On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Good Morning All,
This weekday feature is for Juicers who are are on the road, traveling, or just want to share a little bit of their world via stories and pictures. So many of us rise each morning, eager for something beautiful, inspiring, amazing, subtle, of note, and our community delivers – a view into their world, whether they’re far away or close to home – pictures with a story, with context, with meaning, sometimes just beauty. By concentrating travel updates and tips here, it’s easier for all of us to keep up or find them later.
So please, speak up and share some of your adventures and travel news here, and submit your pictures using our speedy, secure form. You can submit up to 7 pictures at a time, with an overall description and one for each picture.
You can, of course, send an email with pictures if the form gives you trouble, or if you are trying to submit something special, like a zipped archive or a movie. If your pictures are already hosted online, then please email the links with your descriptions.
For each picture, it’s best to provide your commenter screenname, description, where it was taken, and date. It’s tough to keep everyone’s email address and screenname straight, so don’t assume that I remember it “from last time”. More and more, the first photo before the fold will be from a commenter, so making it easy to locate the screenname when I’ve found a compelling photo is crucial.
Have a wonderful day, and enjoy the pictures!
Today, the beginning of the eclipse-a-palooza! It will conclude Thursday.
To get you in the mood – valued commenter PhoenixRising offers:
As we hauled the new kitchen home from Ikea, my sister observed the Serenity Now Orchard. State Route 89, Ohio, during the 78% eclipse.
First up, the original eclipse picture (sorry I didn’t run this when you wanted to show it, but it inspired me and others I told about the technique) From valued commenter Matt McIrvin:
By request from SiubhanDuinne, here’s an old picture I was reminded of by both the recent horrific terrorist attack in Barcelona and the upcoming solar eclipse. I happened to be visiting Barcelona, on Passeig de Gracia about a block away from La Rambla, during the solar eclipse of October 3, 2005. It was an annular eclipse in Madrid, but only partial in Barcelona.
The sidewalks around there are paved with attractive cement tiles patterned with sea creatures, designed, like so many things in Barcelona, by the great Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí. The gaps between the leaves in the trees overhead projected hundreds of little eclipse crescents onto the sidewalk. Since it was only a partial eclipse, it wasn’t noticeably darker, but the occlusion cut down the heat of the Sun noticeably. It was a nice time for a walk.
We’d gone there to catch a cruise with our friends Phil and Holly; Phil, who was an avid amateur astronomer, has since passed away, so it’s in memory of him too.
Solar eclipse in Barcelona, 2005
Taken on 2005-03-10
Passeig de Gracia, Barcelona
Solar eclipse projected onto a nice-looking tiled sidewalk by the gaps in some leafy trees.
Next, pictures from valued commenter Lee.
During the eclipse.
St Joseph, MO
Rosecrans Memorial AirportTaken on 2017-08-21
St Joseph, MO
Rosecrans Memorial AirportHorizon during the totality
Taken on 2017-08-21
St Joseph, MO
Rosecrans Memorial AirportTotality with cloud cover
Thank you so much Lee, do send us more when you can.
And finally, pictures from valued commenter J R in WV.
These photos were taken on August 21, starting around 12:20 or so. We drove to Owensboro on Sunday and checked into the very nice Hampton Waterfront Inn. The restaurant at the hotel was good too, but way understaffed for their actual crowd on a Sunday evening. We sat at the bar and met a number of other folks in Kentucky for the eclipse. Gut with all the points for longest distance traveled was from Belgium, he saw a brief solar eclipse in northern France years ago and decided to come see this one, as well as a trip to Mammoth Cave.
We drove south on US 60 into the beautiful rural landscape of rolling farms of Kentucky, past the small town of Marion, once a mining town where I have collected minerals on formal collecting digs in the distant past, on to the village of Mexico, Ky. where we passed a wide spot by the road, with tall bushes providing shade beside the road. It was 97 according to the generally accurate numbers of the VW dash.
