Total Solar Eclipse: 2017 Remastered (2024)

Friends, I made it to totality seven years ago, but won’t be this time around.

For this magical Solar Eclipse Day, 2024, I have fully remastered my hero capture of Totality I was fortunate enough to witness in 2017.  This updated version using the latest software and available techniques brings out more detail in the Sun’s undulating corona, and offers even greater sharpness than I was able to achieve in 2017.  I’m sharing this remastered image with you here, and sharing with you highlights of my 2017 experience of totality.

I monitored the cloud forecast for the last week like many of you also surely did, and it seems that my original target along with most of the Northeast, save for Maine and Vermont, will have some degree of cloud cover ranging from 50-90%, with the nearest guaranteed clear sky being Indianapolis; that is just too far away to be feasible on short(ish) notice, especially considering the outbound traffic (18hrs) will be around double the inbound travel time (9hrs).  “April showers bring May flowers,” as the saying goes; 2017’s total solar eclipse was in Summer, offering most of North America an unobstructed view of the spectacle with the marjos exceptions being oceanic influences in coastal areas in Oregon, oceanic thunderstorms in South Carolina, and mountain plain meteorological effects in Wyoming.

For today’s 2024 solar eclipse, I debated traveling to NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility to watch them launch three sounding rockets during the eclipse, however I’ve decided against that as well since it would take me even further away from the eclipse, marking an 8% drop in magnitude.  Instead I think I’ll be enjoying the eclipse around the monuments in DC, and possibly capturing something dramatic through our predicted 50% cloud cover.

If you’re in the totality path and manage to get a clear sky, be in the moment and enjoy the show - the 2017 Solar Eclipse was truly a moving experience.  For the remaining majority of us that are under Springtime cloud cover or outside the narrow totality path, make the most of what Mother Nature shines upon us, and remember that while as rare as a solar eclipse is, an unobstructed view of this eclipse is shaping up to be a coin toss.

Wishing all you aerospace, astronomy and meteorology nerds a beautiful Eclipse Day, and be sure to follow me everywhere @DavidBuerkPhoto, where I’ll update you with whatever interesting sights I do capture of our 2024 Eclipse!

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David and Tiffany: Married July 6th, 2019

Although their wedding was two days after Independence Day, David and Tiffany kept the fireworks going for their Summer wedding day in Arlington; a fitting contrast to their Autumn engagement session in Shenandoah.

As with many traditional Chinese weddings, David and Tiffany celebrated among family and friends with a dinner party, which gave us extra time for portraits that steamy July afternoon. After exploring sites inside and around their hotel in Arlington, it was time to head to a nearby Chinese banquet hall to greet family and dear friends before the small ceremony began. Following toasts from close friends, the ten-course dinner feast was served, offering a spectrum of traditional and American Chinese flavors. And of course there was cake and champagne to conclude the meal as guests began parting ways for the evening.

After the formal events had wrapped up, a small afterparty group met at Whitlow’s On Wilson in nearby Clarendon to buy David and Tiffany some drinks and enjoy some dancing to 90s and 2000s rock hits for the first time as newlyweds.

Bayard and Margaret: Married April 13th, 2019

Over a lifetime, certain cities and locations become significant and close to one’s heart.  Sometimes it’s because of experiences, sometimes it’s just a feeling; oftentimes, it’s both.  For Bayard and Margaret, the first city to hold that significance is Williamsburg, home of William and Mary, where they first met.  Washington Dulles International Airport will always be remembered for where they got engaged upon Margaret landing.  But Alexandria is the most recent place of significance for them, because it is their current home, where they celebrated their engagement last Fall, and most importantly, it is the city where they tied the knot this April 13th!

On a beautiful Spring day at Belle Haven Country Club in Alexandria, Bay and Maggie said “I do” surrounded by family, friends, and cherry blossoms.  Bay and Margaret have always had a pizzazz about them; I first met Maggie when she was singing karaoke at Nina and Ian’s wedding in 2016.  This is the energy she draws from in planning her famously immersive parties, and this spirit shined at their wedding, from the wedding cake surrounded by cherry blossom trees and protected by his-and-hers Han and Leia porgs, to the Harry Potter candy bar for every house at Hogwarts.

With lots of love (and dancing), Bay and Margaret started a new chapter in Alexandria’s importance in their lives this Spring.  Together, the World holds infinite places for them to discover, collect new memories, and develop new bonds with as they now go and explore the World as husband and wife.  Though the places will change, their love will remain constant.

