These are pictures of the February 26, 1998 total solar eclipse. They were taken from an area near Baby Beach on the island of Aruba. John Hopper, an experienced eclipse observer, who was also at the site offered the statement: "during the eclipse your IQ will drop by 70%". These words proved true as I discovered, too late, that the time was too short and the light too dark to see the camera controls and to keep track of exposure times. I flipped the camera controls and took shots at random settings. Fortunately a few turned out and these are a couple of examples.

The eclipse was visually much more spectacular than any photo can represent. The quality of the light plus the brilliance of the "diamond ring" must be seen to be appreciated. Below is an image of the second contact diamond ring taken by John Gleason who was at the site with me. The diamond ring occurs at the instant just before totality (lasts a couple of seconds) and just after. "Second contact" is just prior to totality.

John Gleason's image of the second contact diamond ring taken with an Astrophysics Traveler at f/9 on Kodak Royal Gold 25 at 1/60th second exposure

While total eclipses like this are relatively rare in any given location, partial eclipses are more frequent.  Click  here  for my photo of a partial eclipse taken from my home in Aptos, CA on June 10, 2002.