Gallery Row in Old Town Scottsdale

Old Town Scottsdale is world-renowned for its many galleries and museums.

Today I am providing you three photos of different styles of galleries and their unique architectural styles.

Some galleries on Main Street include: Colores, Victoria Boyce Gallery, Gebert Contemporary, Biltmore Galleries, Bonner David Galleries, Duley-Jones Gallery, Expressions in Bronze, Faust Gallery, Gallery Russia, Joan Cawley Gallery, King Galleries of Scottsdale, Legacy Gallery, Legacy Contemporary, LeKAE Galleries, Leslie Levy Fine Art, Ostrovsky Fine Art, Overland Gallery, Paul Scott Gallery, Scottsdale Fine Art, Simic Galleries, S.R. Brennen Galleries, Willow Gallery, and more.

Check our more galleries at Scottsdale Galleries.

Art is such a wonderful experience to enjoy! Remember, Scottsdale also has the Art Walk every thursday from 7 pm to 9 pm. Just follow the ArtWalk logos on the sidewalk.

Historic Packard and Malee's Thai on Main

A cool historic Packard was parked in front of Malee's Thai on Main in Old Town Scottsdale.

The car is epic and so is the food at Malee's Thai on Main.

This is one of my favorite Thai restaurants. It is a classic favorite among Scottsdale residents.

The historic car is an example of the many interesting vehicles you see in Old Town Scottsdale.

You see new fabulous vehicles like Ferraris and Lamborghinis to vintage convertibles and classics.

Today is Sunday, so we have posted another series of photos on our new travel photo site: Viva la Voyage. Today's photos are some scenes of everyday people and everyday life in Casablanca, Morocco.

Shopping with Live Music on the Street Corner

Today's photo shows the activity on one of the street corners in Old Town Scottsdale. Live music and shoppers enjoying the day.

You can see how colorful the decor is, and there are lots of plants and flowers.

There are also lots of places to sit and enjoy the moment.

The area is a favorite of the Valley of the Sun and locals regularly come to Old Town Scottsdale for the music and the fabulous diversity of restaurants.

The Italian Grotto

Old Town Scottsdale has many, many restaurants, bars, nightclubs, and live music in many locations.

Locals and tourists flock to Old Town Scottsdale at night.

Some people like taking the Scottsdale trolly around the area, while others walk throughout the area. And others take limousines, as well as Hummer limousines.

The Italian Grotto is a nice stop for dinner.

You can sit in one of the tables that are open to the outside sidewalk and enjoy a glass of white wine with a delicious fish entree while watching the world go by.

You can see from the second photo that the sidewalks are covered so it is very comfortable to walk around Old Town Scottsdale.

Old Town Shops at Night

Here is a friendly shopping scene at night as the stores stay open for tourists to shop in the evening in Old Town Scottsdale.

The lights strung around the trees makes the atmosphere festive.

The stores have shade cover to protect shoppers from the sun in the daytime, and they are well lit at night for your viewing and shopping pleasure.

There are many galleries in Old Town so it is fun to stroll through Old Town to get exercise, while viewing amazing pieces of art and jewelry, and then having a glass of wine and dinner at one of the many great restaurants in this very pedestrian friendly area.

Arizona Hot Means Jalapenos!

Arizona loves the heat! And, I don't just mean the temperature in the desert.

We love jalapenos, salsa, chilis, tamales, and even hot cinnamon items from hot cinnamon toothpicks to Hot Tamales candies (one of my favorites!)

We have some great tourist stores to provide you many shopping opportunities to buy Arizona products to take back home and share with your family and friends.

Cactus Carlos Hot Stuff is one of several unique stores offering you desert heat for your mouth to take back home.

Come on in for Turquoise Jewelry!

Ok, remember this week I am showing you the kitschy part of Old Town Scottsdale. And yes, you do see these wood statues to entice you in to shop or to stand next to the statue for a photo.

The wood statues are generally made from chainsaws. You will see them made into soldiers, cowboys, and Indians.

Arizona has lots of turquoise, which is a type of rock used in Native American jewelry. This store has lots of Native American jewelry for sale.

The word "turquoise" was a French word meaning Turkish.

There are two reasons for the word. First, it was the color popularly used in tiles made in Turkey.

The second reason was that Turkish stones were introduced in Europe by Venetian traders who purchased at bazaars in Turkey. The stones were referred to as turquoise even though Turkey actually does not have the turquoise stone anywhere in that country.

Arizona is the leading producer of turquoise in the United States Arizona still has two active turquoise mines: (1) Sleeping Beauty Mine in Globe, Arizona (83 miles East of Scottsdale); and (2) Kingman Mine, located outside Kingman, Arizona (180 miles Northwest).

Gilbert Ortega

Everyone who visits Old Town Scottsdale loves to visit the Gilbert Ortega stores, which are like mini-museums.

