I’m sure that many people have heard about what happened on Monday, April 8th, 2024. In case you missed it, there was a total solar eclipse hitting much of the continental United States!
At the time I was recovering from a surgery I had received the Friday beforehand and the whole weekend I had spent agonizing over whether or not I’d be going to see the eclipse. I had agreed that I’d not go see it, and that was my plan.
Until 8 PM Sunday April 7th. That’s when I decided I had to go witness it.
Location:
Middlebury, Vermont
Date:
April, 2024
Camera:
Fujifilm X100VI
I went to my car (which at the time was dead) and jumped it. Luckily the jump worked without a problem! I began driving out of my garage and got to the exit when my pass did not work. What happened next was an experience that took over an hour – I had to convince the garage that I was a legitimate customer.
The cashier thought that I was trying to scam him out of letting me leave because some of my payments were still processing (I had to update my credit card in the auto-pay system). He argued with me for an hour even though I showed him receipts, emails from the garage manager confirming that on their end the “payment was received”, and credit card statements.
Eventually, he let me leave but it was an hour later and it had thrown my “hap-hazard” plan into disarray. That night when I got back home I was exhausted but couldn’t sleep. I was too excited for what would be happening the next day.
Totality
The day of the eclipse, I left my house around 5:12 AM. After making my way through traffic in Boston, the rest of the ride was smooth sailing. Eventually I made it to where I’d be witnessing the eclipse from, Middlebury, Vermont.
From there the day proceeded as normal. I worked, attended my meetings, and had some food. But around 2:45 PM I began working outside so that I could experience the changes that the eclipse was going to bring and I’m glad that I did. At the beginning of the day it was warm, 60º F and sunny in Middlebury. As the Totality window (3:27:14 – 3:28:04) neared the world around us got darker and darker and the shadows became strange and unique. This change in light was accompanied by a drastic drop in temperature. With just my T-Shirt on, I began feeling cold.
We watched the last few slivers of the sun disappear, and then totality hit.
Nothing I type here will be able to encapsulate that experience and what it looked like. There was this massive black orb in the sky surrounded by brilliant white and purple light. The corona was outstanding and I was so incredibly glad that I made the choice to go up and witness it. Of everything I’ve seen in my life that was the most awe inspiring. It looked as if some heavenly angel or alien invader was floating above us and looking down on us. It was absolutely incredible.
I’m glad that I made the trip up.
Aftermath
That evening after dinner the weather was wonderful again. The eclipse’s cool had warn off and all the birds were being incredibly loud and there were stunning clouds in the sky.
Not looking to waste my time in a nice rural area I went for a walk outside. That’s where I captured the image that you’ve seen above. It’s not a picture of the eclipse, that I wanted to just witness with my eyes. But it’s a cozy image and one that I think works well in it’s simplicity. Just some cat-tails on a gem colored backdrop. It’s spectacular.
Totality was quite a sight to witness! Glad you enjoyed your trip to VT. Love this quiet image of the pond and cattails.