After months of planning, I was honored to be invited to join a small contingent of photographers that were given permission and granted access to photograph the 2017 eclipse from the private grounds of the Center for Birds of Prey.

Located in Awendaw, SC, this amazing organization includes an Avian Medical Center, an Oil Spill Treatment Facility, and a very active Environmental Education Department. They are only open to the public on the weekends. However, they happened to be located in a prime spot near the center of the path of Totality!!! So it was a special treat for us to be invited to photograph from their grounds that day.

In spite of all our preparations for the big day, weather happened! I had visions of capturing every stage of the process and creating a wonderful composite showing the entire sequence. But the dark, low-lying cloud cover only allowed us a few glimpses through to the dramatic events unfolding behind them. At 9 minutes before totality, we saw our last sighting of the sun and moon. We never saw Totality or any of the phases following.

At first I was disappointed. All my photography friends started sharing post after post of clear views of the eclipse from other parts of the state. But pretty soon all their shots started to look the same. Suddenly, I realized that my twist of fate had landed me with some very interesting and unique images of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.  The foreboding clouds encircled the sun and moon to create these wonderfully ominous and moody images!

Here are a few of my favorites.