Gilbert Ortega stores have an immense inventory of Native American jewelry from silver concho belts to turquoise squash blossom necklaces, Navajo rugs, Hopi kachinas, and more.

There are several Gilbert Ortega stores in Old Town Scottsdale. Look at the fancy red cars in front of this particular store.

Howdy Pardner!

Welcome to the West's Most Western Town!

Scottsdale promotes itself with its Western charm, shopping, arts district, and lively entertainment in its historic Old Town. Nightlife is very active in Old Town Scottsdale.

Over the next few days I will share photos of some of the parts of Old Town that are popular with tourists.

As locals we can be in the same vicinity as the tourists who frequent the shops and restaurants, but our habits don't include visiting the tourist shops even though they are very popular. We do, as locals, go to many places in the vicinity of the tourist shops, however. This is probably true of many resort communities.

It is Sunday and our new travel photos are posted on Viva la Voyage. Today's photos share people in Morocco at a seaside village. They evoke a real sense of culture and sense of family.

The Glow of Chihuly's Saffron Tower

Such a squiggly neon glowing saffron tower that Chihuly has created.

My husband, Dave of Costa Rica Daily Photo, decided to stand in front and make a statement.

I liked the photo of him and the Tower. I think most people liked interacting with this art installation.

You could see the glow of the Saffron Tower amid the red Papago Mountains for quite a distance.

It reminds me of my youth when we would go build fires in the desert and have a party.

Ok, now which Saffron Tower photo do you prefer, today or yesterday's?

Abstract Close-up of Chihuly's Saffron Tower

A close-up at night of Chihuly's Saffron Tower at the Desert Botanical Garden.

You can see how different this photo looks compared to the actual Saffron Tower, which I will show you tomorrow. Which one will you prefer?

The difference between the close up and a regular view of the Saffron Tower is rather amazing as they are both very different perspectives, but both are very pleasing to the eye.

This image allows you to see the lights, the glass neon tubes, the working artistic pieces that come together for a glowing impact.

This close-up image is a nice abstract against the black sky, but maybe you prefer the glow of the Saffron Tower in the desert night sky that you can see in tomorrow's photo.

House on a Mountain Top

Here is a house in Carefree with dramatic views from virtually every window of the house.

Can you imagine picking which view you want to see in the changing sky at different times of the day?

Look at those gorgeous boulders. I am so drawn to rocks and love to climb around boulders like this amid the cactus and Palo Verde trees.

It is funny how you like and can see distinct differences in the area you in which you grew up. I find rocks, the different strata of mountains, and the Sonoran Desert plant life to be very beautiful and unique. To others it looks all the same.

Once my husband took me to the Boundary Waters (between Minnesota and Canada) for a four day camping trip. There were limited permits of 3 per day to go into the regulated wilderness area. We also had to go through bear training with a ranger before being allowed to go into the lake with our canoe.

BTW, the Boundary waters requires you to go on various bodies of water, row your canoe maybe 5 to 8 miles then get out, portage a mile and a half while carrying a canoe on your shoulder as well as a Diluth backpack of 40 to 50 pounds, and then row again until you find one of the very few designated campsites you get to use.

I am not a camper so you can imagine lots of stories arose from this trip. Anyway I would be rowing across a lake listening to a loon and looking at all the trees and would say to my husband, it all looks the same. The hills don't change and it is the same green trees at different levels. I told him how much prettier it is to see various geological rocks and mountains and strata and that there is much more diversity in scenery in Arizona than the same hill with green trees that I was looking at over and over again. He said it was the peacefulness and serenity of the green tree-lines hills that was so special. I could agree with that but it still all looked the same and we had quite a philosophical discussion about how we all literally see the world.

Bronze Statue of a Rancher

As I was driving one day in Carefree, Arizona looking for photo opportunities, I came across this driveway at the base of a mountain with this exquisite bronze statue of a rancher or cowboy at the modern gate.

It is a fabulous statue and he looks like he is staring at you and could interact with you.

I would have liked to have visited this house. If the owners have paid this much attention to detail to place a statue amid the artistic trees at the entrance to their home, their home must be filled with wonderful art to enjoy.

Tomorrow I will show a house on the mountain just down the road from this house.

Rust-Colored Velvet Balls Growing from Cactus

What type of cactus is this with such funny flowers growing? Any guesses?

I was so glad to spot this cactus and unusual flowers at the Desert Botanical Garden. I had never seen this before.

There were so many bunched together. They look like quilts or a fruit with a pattern like a pineapple.

Agave Spiral

As some of you may remember, my favorite cacti is agave. I took this photo to capture the spiral effect of this green and white agave.

Agaves are stemless plants, but they have lots of long, fleshy leaves. Leaves can be 3 to 6 feet in length.