One group in a passing car paused to ask if we needed Ecliipse glasses, we showed them our’s and they headed on south. Another small group of guys stopped, and one guy was using a pair of sunglasses on the end of his lens, I loaned him my screw on filter so he could take a couple fo shots, and then they headed on south as well.
Just as things started happening a small rental car stopped with 3 people from Baltimore stopped and joined us by US 60 for the whole show. After things began to wind down we shared a bottle of Champagne I had buried in ice in our cooler. Mrs J went across the road to the only operating business in Mexico, an antique shop to buy a vase.
All the pictures were taken with my Panasonic Lumix FZ1000 with it’s Leica 24-400 mm (35 mm equivalent lens). I wound up taking over 500 shots, with automatic bracketing of exposure, and hand held the camera, which has optical stabilizing built into the lens path. I used a Thousand Oaks filter screwed onto the lens until totality, and allowed the camera to expose things automatically. I set focus manually set at infinity. All the photos were at 400mm and have been cropped but not substantially edited.
Aproaching Totality
Taken on 2017-08-21
By US 60 in Mexico, KY, just south of Marion, Ky in Crittenden County.
The moon is moving east across the face of Sol. There were some clouds which didn’t keep us from seeing the whole show, although it was tense and scary to have so many at such a singular event.
Very Near Totality
Taken on 2017-08-21
Mexico, Kentucky beside US route 60.This photo shows the tiny bit of Sol still showing around the eastern edge of the Moon, at f/4.0 exposed for 1/125th of a second.
Nearest To Totality
Taken on 2017-08-21
Mexico, Kentucky, beside US route 60.A tiny sliver of the sun showing, nearly invisible …
Not quite Totality, with a star just East of the Sun
Taken on 2017-08-21
Mexico, KentuckyI very tiny bit of sun was remaining on the lower east side of the moon, and the brilliant corona is the main part of the image, and a star (or planet( can be seen a few degrees east of the moon.
WOW WOW WOW
Moon backlit by Sol
Taken on 2017-08-21
Mexico, KyTotally obscured, the sun’s corona lit the Earth with a strange light, and the humid and hot landscape was beginning to cool. No filter for this photo, and you can see the moon, dimly lit by the light of the corona reflected by the Earth’s surface. There is beginning to be some clouds in the formerly clear sky, which you can see around the moon.
A backlit Moon in clouds.
Taken on 2017-08-21
Mexico Ky.This picture is right as totality appears to be ending, with thin clouds wrapping the moon in a strange glow.
The First Sliver of Sol
Taken on 2017-08-21
Mexico, KyYou can see mountains along the western edge of the moon in this tiny sliver of the sun. Filter back on for this, so clouds and stars are gone.
Thank you so much J R in WV, do send us more when you can.
Just an amazing set of pictures of that incredible event. I can’t wait for Thursday!
Travel safely everybody, and do share some stories in the comments, even if you’re joining the conversation late. Many folks confide that they go back and read old threads, one reason these are available on the Quick Links menu.
One again, to submit pictures: Use the Form or Send an Email
raven
nice
Cermet
Yes, good morning to one and all.
?BillinGlendaleCA
I got a sheet of filter material from Thousand Oaks Optical(oddly enough they’re not in Thousand Oaks, CA(my hometown)) last year, I cut a piece out and put it between two step up rings; worked perfectly. Just remember,kids, when you’re taking pics of celestial objects set the focus on something far away and tape the focus ring so it doesn’t move; infinity on digital camera(and lens) really isn’t.
Great shots, JR in WV.
Spanky
Had pretty much the same awesome view from Central Nebraska, with slightly less cirrus.
The star to the left of the eclipse is the brightest star in Leo, Regulus, btw.
OzarkHillbilly
That should be Mercury. We did not see Mercury during totality here but were able to see Mars. I had meant to pass around our 2 binoculars during totality but had a complete brainfart, forgetting about them altogether. Probably would have seen Mercury if I had remembered.
raven
@OzarkHillbilly: I was glad I used my filter on my binoculars instead of fucking around with my camera.
p.a.