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I don’t think anybody except my talented assistant photographer Eddie noticed, but if I looked pained at any point during Bay and Margaret’s wedding, it wasn’t because of the wedding!  I woke up the morning of Bay and Maggie’s wedding with what has now been diagnosed as a slipped cervical disc, which caused severe muscle spasm in all muscles in my left shoulder and pec.  It’s an injury I’ve endured a handful of times now, but obviously the timing of this reoccurrence was undesirable, but I didn’t let it impact my performance shooting the wedding!  Luckily now, after two months in PT getting trigger point injections and dry needling + ESTIM, I’m feeling much better.  This injury significantly slowed my progress editing this wedding initially, but with progress recovering I was able to make up for lost time and still get these photos fully edited and online the same week I’d originally projected.

But for now, enjoy this outtake:

Old Rag Mountain: August, 2018

Lately I’ve been slowly working my way through unedited personal sets in my photo library. This week’s offering is from last Summer, when I finally got to hike Old Rag once again. After my Spring, 2017 knee mishap which led to surgery and a long recovery in PT, this was my first time hiking Old Rag since making a full recovery.

My friend Patrick, who you may recognize from many of my car posts, and I hit the trail on a steamy August mid-morning. I’d come to find out later that day there were other people I know on the mountain at the same time we were, but we simply never crossed paths; funny how that works sometimes.

Old Rag is the tallest peak in Shenandoah National Park, and naturally provides some of the most incredible panoramic views of the Shenandoah Valley. It is known for its extensive granite rock scrambles along the trail with some locations along the trail and at the summit offering opportunities for bouldering or full-on rock climbing for those feeling more daring.

All photos in this post are available for print here.

If you’re unfamiliar, parts of the trail run through and under the massive granite boulders; here, the trail proceeds up a natural staircase inside the opening between the rocks, in the center of the frame below. As you ascend and eventually descend the mountain, you can changes in foliage, ground composition, and wildlife.

Best of 2018

Each year I publish a year-in-review which shows the highlights of my year in photography.

2018 began by closing out 2017’s setbacks; as some of you may recall, I dislocated my kneecap and tore my MPFL in 2017, and underwent surgery to reconstruct my MPFL in October, 2017. This meant that by time 2018 rolled around, although I was back on my feet, I was still in a full-leg brace and only mid-way through physical therapy. The beginning of 2018 was slow, and felt even slower, but that wasn’t a bad thing since it helped me focus on making a full recovery. By February I was out of the leg brace, March I was jogging again, and April I completed physical therapy. By May I was running full-speed again, and June I was fully recovered, hiking Old Rag Mountain and running half-marathons again. Today, 15 months after surgery, I am happy to report that it is almost like nothing ever happened to my knee in 2017.

Fully recovering from knee surgery early allowed 2018 to become my biggest year for travel assignments, giving me back full confidence and ability to go and do anything anywhere that is needed or wanted. In 2018, after spending a week and a half in Rhode Island visiting friends and exploring parts of the state that I hadn’t gotten to in previous visits, this meant a whirlwind week and a half across the entire country, touring airports in cities from coast to coast. Traveling from Washington, DC to Atlanta, to Chicago, to San Francisco, and back to Washington, DC, then back to Chicago again before returning home to DC a few weeks ago, I’ve enjoyed five photoshoots across three cities, not counting photoshoots in the DC metro area. The travel allowed me to sample some cities I’d never visited before, and relish some experiences I’ve looked forward to for years.

2019 already has some more travel planned, and I’m very hopeful to continue taking my photography on the road (correction: in the skies). Although it’s not the first time I’ve travelled for a photoshoot, 2018’s trips have been the largest and most logistical travel assignments I’ve taken on, and I’ve loved every second of it.

Below you’ll see some highlights from 2018, including some photos which are unreleased to-date due to focusing on deliverables rather than personal photos.

Here’s to 2019 and hoping it shapes up to have all the opportunities from 2018 and more!

A driving instructor watches the autocross track during The Kia Stinger Experience Tour, Washington, DC, March 10th, 2018.

Portrait of Steve Mohyla CFP with podcasting microphone.

An aircraft on final approach to DCA’s R/W 19, photographed from Gravelly Point, Arlington, Virginia.

Equestrians during the 2018 Virginia Gold Cup.

A Summer thunderstorm photographed from beyond the rainfall.

