Nothing can prepare one for the experience of witnessing a total solar eclipse. I was fortunate to be able to see one on August 21, 2017. It was unlike anything I had expected and not even a slightest bit like any picture I have ever seen. I was anticipating seeing something amazing in an unusual way, and although it was this, I did not realize that the more prominent feature that would stand out in my mind would be its sublime and spectacular characteristics. It was, as I try to combine insufficient and inadequate words to convey something that can only be seen to be understood, the most magnificent, and astonishingly spectacular natural sight you can imagine.
Although no image can even come close to portraying its astonishing characteristics, I attempted to create an image that captures the visual sight of the corona in as close a way as possible to how I remembered. It is surprising, and somewhat unfortunate, how quickly a memory of an event such as this fades. In only moments after the sun appears once again on the other side of the moon, washing out the corona, that the recollection of the sight is blurry and uncertain. However, the memory of how one perceived it and what emotions it brought about remains much clearer. This is the memory from which I draw when trying to capture the scene in the confines of a photograph.