Wow! I say that a lot here. Thanks.
A friend got the last pair of solar binocs at the local Best Buy even though we only got to ~60% here. Said you can even see sunspots with them. Other than looking at the sun, looking through them is as if the lenscaps are on.
raven
@p.a.: Yep, that’s how you know they work!
OzarkHillbilly
@raven: @p.a.: A friend set up a couple telescopes for the duration of the event. Sunspots, flares, cool stuff. I was unprepared (mentally) for totality and when it happened I forgot damn near everything else, I was so mesmerized. Did remember to look for the “dawn sky” at the horizon tho we could only see to the north due to our trees.
SiubhanDuinne
Wow! All the eclipse photos are wonderful!
@Matt McIrvin:
Thank you so much for remembering my request from a couple of weeks ago. What a lovely effect you captured in that photo, and what a great memory for you!
Ben Cisco
Beautiful pics!
raven
Here’s my ground level video of the eclipse.
Baud
Really nice.
OzarkHillbilly
@raven: I like the musical accompaniment.
Raven
@OzarkHillbilly: stock iMovie “jingle”
satby
Wonderful pictures JW! Now I wish I had taken the day off and gone to my kid’s place in Lexington.
@raven: you had a crowd! I like the music too, it fits the video.
Knight of Nothing
@OzarkHillbilly: pretty certain it is Mercury as well – it showed up in my wide angle photos of totality.
@J R – nice work! I particularly like the third-contact diamond ring through the clouds.
debbie
@raven:
Ah, the days when no opportunity for tanning time would be passed up!
ThresherK
Wow for all.
And the “totality with cloud cover” is downright creepy.
Betty Cracker
Beautiful photos!
MomSense
Beautiful photos!!!
Much better eclipse viewing than the cardboard box contraption I used.
raven
@satby: We were at our friends house up in Eleberton in the 100% range. The young lady, who now works at Mt Saini in MD, came with a bunch of her 30 something friends and they were really fun. The give me faith in the future.
HRA
Can someone have mercy on us wanting to read the posts here lately? The ad in question is way too much for the last few days with its drums.
randy khan
The photos just before totality with, I guess, Mercury and just after are fantastic.
I’ve already begun to think about 2024, since I wasn’t able to get to a place with totality this time.
WaterGirl
Such lovely eclipse photos! Some of the best I’ve seen. So much talent here on BJ! Thanks for sharing.
Jerzy Russian
@OzarkHillbilly: Are you sure it is not the star Regulus (the brightest star in the constellation Leo)? I saw the planet Venus, which was much further from the Sun. I heard stories from a few people who saw Mercury and said it was very difficult to spot.
Knight of Nothing
@Jerzy Russian: good catch — I think you’re right. Mercury was ~10 degrees away from the eclipsed sun, while Regulus was only a couple of degrees away. So Regulus is probably correct.
Major Major Major Major
Serenity now!
maurinsky
Amazing eclipse pics!
J R in WV
I have no idea what the star/planet is, so Regulus or Mercury it probably is. I forgot to mention that I set the ISO sensitivity at 3400, several notches below maximum, but pretty much noise-free level.
This camera comes closer to being able to shoot in the dark hand-held than anything else I’ve seen. It can take multiple exposures while in the viewfinder it says to hold the camera still. Then the computer merges all that data into one well-exposed photo with true colors and minimal blur. Amazing the first time I did it, I didn’t expect any such thing, when it worked after a few seconds of computing I was like WTF… WOW!
Thanks for the appreciation. It is so rewarding when a plan works out as hoped and expected. The plan to go rural was swell, we had company, but just enough and friendly. One of them is a diver, I got links to some of his underwater photos and sent them the photos you see above.
Travel to a place you would go just normally but timing it for an eclipse sounds like a fun way to see odd places. Rockhounding is like that, you wind up at an abandoned mine in a place no one else ever goes to see! Sometimes truly spectacular…