Seeking the sun where it’s hiding : the 2026 solar eclipse

That coward and I#

I only saw one total eclipse in my life. It's the one everyone is talking about in metropolitan france. The 1999's total eclipse.

I wished I took pictures that day, but I had a small logistical issue though:

I was four.

I have a vague memory of being in my parents’ kitchen, fiddling the glasses as we were bouncing between the TV talking about the eclipse, and the eclipse itself. I’m fairly sure it’s not a fabricated memory, but I don’t even remember the totality.

So, this will be my first real eclipse. I’m obviously both excited and anxious about the whole thing.

2026-07: research#

Things started to get in motion at end of June. Given our economical and logistical constraints, we would land on the east coast, by car, not too far from totality.

I fired up the usual criminals: google earth for 3D scouting and umap to organize the data.

But what about the eclipse itself ? I’ve already seen a few dedicated webtools, and oh gods.

This time everyone and their dog made an “eclipse map tool”. Almost none of them working properly, some of them so poorly optimized that they fully crashed a 16GB ram machine. Crazy how many people learned to code these last years.

This eclipse in spain has trick in its sleeve: it will happen right before the sun set. Which is both a great opportunity, and a great “opportunity”. Spain has some kind of mountain range on the east coast where the totality is, called the “Ibieran system". It’s great for visibility if you’re on it, not so great if you’re behind. So, our constraints are:

• find a spot in the path of totality (duh)
• with decent clearance from the horizon
• if possible, a nice looking landscape, to leverage that low horizon for the view
• not too far from where we sleep: not all of my friend are down for a seven hours road trip
• car accessible: some of my friends have mobility constraints: no hiking for two hours.

so we're back into that game

I’ll spare you the litteral tens of hours scouting on google earth, and skip right to the results: I found multiple spots. I also used google maps, Open Street Map and street-view coverage to guesstimate car-accessible paths. I also marked a rough indication of travel time (respectively 1 and 2 hours by car), and settled on https://eclipsefan.org/ as a calculator:

The the most promising spot was “La miranda”:

It had several great features:

• 50 minutes away
• nice elevation
• a seemingly amazing view
• a small village right next to it, so it’s not a completely remote area
• A weather radar right next to it, with what seems to be a road access.

I found some other spots but I can feel it: this is the spot. I kept scouting from time to time just in case, but my mind was pretty much made up.

2026-08–07: test and rehearsals#

Both from my experience as a thunderstorm chaser and from community resources, I know that anything can go south. So I had to nail down preparations. This time, we want as little chaos as possible.

2026-07-10#

The internet and medias are already starting to talk about the eclipse when I realize I haven't bought the glasses yet. I panic, rush to a pharmacy, and secure them... More than a month before. Turns out I was an early bird for once in my life.

I was on a budget, so I actually bought an extra one for the camera: The goal is to somehow put it on my clumsy 300mm analog telelens, and to switch my camera from a normal kit lens to a telelens when needed. I’m purposefully not embarrassing myself with logistical and practical details for now, to see what’s possible at all. "Make it exist first" and all that jazz.

Light seal is far from perfect, so I’m experimenting with various devices: but I’m having fun. It’s the first time that I’m trying to take a picture of the sun itself after all!

2026-07-13#

Because I’m smart, I realized that I could put the filter behind the lens to cover of the field of view. So I cut the spare glasses like one of those clip-in filters.

And because I’m an idiot, and despite the fact that I know how a lens works, I didn’t realized that I basically put a very powerful filter right where light converges:

2026-08-05 (late) testing focus marks#

▶ Crumb - Locket (youtube)

One thing I’m "terrified" of is focus management. I’ve messed up my fair share of starry sky photos, and worse, amazing volatile lightning strikes, due to bad focus. So I made a test for the sake of it: late into the night, I went on the university campus in our neighborhood, and tried to put focus marks on each lens based on the moon. One of the cruelty of life is that "focusing as far as possible" doesn't in fact focus on far, or even very far objects.

It also gave me a sense of the size of the moon for each focal length:

• A7 II w/ soligor 200mm (so dirty!)
• 650D w/ sigma 300mm
• A7 II w/ soligor 300mm

Beside that tedious work, I actually had some fun. A university campus, at night, during spring break is quite the ambience:

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2026-08-06 buying the baader filter#

While gathering some information online, I realized once again that I’m an idiot. While "sun dedicated filters for cameras and telescopes" are expensive, most people actually buy a “Baader filter sheet”. You can get an A4-sized sheet for around 30 bucks easily.

Time is running out though: so I clicked-and-collected at a camera shop in my city, and jumped on my bike right away. Turns out wasn't click-and-collect. But the guy behind the counter simply popped one out from his drawer and said that they'll "back-catalog it later, don’t worry”.

Classy move.

