Solitary Light
August 21st 2017: The Moon eclipsed the Sun by 99.4% in my area of Portland Oregon. But everyone was looking up at the event with special glasses, goggles, cameras and gadgets. They were eager to see something that they wouldn’t likely recognize with any greater detail than the pictures that they may have seen of past eclipses. I was looking down, at the reality of its effect and purpose.
These images were taken on an iPhone 7 without any embellishment or photo finishing. Only on Solitary Light #1 was any influence added and that was to remove some of the background. They were also cropped from the original framing. Their uniqueness isn’t something that everyone could distinguish, similarly it’s not something that could be naturally recreated.
Somethings to remember is that these are natural light images, taken in full sun at a rare time in its existence. Some time many, many years from now this Sun, Earth’s sun, will cease to be and these will be the rarified moments that distinguish its existence from the billions of other stars in the sky.
It is we that have been driven by it and its siblings in Its absence. So when such rare opportunities occur should we be scrutinizing its grandeur, a factor that we can neither recreate or control? Or should we be investigating ourselves, making sure not to take its importance and complexity for granted?
This video was taken at the same time with the same camera. It is not a part of the series. Some enhancing has been done only to distinguish what was better seen by the naked eye. All the apparent motion in this clip occurred naturally as light emanated through the atmosphere. You’ll notice the consistency of the flow pattern. There were no obstructions between the sky and ground where the wave patterns are apparent.
