Solar Eclipse

Steve Zhou

Q: What was your process in the above picture, the time-lapse one? 

A: The method to create this image is to first take a sequence of images in different phases of the eclipse, and then use a method called “stacking” to create the full image.

Q: What were your thoughts on this Solar Eclipse experience? 

A: It is absolutely spectacular and exciting to see this kind of so called “Once in a lifetime” event with my own eyes. I almost cried during the event, you can hear the neighborhood screaming when it comes to totality. You can also see the 360 degrees sunset sky from all directions. All of those experiences are just hard to describe in words.

Q: What got you interested in Photography and "celestial" photography specifically?

Two years ago, my dad brought me a big telescope for my birthday. I was obsessed with it and I saw a lot of planets, stars, and even nebulas through it for the first time. One day I was messing around with my telescope as usual, and  an idea suddenly popped up in my mind: what if I connect my camera to the telescope and take pictures from it? After the first 20 seconds of exposure towards a bright nebula, I was shocked and almost passed out. It’s the first time I had taken a picture of a nebula and the result was beyond my comprehension. I just went all-in to this fascinating hobby called “astrophotography”.

Because I need to get away from light pollution in the city, I often need to travel to a place like a desert or plateau to get the near perfect environment. Throughout the process I also learned to take pictures of the scene around me. Because the principles of photography are connected, I learned landscape photography pretty quickly.

Throughout the time I spent on photography, it has deeply changed my perspective and life attitude. I became more enthusiastic about my life. I can see lots of beautiful things that I couldn't see before, and all of this because of photography. I am really appreciative of it.