A typical “OD 5.0” sheet filters the light a million time, but based on online forums, I chose the other option, a “OD 3.8”, given that the sun would already be very low on the horizon and as such not so bright.

The result with the sony is very promising:

• the photo I took
• A quick look at a sunspot map shows that it’s not dust!

I wanted to test the canon camera as well, given that its 300mm (APS-C) is equivalent to a 500mm (Full format), but it refused to turn on. Either the battery is dead and only works for a few photos like last night, as it was in stasis for several years (bad), or the camera is somehow dead (extra bad). I had this camera for more than 15 years now and we went through so much together.

I'm kinda sad.

In term of filter strength, I had to lower the light input a lot for an afternoon sun, which is a good sign for a setting sun.

I also started thinking about taking analog shots: I mean, I have a minolta X300 I got for free, and all the “analog lenses” I got for the sony actually are minolta-mount.

To be able to aim without looking through the viewfinder right into the sun, I built a small “pinhole” camera, mounted coaxially on the main camera. This is the prototype I used to test the viability (you can see the small bright dot at the back).

A crazy idea started to emerge in my mind: I love digital photography, but analog obviously has more "physicality", which sounds great for an eclipse. I especially loved multi exposures. Unfortunately, my Minolta X300 can’t “rewind” or “lock the advancement” to stack exposures. And with a 300mm (full format), the sun wouldn’t be very big in the frame. But I still liked the idea of making a strip of 35mm film, with each step of the eclipse. So I did some napkin calculations:

  360°/day → 15°/hour
  with 300mm (FF): horizon FOV = 4.58°
  (calculator: https://www.digitalrebellion.com/webapps/lenscalc)
  4.58 / 15 = 0.30533333… hour per frame → 3600 (s) \* 0.30533333… → 1099sec interval
  →18.3 minutes (~18m19s) interval

The idea is: use the “solar scope” to aim the sun, take a picture, wait this much, rince and repeat.

At this point, I’m already aware that it's getting out of hands. But we’ll see where it goes.

I’m also trying to nail down my settings. Apparently the sun will be at +04°03’27 above the horizon, so I want to test at roughly the same time, tomorrow at 20:32.

On-site preparation#

▶ Oliver Tree - Hurt (youtube)

After 12 hours of car (including stops, hitchhikers and lolligagging), we finally arrived in spain. we’re exhausted, and went swimming for a bit. I hurt my toe while fighting huge waves for fun: fuck you, sea!

2026-08-11: scooting#

So, we called Llaberia's town hall. They said the road is going to be opened. We’re so back!

A friend and I went to Lleberia to check how accessible the spot actually is.

The journey to the village confirmed one thing: the region was beautiful.

As we arrived right before the village, we saw the road we were supposed to take to go to the peak. And… Uh oh.

It's not that it's impossible. But we have city cars, and we're not sure that they would be able to pull that off.

Still, we went to the village. And again, it was beautiful.

A few locals were actually talking on some stairs. We asked them a few questions, explaining that we would come tomorrow for the eclipse, and they kindly answered. They said that the path is indeed not great for small cars. As a women was translating to the others, one of them mimicked the bumps with his hands. The serendipity of human connections.

At least we have options: the village, the small hiking path above it, or maybe, just maybe, the peak.

One question remained: is this spot a hidden gem (kinda sad to be alone), vaguely known (great), or popular (overcrowded, bad).

Coming back from the town, we laughed at a weirdly specific “wild boar” warning sign.

Then saw a wild boar.

The weather was threatening, and people posting weather predictions every hour on r/solareclipse weren’t helping.

2026-08-12: day zero#

My checklists started to feel fuzzy and abstract at this point. I couldn’t focus (that’s a pun for you photo aficionados). It's even more so frustrating that they are meant to compensate for my bad attention span.

We finally built the filters for the cameras and phones, using the pizza boxes from the evening before:

Talk about a "tacticool" bag. Somewhere in the world amateur radio operators are muttering about “spurious emissions” and “radio licenses”.

After days of teasing them, I finally gave my friend a presentation explaining how an eclipse really works, what to look for, what the milestones are… Etc.

And we finally left together in our two cars. There is not going back now.

As we were driving, I saw a growing cumulonimbus

I’m usually happy about thunderstorms. But no, please, not today. BEGONE

And after an hour of driving, we arrived at llaberia and… Oh no.

It’s a popular spot.

I don’t mind having other people around for the eclipse: it's great. Living that incredible celestial event with strangers is part of the experience. But I don’t want to fight through a crowd to hug my friends and to set up my cameras: the sun will be pretty low. And it looks like Llebiera is going to be very crowded.

Also, cumulonimbus were still growing north of our position. Which is fine >:| given that thunderstorms usually go northeast in the northern hemisphere, but any storm south/west of us would be dramatic. I was legit starting to break down. Too many unknowns. Unstable weather, still no actual spot, and a lot of logistical constraints.

