Myself and a photographer friend, Toby Williams, decided to take some pictures of the recent partial eclipse. The astrological event was barely visible in most parts of the UK because of thick cloud cover. However, we knew that if we were high enough up we had a better chance than most of seeing it - and hopefully getting some pics. So we climbed Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh that morning for the best view, leaving the house at about 7:30am with a load of gear. Our hard work paid off and we did get something in the end: a picture on the 2nd page of The Scotsman.
The caption reads "A lone photographer watches the eclipse" etc. That is actually me in the shot and I am not alone - but the way the paper have presented the picture makes it more unique than a straight forward picture of the eclipse. Of course we had planned the whole thing beforehand. We knew that stunning pictures of the eclipse taken by meteorological institutes would be submitted so we thought if we gave the picture some context if would have a better chance of being used - and earning some money. Of course it helps that Toby is a regular contributor to The Scotsman and that they had asked another photographer to cover the event but got nothing. Toby used his 400mm lens with a 2x converter standing about 60m behind me. You can view the picture full size below.
Toby had to take hundreds of pics to get it right. The main problem being the shift in exposure caused by the sun popping in and out of the clouds. Focusing was also an issue and the picture used is not sharp on me but is on the sun. You can tell from the picture above but not when viewing it in the paper. Below is another picture submitted that may have been more suitable in my opinion - this time sharp on me with the sun slightly out of focus.
Just had a look at today's Daily Express and they have used the pic too - and my name was mentioned - which is nice. Have now learned that pic got used in five papers including Guardian.
