Landscape Photography

A composite shot of the 2023 solar eclipse taken just northwest of Paisley Oregon on Picture Rock Pass. Taken on a Sony a6400, with 70-350mm G lens @ 350mm. 0.5", F6.3, ISO 1600. Two shots, taken from the same location at roughly the same time, were blended in photoshop to create this effect.

The plan had been to do a single shot like this. I spent several months scouring google maps looking for terrain features in the path of the eclipse that'd suit my needs. I needed a tree on the front edge of a ridge, where I could get about a 20 degree angle to the sun aligned perfectly with it on the day of the eclipse. It took a lot of time before I narrowed down to about 30 spots within a days drive that would work, along with being in the center of the path. I did not want a weird sun shape, or to have to photoshop this at all.

Then, the weather came into play. With a week to go, clouds began to look like they would be covering most of Oregon and Nevada. I didn't have the funds to take a trip all the way to Utah, so I set out two days in advance to position myself between several of the locations closest to where it looked like there would be cloud breaks. I spent the first night in the freezing cold campground up Mill Creek Rd., just south of Battle Mountain, NV. Checking the weather first thing in the morning, it began to look like there was little hope of catching the eclipse there the next morning.

I had really only one choice; I couldn't afford another 300 miles east, so I either sat and waited, or headed back to central Oregon where there was slim, but existent, hope of a cloud break on Saturday morning. After grabbing breakfast in Battle Mountain, I made the call and started heading back northwest.

I was terrified, as all day camper after camper after RV was heading south past me. But I sucked it up and kept driving to Christmas Valley. As we set up for the night, a sandstorm kicked up off the dunes, with 40mph winds out of nowhere ripping through every hope I had of setting up the tent. As the winds slowed, the rain set in, and my hopes of catching an eclipse felt like they were drowning with each drop of water soaking me to the bone.

I trusted the weather models though, and kept watching closely nearly all night, making sure I could get somewhere with a view. By 4am I gave up hope on sleeping and packed up to go. As I sat there in the car for hours, looking at the pitch black, cloud covered sky above me, I thought about all the hundreds of vehicles I'd seen headed south, trying to push the thought I had made a terrible call out of my mind.

As dawn grew, we had less than two hours to the start of the eclipse. I picked the nearest projected cloud break, knowing where I was going had only light high clouds with no medium/low, leaving a good chance of getting my shot and began driving. I reached the top of Picture Rock Pass with less than 15 minutes to spare, and drove north up a powerline road along a ridge I'd picked weeks before, just the right terrain, a perfect height ridge, the perfect distance options for focal length, and a giant diamond of blue sky coming into line with the sun at just the right moment.

As I set up though, I realized I'd forgotten one huge, huge detail. A tree, at the perfect distance, filling the frame exactly how I envisioned, left the sun TINY behind it. I was heart broken. I scanned the ridge for smaller trees, but there was nothing. There was just no way to actually get the right object at the right scale to do the shot I'd planned for months. So, I did what I could. I took the tree shot, stepped a few feet to the right, and fired off the sun shot. Both shots were taken from the same location at roughly the same time.

The part that kills me most is it'll be 2045 before I get another chance at this shot in this part of the country. It's going to be a long time till I can get what I actually went for. But hey, maybe by 2045 I'll be a bit smarter.