{"id":36699,"date":"2017-08-29T16:15:45","date_gmt":"2017-08-29T20:15:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.adorama.com\/alc\/?p=36699"},"modified":"2018-04-11T11:39:12","modified_gmt":"2018-04-11T15:39:12","slug":"the-crux-of-the-eclipse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.adorama.com\/alc\/the-crux-of-the-eclipse\/","title":{"rendered":"The Crux of the Eclipse"},"content":{"rendered":"

THE IDEA:<\/strong><\/p>\n

The idea of shooting the eclipse had been spoken about amongst ourselves all year but none of us wanted to think about it. Our studio has been so busy with commercial work this year that we all were thinking on a project by project basis to not get overwhelmed but the idea for the eclipse felt like it was always looming. Chris would turn around to me and say \u201cthis whole eclipse thing just stresses me out\u201d and the feeling was mutual. We both wanted to shoot something that hadn\u2019t been done before but also didn\u2019t want to overthink it. With any project like this, I can always rely on Chris Burkard to coordinate a plan and come up with something incredible but it had remained a gray area for a long time as we were trying to figure out what to do.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Photo by Chris Burkard<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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THE DECISION:<\/b><\/p>\n

We were actually on a job for airBNB in Oregon near Smith Rock. I could tell Chris was eyeing the rock formation in the background of our photographs (the Monkey\u2019s head) and that\u2019s where the \u201cwhat ifs\u201d started formulating. We used the app, Photopills, to track what the sun\u2019s movement would be on eclipse day and found that it would be rising directly over the monkey\u2019s head. The eclipse was to start just after 9AM and reach totality around 10:15AM meaning the sun would be pretty high in the sky. The reason this area was so special was that it would allow us to put a subject in front of the eclipsing sun because the high rock formation had a sheer drop straight down to a river bed below. Essentially it gave us the ability to be shoot straight up at a subject while allowing the eclipse to be in the background. I knew Chris was set on this location instantly and the next question was what would the \u201csubject\u201d be?<\/span><\/p>\n

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Photos by Chris Burkard<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Over the last 2.5 years of working and traveling with Chris I\u2019ve found there to be one main thing that he chases when photographing: uncertainty. What started in traveling to harsh places to find perfect waves has transitioned into a broader theme of seeking out remote places and showcasing their beauty which inevitably means jumping into a project head first not knowing the end result. That same idea of jumping into uncertainty was applied to this project as well. We had first discussed simply having someone stand up on the ridgeline but Chris proposed having a high liner walking a line in front of the eclipse\u2026 I instantly was skeptical that we could make it happen, honestly I thought that it would add too many variables: positioning of the line, the position of the athlete, all while taking into the account the moving sun. Chris assured me the <\/span>if <\/span><\/i>we could make it happen it\u2019d be worth it, if we just did something where we could calculate all of the variables we\u2019d walk away disappointed. We made the decision to move forward and reached out to Ryan Robinson and Garrison Rowland, two professional highliners, to work out the logistics of setting and walking the line. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Photo by Chris Burkard<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

THE EQUIPMENT <\/b><\/p>\n

The next step was figuring out what gear we\u2019d need to make it happen. A lot of reference photos we were seeing of the solar eclipse were composited from bracketed images but our goal was to capture the shot in camera. For this reason we decided to shoot on the Sony a7rii and utilize their uncompressed RAW format which allows you to capture images in uncompressed 14-bit raw. This would allow for higher dynamic range and better shadow recovery when exposing for such a bright subject as the eclipsing sun. The next step was lenses. <\/span>The plan was to have myself, Chris, and Ryan Valasek shooting a different focal length so we decided on the following set ups:<\/span><\/p>\n

Chris Burkard:<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n