The Honorable Elaine Chao, United States Secretary of Transportation, addresses guests at The Aero Club of Washington's "When Ingenuity and Innovation Come Together" luncheon, June, 2018.

Bayard proposes to Margaret upon her arrival and clearance through Customs at Washington Dulles International Airport.

Nighttime view of the former location of New York City’s World Trade Center Twin Towers through the Empty Sky Memorial in Jersey City, New Jersey.

Headstones in the fog, seen in Union Cemetery, North Smithfield, Rhode Island.

Historic Downtown Woonsocket, Rhode Island.

TF Green Airport ARFF Station as seen from airside.

Southern face of the Rhode Island State House, Providence, Rhode Island.

“She Never Came” by Bezt from Etam Cru and Natalia Rak; a mural in downtown Providence, Rhode Island.

The Providence Biltmore Hotel as seen in the film 27 Dresses.

Hennessy the pit bull playing in a river stream.

Easton Point, Newport, Rhode Island.

At the Museum of Work and Culture in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, a French-Candian immigrant worker tends to a loom.

My September, 2000 print of New York City’s World Trade Center Twin Towers held and photographed in the exact same spot in present-day Liberty State Park, Jersey City, New Jersey.

View of Manhattan from Liberty State Park, Jersey City, New Jersey.

View of Manhattan from Liberty State Park, Jersey City, New Jersey.

View from atop Old Rag Mountain in Shenandoah, Virginia. This would mark the first time I hiked Old Rag since my knee injury over a year prior.

A stream in Shenandoah National Park.

The Shenandoah River with a thunderstorm rolling in in the distance. Shot and edited entirely on iPhone 6.

Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar speaking at The American Heart Association’s Value in Healthcare Initiative Meeting at Kaiser Permanente’s Center for Total Health in Washington, DC.

Nikon President and CEO Yasuyuki Okamoto welcomes guests to the Nikon Z 7 release event at the Newseum in Washington, DC.

Capital Area Photographers gather for a group photo at the Nikon Z 7 release event at the Newseum in Washington, DC. Shot and edited entirely on iPhone 6.

Food photography for a marketing campaign.

Bayard and Margaret stroll during their engagement session in Alexandria, Virginia.

Downtown Chicago, Illinois at night, aerial.

Alexander Calder’s Flamingo in Chicago, Illinois.

Sir Anish Mikhail Kapoor’s Cloud Gate, colloquially known as “The Bean,” in Chicago, Illinois. Shot and edited entirely on iPhone XS.

Pacifica Beach, Pacifica, California at sunset. My first full West coast sunset. Shot and edited entirely on iPhone XS.

Cyclists biking down the chicanes of Lombard Street, San Francisco, California.

Aerial view of San Francisco, California from Christmas Tree Point, Twin Peaks, San Francisco, California.

Cabernet Franc grapes on the vine in Napa, California.

Myself atop the Panoramic peak above Muir Woods, Mill Valley, California. Shot and edited entirely on iPhone XS.

A bobcat crosses a road atop the Panoramic peak above Muir Woods, Mill Valley, California.

View of the Muir Woods canopy from midway above the forest floor.

San Francisco’s iconic Golden Gate Bridge at sunset.

Aerial view of wildfire in the Sierra Nevada mountain range.

Composite image of the moon and Milky Way galaxy. Moon and stars are not to scale or sky position, but were photographed in the same night sky.

Myself standing in Willis Tower’s “Sky Deck Ledge,” the tallest point above Chicago, Illinois.

David and Tiffany during their engagement session in Shenandoah, Virginia.

David and Tiffany during their engagement session in Shenandoah, Virginia.

David and Tiffany during their engagement session in Shenandoah, Virginia.

And assortment of mannequins gathered for closeout sale in a liquidating Sears department store. Shot and edited entirely on iPhone XS.

Chicago O'Hare International Airport’s iconic Terminal 3 decorated for Christmas as seen in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.

My first photoshoot with Canon’s new EOS R mirrorless full-frame camera, in Chicago O'Hare International Airport. Shot and edited entirely on iPhone XS.

Sir Anish Mikhail Kapoor’s Cloud Gate, colloquially known as “The Bean,” in Chicago, Illinois, as seen from inside / below.

The Chicago, Illinois cityscape skyline at night as seen from atop 875 North Michigan Avenue, colloquially known as the John Hancock Center. Willis Tower (formerly known as Sears Tower) can be seen on the far left lit in red and blue uplighting.