipse (GE) was going to occur around 9:44am, I felt a bit frustrated since I was left with less than 20 minutes to get to the office, pull my camera out, and take the pictures.
In addition to that, even if I do make it on time, I doubted that I will be able to take a good picture of the eclipse. I took some test shots of the sun while I was still at home and, even with my camera’s aperture set to the smallest and the shutter speed set to the highest possible settings, I was only able to get a washed-out image of the great ball of fire. The light intensity was just too great.
Trial shot I took at home
Frustrated as I was, I kept on taking swift peeks at the sun (ignoring the dangers of doing so) hoping to get a glimpse of the eclipse even for just a split second.
And I did, a couple of times, when thin clouds covered the sun just enough to make it not painful to look at.
Solar eclipses are considered in many cultures as a bad thing, associating it with bad luck, chaos, and terrible events. But in my case, as it turned out, it was ALL GOOD.
I got to the office at around 9:38am, just a little over 10 minutes after I left the bank. Wonderful!
But my greatest luck would come in the form of my good friend (and officemate) Arnel, who’s also brought his camera with him and, with that, his INFRARED FILTER!
And for that, I was able to take a couple of pictures of the eclipse.
The solar eclipse (taken some time between 9:40am to 9:50am), Quezon City, Philippines
It may not be the “GE” point/event (said to be around 49.5 percent where I’m at), but I can’t be any happier.
