Photographer Maurice Bakley found an unexpected opportunity to document a rare celestial event while chaperoning a solar eclipse watch party at his son’s elementary school in Arlington, Virginia. The gathering brought together a group of young students for their first real-life experience of the phenomenon, providing Bakley with a chance to shift his focus from technical time-lapse setups to a more personal, human-centric composition.
Shifting from Time-Lapse to Intimacy
Bakley arrived at the event early with the intention of capturing a time-lapse of the eclipse. He had set up his iPhone on a tripod, equipped with a monocular and a solar filter to safely record the astronomical progression. However, as the event unfolded, he decided to switch devices to capture the human element of the experience.
He reached for his iPad to take a photograph that would convey the wonder of the moment from the children’s perspective. The subjects of the photo were a tight-knit group of boys, including his own son, who had known each other since kindergarten through their bilingual Spanish immersion school. At the time of the event, the children were eight and nine years old.
Bakley noted that none of the boys had ever seen an eclipse in real life before this day. To capture this milestone, he sat cross-legged on the ground with them, ensuring the camera was at their eye level. He avoided a top-down angle, believing that a higher perspective would have lost the intimacy of the shared experience.
Editing for a Timeless Feel
The photographer applied a specific editing style to the image to enhance its emotional resonance. He used a film-like color grading and added a slight blur to the background to draw attention to the faces of the boys. This technique helped isolate the subjects from the surrounding environment, focusing the viewer’s attention on their reactions.
He also chose a square crop for the final image, a departure from his usual rectangular format. Bakley explained that this aspect ratio suited the composition, lending the photograph a timeless and nostalgic quality. He approaches mobile photography with the same intentionality he once applied to SLR photography, carefully considering both the capture and the post-processing stages.
The resulting image serves as a record of a specific moment in Arlington, Virginia, where technology and nature intersected. It highlights how accessible devices like the iPad can be used to create professional-quality images that prioritize human connection over technical spectacle.
Source: The Guardian
