RVing in the Path of Totality – RV Lifestyle Magazine
Lead photo: After a tense period waiting for the sky to clear, the solar eclipse broke through the clouds over Beamsville, Ontario at 2:50 pm April 8 2024. Norm Rosen photo.
RVing in the Path of Totality – April 8 2024
Story and photos by Norm Rosen
Beamsville, Ontario April 8, 2024 – You might say that I had been anticipating today’s Solar Eclipse since 1979, when a cloudy sky dampened the enthusiasm of aspiring astro photographers in Ontario. It has been a long time to wait for another opportunity to have the ultimate celestial tryst play out in the skies above central and eastern Canada.
In the weeks leading up to the eclipse, I joined millions of fascinated enthusiasts, soaking up every bit of information I could find on the internet, pouring over manuals on photography, astronomy, and folklore, preparing for what has been billed as the celestial event of a lifetime.
Total solar eclipses occur about every 18 months – but the incidence of an eclipse traversing your home territory is very rare… in Toronto, the eclipse of 1925 is legendary – the April 8 2024 eclipse was anticipated to match or exceed the 1925 event, and the next eclipse to pass directly over this area is scheduled for 2144.
Obviously, none of us will be here to see the 2144 eclipse, so unless you plan to join the solar eclipse world tour, today was the day to make every effort to follow the moon’s shadow.
I had originally planned to visit our friends at the Niagara Falls (Ontario) KOA, but the anticipated crowds heading for the region virtually assured traffic congestion and all the related headaches.
Then a ray of sunshine arrived in my inbox. Our friends at Outdoor Travel sent an invitation to join them and their family of customers for an eclipse viewing party at the dealership, located in Beamsville, Ontario, just a short drive from the centre of the eclipse path of totality – but a world away from the anticipated crowds.
Outdoor Travel moved into a beautiful new facility just a few years ago, and they often entertain their customers with BBQ and open house activities – with plenty of open skies surrounding the dealership, it was an ideal choice for viewing the eclipse.
A quick call to the team confirmed that there would be room for one more astro observer, so I headed off toward Beamsville, aware of the weather forecast that would make solar photography a challenge, but determined to make every effort to fulfill the dream of basking in the shadow of a total solar eclipse. The dealership had set aside a portion of their front lawn, complete with 100 chairs for their guests, and a PA system tuned to the local radio station, which was providing a play-by-play account of the eclipse as it moved through the area.
Here’s how my solar eclipse adventure unfolded…
I arrived at the dealership early enough to visit the staff and customers, then I set up my camera equipment and settled into a lawn chair to wait for the action to begin. The astronomers predicted that in the Hamilton area, the partial eclipse would begin at 2:03 pm, and totality would commence at 3:18 pm and last 1 minute 47 seconds. The totality in Niagara Falls was estimated to be 3 minutes 32 seconds. Beamsville is 38km from Hamilton, and 42 km from Niagara Falls, Ontario, so I anticipated an opportunity to see about 2 minutes 30 seconds of totality. With the moon’s shadow travelling at more than 1,500 miles per hour, the start and end of the eclipse activity would be pretty much the same for Beamsville as it would be for Niagara Falls.
To capture the eclipse images, I selected a vintage 500mm f/8 Nikkor mirror lens, manufactured in the 1970s, and a Nikon D500 DSLR with an APS-C format sensor that renders the focal length of the lens to be equivalent to a 750mm lens on a “full frame” DSLR camera. This lens, which uses the same principle as a catadioptric telescope, is ideal for eclipse photography, providing 75X magnification. I fitted a Baader Planetarium AstroSolar Safety Film filter to the lens with a home-made filter holder. It’s not elegant, but it is functional, and it can easily be removed for shooting the “totality” phase of the eclipse where the moon completely covers the sun.
To check the lens and camera combination to achieve the ideal image size for this assignment, I photographed the Penumbral Lunar Eclipse on March 25, 2024. The full moon filled most of the frame, so I knew that the 500mm lens would be ideal to capture the solar eclipse with the aura of the sun’s atmosphere contained within the image frame, at a pleasing magnification.
As we eagerly awaited the start of the eclipse, the clouds filled the sky. We could see the occasional break in the cloud cover, but it was obvious that the full array of the eclipse was not going to be visible. Undaunted, we kept our hopes up that there would be an opportunity to see at least part of the eclipse – and our optimism was rewarded when the sun and moon became visible just a few minutes after the start of the eclipse.
I had been shooting the sky with a 70-300mm lens on a Nikon D7100 DSLR, trying to find the sun so I could have an opportunity to use the long telephoto lens on my main camera. When the clouds parted just enough to see the eclipse, I shifted my attention to the D500 camera with the 500mm lens, which was fitted with the Baader Planetarium AstroSolar Safety Film filter.
Once the action began, the moon passed quite quickly over the sun, and at 3:18 pm totality was observed – right on schedule.
The various stages of the eclipse were clearly visible, with the added interest of the clouds surrounding but not obscuring the scene.
As the eclipse raced through the 2 minutes or so of totality, I snapped a few images of the surrounding area to show how the moon’s shadow turned day into night, and then faded away to let the sunshine return.
It was noticeably cooler during the period of totality than it had been prior to the eclipse, and it was nice to feel the warmth of the sun return as the moon’s shadow raced along the path of totality to fascinate observers throughout the northeast states and provinces. By 3:30 pm, the sunlight had returned to full strength, and the air warmed up to once again become a very comfortable spring day. Within an hour of the eclipse, the sky was blue and there was barely a cloud in sight.
Was I glad that I had taken the time and made the effort to experience the solar eclipse? Absolutely!
I hope you have enjoyed these images as much as I have enjoyed bringing them to you.
Many thanks to the team at Outdoor Travel in Beamsville, Ontario, for their hospitality.
This year marks Outdoor Travel’s 30th anniversary – it’s a beautiful facility, with several very cool classic cars interspersed among the new RVs in the showroom, and one of the best parts and accessory shops in the region.
Check out the latest 2024 models and the full array of gently used RVs at the Outdoor Travel website: https://www.rvvacations.com/
Source: https://www.rvlifemag.com/rving-in-the-path-of-totality/
