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A total eclipse of the Sun occurred in Kenya on 16 February 1980. Better views were forecast for southern Kenya, and so four of us drove down to an area of open bush just north of the Taita Hills to see it. I probably missed most of the experience as I was frenetically bracketing (decreasing) exposures with my set up of the OM-1 camera on a tripod, using the 400mm (= 8x magnification) Vivitar telephoto – and trying not to have my eyes boiled into the bargain! However I do remember looking westwards and seeing the great bulk of Mt Kilimanjaro turn black as the eclipse shadow swept over it. And then we were very soon in twilight, with the birds singing their dusk chorus.
WHAT DO THESE PICTURES SHOW?
Click onto this image to open a larger version in a separate window – recommended.
The Sun is so bright that nothing of its structure can usually be seen. More detail is visible during total eclipses however, and I gradually decreased the photographs’ exposures, to see more deeply into the Sun’s structure. The photograph on the right shows the Sun’s blazing white Corona or “atmosphere”, which extends for millions of kilometres out into space from our star and is only visible during eclipses. The Corona consists of extremely hot gases – temperatures of millions of degrees.
The photo on the left was taken with greatly reduced exposure, so that most of the corona has failed to register. A close look at the periphery of the Sun’s black disc shows a thin but distinct line of bright pink at about 5 o’clock on the disc. This pink area is either the Sun’s Chromosphere, or a Solar Prominence. The deep red Chromosphere is one of the Sun’s outer layers, with temperatures of 4,500 to 20,000 degrees K. Solar Prominences are relatively cooler material that erupts up through the Chromosphere and out into the Corona.
CAN PHOTOGRAPHY ROB US OF ACTUAL EXPERIENCE?
Reflecting on the thought that I probably missed much of the experience of a total solar eclipse because I was so intent on photographing it (despite the fact that, let’s face it, thousands upon thousands of eclipse images have already been obtained by other photographers in the past) brings me to something that I’m sure of.
And this is that being an enthusiastic photographer can rob us of fully experiencing people, places, happenings, whatever: we are simply too busy setting up and taking pictures to fully take in all that is around us. I don’t see this at all as a reason not to be an enthusiastic photographer, but it is something to keep in mind and to remain conscious of. For me, I suppose, a compromise would simply be to go somewhere without any photographic intentions whatsoever – but to have my little Canon PowerShot G11 slung over my shoulder or in my rucksack, in case some photographic potential appeared and I felt like taking advantage of it.
THE ARCHIVE KENYA SERIES
I’m re-posting photographs that I took in Kenya over 30 years ago. You can find more context here . Click onto the “Archive Kenya” tag (below) to see more of these film images from Kenya.
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