Taking your own photos is experiencing the Eclipse

Last week, a total eclipse took half the country by storm and most of the bandwidth on traditional and social media. (Here in Michigan, it was only 94%).

Folks across platforms discussed the "best way" to experience it. There was lots of conversation about how to protect your eyes, but also much about protecting your camera, particularly your phone's camera.

One of the takes that was prevalent among many photographers was: "don't bother taking pictures of the eclipse — there will be many pictures on the internet that are better than yours. Just enjoy it."

True, but they aren't my pictures.

Fundamental to photography is the idea of capturing memories, your memories. It's a capture of the world from my viewpoint, the way I saw it.

I didn't have a telescope. I didn't have a super long lens. I only had a pair of eclipse glasses and my pocket camera with special filter.

This was the first eclipse that I took pictures of, and it was fun to figure out how to do it with the tools I use every day.

I sent some of my photos to my fiancée who was watching with her colleagues. They loved the photos and wanted to see more. Why, when they could have logged on to any of the local news websites to see a live stream of the event, or look at pictures taken with very high-level equipment.

But no, these were from Lauren's guy, Fritz, who's just a mile down the street. There was a personal connection: they knew me and they knew where I was. It was close to them.

When I think about the eclipse a week later, I think of the experience I had taking the photos, not the outstanding shots I saw on X or Instagram, but the ones I took from our backyard, the way I saw it.

And yes, you shouldn’t miss the event trying to get “the perfect shot,” unless that’s how you want to experience it. For many, capturing moments with a camera is how we best take part in an event and experience life. Being a photographer is all about understanding when to take out and put away the camera.

A good photograph is one that evokes emotion in someone who views it, and sometimes, seeing an image you or someone you know took reminds you of an event like an eclipse in a way the "professional" photo cannot. There's nothing better than that.