Thanks!

So much better when you can do that in your own backyard. Awesome!

Honestly, Tom, this is the first video I have watched where we were taken through the process. As a new photographer, I had no idea how it all went together with settings and filters, etc. I can tell it was a fun project for you to do. Really love your enthusiasm. You had me laughing. And your images were stunning! Sharing. And please have a coffee on me. Excellent work.

Hi Tom - Great video. Thanks for sharing your experiences. I was shooting similar scenarios that you were. I was originally planning to fly to TX from CT (plans that I had set in motion 2 yrs ago with some friends from TX) but cancelled my flight last week due to the weather forecast and pivoted to VT/NH area. I ended up in a field on the side of the road in Bloomfield VT and found a spot by a small river. I had the D850 w/500mm PF shooting the closeup shots. I then planned a wide landscape shot that I was taking with the Z9 with the river as a foreground. The plan was to shoot at somewhere between 14mm and 24mm to capture a foreground and then capture the different phases of the eclipse as it traversed across the sky and stack them all together. However, I came to realize that at 14-24mm the sun will be so small that you won't be able to discern the different phases of the eclipse in the overall composition, so decided to shoot the eclipse images at 105mm (maybe somewhere in between would have been better?). Unfortunately, this meant that I couldn't capture the complete traverse of the moon from start to finish all in the same field of view, so had to reposition the camera for post totality. Haven't had a chance to put it all together yet so not sure if it will even work out. And finally, I had the Zf set up to shoot a video. The close up shots in totality were amazing. The solar flares were very cool and the fact that I could see the corona AND a solar flare projecting out.... with the naked eye.... from 93 million miles away, blew me away. This was much better than the 2017 total eclipse that I saw in Madras OR (with 100k of my closest friends). I am completely non-religious/spiritual. I'm just in awe at the sheer size of it all... that I could see the corona that extends for millions of miles, and a solar flare so clearly that is dozens of times bigger than the Earth.... as you mentioned with regard to your experience to seeing the Grand Canyon, it's hard to explain. Hopefully you'll get a chance to experience a solar eclipse in totality at some point. One word of caution, once you do, they can become addictive. We're planning for Spain as well... and Australia in 2028.

Absolutely, I think we were supposed to get like 2% so we didn't even go out.

I drove 6 hours to see the totality. I think you will change your mind when you see one.