Shutter to Think: Crowd eclipsed celestial view

I’ve tried to be excited about celestial phenomena.

More than once, I’ve dragged my butt out of bed in the dead of morning to set up and photograph meteor showers or any iterations of the moon, from blood to super. I’ve largely come away with zilch or – at best – an underwhelming image of a moon that “astronerds” say appears larger than your standard lunar view.

The best came in 2020, when I snapped a shot of the comet Neowise just as an unidentified flying object crossed its path between it and my camera, creating at least a bit of a different look.

However, once again, I got jazzed up at the solar eclipse that swept across the country Monday. We were getting almost 95% coverage, so surely, I told myself for some reason, this was going to be different than the one in 2017.

Nope.

Here’s the thing about the sun. It’s big and it’s bright. And even being blocked as much as it was, that giant ball of fiery star plasma isn’t going to let some measly little earthen moon have any kind of say.

The moon gave it an inch, and the sun took a mile. Yes, things got slightly darker. Yes, the temperature did drop a few degrees. But it was really no different than putting on a pair of Raybans and standing in front of an open fridge.

Now, what I did enjoy was meeting and talking to the people who were out enjoying the spectacle. I met a lovely grandmother and granddaughter from Madison, Wisconsin, who came down to check out the eclipse. I talked to lots of staff and students at Sauk Valley Community College who were kicking back and taking it all in.

And, admittedly, I was a bit verklempt for not making the trip south to photograph in an area of totality. I weighed the plus/minus of such a trip and was convinced that if I had made the trip, a thick cloud cover would have blanketed the area, ruining the presentation for all.

And that would have just been loonie.

• Alex T. Paschal is a photographer with Shaw Local News Network. Follow him @svmphotogs or email him at apaschal@shawmedia.com.