Fortunately, we’re a well-oiled group, and we planned some wiggle room. So we talked about it. The village wasn’t an option, but going to the peak by foot wasn’t either due to the health of some of our members. The kangoo car might be able to go to the peak, but the 208 car sure wasn’t. Given that the kangoo has 5 seats, it means that some people will have to take a 50 minutes hike if we shoot for the summit.

We finally took that option: some of us enjoy a good hike. We splitted the radios between the hiking team and the car team to stay in touch during the uncertain climb.

One small detail : the mobile network was basically nonexistent during the ascent.

The radios ended up being more than a vaguely useful tool: it was an essential one. the radio nerd in me (and some of my friends) blew up. We were actually using radios as "precarious environment" comms, using proper protocols to ensure comprehension.

As we were about halfway through the hike, the radio screamed “2-0-8 this is kangoo, we reached the peak, over”. And not long after, so did we.

The sun was starting to seriously hammer on our heads, but holy mother of fucking shit.

Tens of hours on research and mapping tools, and it was all worth it. The view on its own was worth a hike, and it’s not even why we’re here.

Even better: there was a about a hundred people scattered on the summit.

We were going to live that amazing event with fellow humans, without being overcrowded.

It’s all coming together.

Our fate is now in the hands of the gods of weather.

We started setting up the “camp” and the cameras. Weirdly enough, not that many people had “big” cameras here, making us an curiosity.

I then pulled my secret weapon. Gordon Telepun Solar Eclipse Timer app, and a bluetooth speaker. It provides synchronized audio cues so you can follow the eclipse without being glued to a screen. We already started talking the group next to us, so I explained to them how it works, and asked them if they wanted to be able to hear it or not. They were actually thrilled.

The canon (and later, the analog cam) has a small bit of tape on its viewfinder. That's because baader filters aren't meant for eye protection, as they don't filter out UV/IR light. It seemed like an easy life-changing mistake, so all cameras with an optical viewfinder within my reach, mine or not, received that treatment. The cameras are also maintained off-axis to avoid any damage through long-exposition despite the filters.

We are go.

We barely had time to crack a beer before Gordon announced:

"C1 IN FIVE MINUTES"

Shit, already?

C1, stuff in motion and the second coming of Anxiety#

I explained to our neighbors what the “Cs” are about. “C1”, or Contact 1, is when the moon starts to cover the sun, about an hour and a half before totality. Totality will last a minute and a half.

The checklists and notes I had on day 0

During the transit, which felt like 5 minutes, we were all checking the sun with the glasses now and then. Another panic set in when I realized I never actually nailed down my camera settings in advance as I originally planned (in this house we like foreshadowing). I did some tests, I had the EXIFs, but I never wrote them down to be able to focus on something else. Also, the baader filters were messing up everyone phone’s auto exposure so people were fiddling with their phone’s camera. Everything in me was falling apart, and there was no way to pause the motion.

I convinced them (hardly) all to come here, and i’m not going to let technology™ ruin the day. I pulled the borked off glasses, we improvised phone filters together, one of them already knew how to use the manual mode on their phone to compensate the filter, and I reminded everyone and myself not to get absorbed in photos, again.

At this point I already gave up doing the analog composite shot: my chaos sense is telling me I need to scale down if I want to actually enjoy the experience.

"C2 IN ONE MINUTE"

The sun was now but a slither.

C3, PUT GLASSES BACK, PUT GLASSES BACK#

"C3, PUT GLASSES BACK, PUT GLASSES BACK"

▶ PIXIES - All I Think About Now (youtube)

And before I could make sense of it all, it was gone.

I cried in the arms of a friend for the first time in years. It wasn’t sadness nor joy. Just raw, pure, Stem emotion.

Like curtains after a show, the cyclical coastal weather and the eclipse immediately brought a thick fog that engulfed the summit. We could barely see our neighbors. People were still coming back from the event, and started cheering again lost in the veil. Kids were running around. The ambience was indescribable.

The sky cleared out to show the sun, like an encore, still half eaten, slowly crawling behind the horizon

It was, needless to say, intense. But I loved it. It was everything I expected, and so much more.

Most cars were leaving already. A few people stayed. Tonight was also the Perseids, the most prolific meteor shower of the year. And a few other teams had the same idea as us.

We got a few hoodies, got the food out, and took a small emotional break from it all.

Ah, yes, the photos.#

I “gave up” (forgot) the long lens’d canon during the totality. All I got are wide shots. And not many of them.

And it’s completely fine.

The rest of the photos:

Epilogue#

2027? There’s is no way we can afford such a trip.

I mean, we could find a way.

Yep

We don’t even know where our lives will be in two months.

What do you mean 5 minutes of totality????