I had it all planned out. After exchanging with Marina and learning there was an eclipse of the sun happening in a few days and that she, living in Athens, Greece, would not be able to see but I could (a portion of it), it was determined I would attempt to take some pictures.

I knew it was an iffy proposition at best because there is no good place to capture the sunrise anywhere near me and my house is too low for me to see anything properly though I might have a small chance if I climbed up on my roof (a relatively easy thing to do). Of course, I had to promise to share with Marina 😉

It just so happens I had to be at work at 7:30 this morning to greet the roofers (yay, me) so it would be all the easier to wake up (I’m still working on convincing myself it was) at 5:30. Sunrise was officially at 5:04 and the experts said we would be able to see it some time after that.

The alarm went off, I hopped out of bed made my way to the kitchen to step outside and, just as I had suspected, way too low. Shoot. I looked at my roof, looked at the bit of sunrise I had and realised it wouldn’t matter so no need to risk breaking my neck (I’m not a monkey like my 23-year-old is. Well, not anymore, anyway!)

5:45, my running clothes on, Tabata timer set to 32 minutes I decided not to waste this early morning. This running/walking thing I’ve been doing for the past three months is surprising me still. I had to keep it short this morning because I had enough time to make a coffee, shower, etc. and be at work for 7-stupid-thirty.

For the first time in over a week it was actually chilly out there! I rounded my corner, kept on going until I got to the first little park and right in front of me. BOOM! Damnation! No camera. This was my first attempt with the camera phone. No visible eclipse. Sigh. But man was it bright.

I took a few more steps and then took this. But only realised the something special just now. I thought it was a bright star

I thought okay… not quite what I was hoping for but… how cool is this effect?

I was chuffed to see this phenomenon. I couldn’t capture the eclipse but a flare sort of did! I promise, last one like this 🙂

So, enough with the picture taking, I had a run/walk to finish.

I got home and decided to do my stretching in the backyard. I was pretty much blinded by the light, so to speak!

I got out my trust Canon with my 75-300 lens and tried to look by not looking at the sun. Yeah. Ummm… Not an easy thing to do.

Most of the eclipse was over by then but I still caught a smidgeon of it. I know, I know, we can barely discern it on this one. Bottom left, maybe if you squint 😉

I particularly liked the following one where the last bit is a bit more visible…

But then I played with it a tad and gave it a bit more drama.

I’m frankly more than a little in awe that any of these turned out at all. If you want to see a truly beautiful photo of the partial eclipse, please check out David Kanigan’s right here. It’s absolutely stunning!