Miguel Claro is a professional photographer, author and science communicator based in Lisbon, Portugal, who creates spectacular images of the night sky. As a European Southern Observatory Photo Ambassador and member of The World At Night and the official astrophotographer of the Dark Sky Alqueva Reserve, he specializes in astronomical “Skyscapes” that connect both Earth and the night sky.
Behind the Trip, from Portugal to Texas
Taking a high resolution solar photograph during a total solar eclipse like this one represents an enormous amount of personal and professional effort, an incredible financial investment and months of planning.
This included planning the trip to ensure it was along the path of totality, booking accommodations several months in advance before prices went crazy, renting a car to be as mobile as possible — and all of it without knowing if the weather would cooperate on the location chosen for the special moment. We traveled from Portugal to Pearsall, Texas, as planned, but the forecast was indeed terrible for nearly the entire U.S., or at least where the path of totality was located.
So after many hours driving from Dallas to Houston and then to Pearsall, with the rest of the week monitoring with several different models the evolution of the weather forecast, we have decided – even with a certain risk – that we must need to move back to north, again, to be more close to Oklahoma state. So on the day before the Eclipse, we had to drive back to Dallas for five or six hours and in the morning of the Eclipse, we did an extra two hours drive, to reach a small city called Clarksville, in the northeast of Texas.
Related: 14 of the best total solar eclipse 2024 photos from our readers
At 10 a.m. the sky was still cloudy, and I only had two hours before the eclipse started, which meant I had to prepare my entire setup of six cameras with lenses, tripods, mounts, filters, cables etc ….
We found a nice green, calm farm to set everything up. The owner kindly authorized us to stay with our car nearby (thanks Ed!). This was the most stressful time of our lives, without knowing until the very end if we would be able to see the eclipse. As a photographer, focusing and centering the sun in between the clouds brought an extra difficulty to my task.
Additionally, I only had three solar filters for 6 cameras….
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