It was like a dance

with the sun and the clouds.

The sky was clear in the morning and the clouds swiftly moved in along with cold winds. I was going to go to the Reserve to watch the eclipse and enjoy some peaceful quite time. I decided that with the heavy clouds, I'd stay home.

After all, if the clouds were going to obscure a partial eclipse, so be it. At least I could go in the house and warm up.

I set one camera up to do a time lapse, it took shots every few minutes. It lasts all of 3 seconds. You can see the conditions for the big eclipse.

I started the time lapse at 12:30 our time and until about 2pm. These photos were taken 5 minutes apart.

The heavy clouds presented an issue in that only once in a while would the sun get momentarily bright enough to see through the camera. The NOAA reported our area with an 81% cloud cover, so it was a great challenge.

My Camera Assistant. Little Richard.

It was great when we caught a bit of a break.

This is what I saw through the flip screen on my OM-5. I used a solar filter I'd purchased years ago and unless the sun was peeking out, the screen was black. That is part of what made it so challenging. The other part was being able to twist like a pretzel to re-aim the camera to track the sun when it glimpsed at me.

These were the shots I picked out of the many I tried.

By this point I was just starting to get the hang of catching the sun with the camera. I had to search for a bright spot and then zoom out and zoom in. When I found the sun again, it was sometimes so breathtaking with the cloud movement that I nearly forgot to hit the shutter.

At times the clouds were moving so fast across the sun that the exposure was up to a few seconds. Then the clouds blurred. I felt like Mother Nature was doing a painting just for me.

By the time it reached its peak, I decided to bug out and go inside to warm up. I was SO cold! I had been wearing my heavy coveralls and a stocking cap. My hands were ice.

I was not disappointed at all though. The cloud cover made it a huge challenge and also made the event in my opinion much more beautiful than stark photos of a crescent in the sky.

When I got in the house, I grabbed a blanket and a pillow and headed for the bedroom for a warm up nap. 

I'm going to remember this day for a long time. The work at getting the shots was a bit brutal with the weather [cold and windy] and the clouds. I spent from noon to 2:15 when the moon was moving past the sun outside.

Yep, that dance was worth it!