I like the way Agave look. They look like a rosette. Some are very statuesque.

The slightest raindrops will slide down the long leaves to the center of the plant. The slightest bit of water slides so quickly it plays tricks on your eyes as to what you just saw.

The soft glow of sunset makes the tiny agave spines stand out as they are located all along the leaf. The tip of each long leaf is spiked also and it is a strong spike so avoid it. Some people take scissors and cut the tips off of the spike at the end of a leaf, but we do not do that. It changes the look too much.

Most agave only flower once in their life and then they die. Agave flower usually between ten and 25 years old. I lost two big blue agaves in the past two years after they flowered. The main stalk grows from the center like Jack in the Beanstalk. The flowers and process lasts a while and is quite pretty to watch and to photograph.

Gorgeous Hedgehog Cactus Flower

Look at the shape of the red and yellow petals of this gorgeous hedgehog cactus flower.

The detail and texture of the green and pinkish red stamen is incredible.

I love it when the natural sunlight backlights the flower and provides a partially translucent image.

I love macro shots! And, I was lucky to find this beauty in my backyard. I am starting to appreciate my back yard so much more since I started this website.

It is Sunday, so we have new travel photos posted on Viva la Voyage.

Colleges and Bikes

Today is theme day for the Arizona city daily photo bloggers. The theme is "Back to School."

Bikes on college campuses seems a perfect choice of a back to school reminder. Drive carefully around those bicyclists.

I went to Arizona State University (ASU) for college. The campus is extremely large and bikes were a good way to get around. We had over 50,000 students and the campus was over 1.5 square miles in size. We sometimes had 11 minutes to get between classes and it was very difficult to make it.

What about your schools? Were they large? Did you use a bike to get around?

Check out the other Arizona city daily photo bloggers to see what their interpretation of Back to School is:

Phoenix Daily Photo

Flagstaff Daily Photo

Prescott Daily Photo

Tempe Daily Photo

Chandler Daily Photo

Gambel's Quail

Another favorite in our backyard is the Gambel's Quail. You can see a male in the photo today.

They have such cute little chicks when they first hatch from eggs, but they are like furry pinballs. You cannot catch those little baby quail.

Once the mother and father quail had their eggs in one of my large, tall pots on the back patio. I could see that if the babies hatched, they would not be able to get out of the pot.

I watched and watched and then finally when they hatched, weeks later, I had to get the chicks out of the pot. I was naive enough to think I could catch them with my hands and set them on the ground. Ha! It was like a mad pinball machine.

Bing, bing, bing around the cactus in the pot they went, and I could not catch one of them or even get one of them to walk on my hand that was wearing a leather glove.

I was worried about scaring off the mom and dad because it was taking me so long to try and get the chicks out of the pot, and it was so hot and the chicks had not had water. I finally devised a waterfall of towels that would land on a box that would soften the fall, but that is if I could get the chicks to start crawling up the towel hanging over the pot and then they would need to tumble down my towel waterfall. It eventually worked and out they went with mom and dad who were patiently waiting.

One interesting side note that told me to help out was the mother quail who knew it was getting too hot for the chicks to survive in the pot and had no way to get them out. The mother quail walked back and forth frantically at the bottom of my sliding glass door and started repeatedly hitting the glass with her beak to make noise until I came out and did something.

Mallard Ducks Flew in and Used My Swimming Pool

Look who came to swim in my pool. Mallard ducks.

This was quite a surprise. I didn't think I wanted Mallard ducks living in my pool.

I have a lot of wonderful critters that live in my yard, but ducks may be taking it a little too far.

You can see the male duck swimming amid the fallen white oleanders flowers in my pool like he owns the place.

In the last photo, you can see he was not real keen on me taking photos through my sliding glass door so he jumped out of the pool.

After a little while, they finally flew away.

I think they realized we had a pretty active backyard and did not want to share the space with the many rabbits, quail, lizards, and occasional coyotes passing through, etc.

Peach-Faced Lovebird Parrot

Look who stopped by in my front yard. It is a peach-faced lovebird.

I love these guys. They are so noisy though. I can hear their distinctive bird squawk when I am in my house. I often go out and watch them or look at them through my windows.

These birds are small parrots that are native to Southwest Africa. Yes, Africa, not Arizona.

Based on accidental cage releases, the birds are surviving and apparently thriving.

These birds have actually adapted fairly well to the desert area in the Phoenix metropolitan area and there are quite a few of them around. They love eating the chilean mesquite beans, which you can see are laying on the grass around the bird, and they like hanging out in my big, green, leafy Chilean mesquite trees.

Lizard on my Fence in my Backyard

I have had quite a few critters visiting my backyard lately. This interesting and large lizard is one of them. I will show you a few more over the next couple of days.

He was holding his territory on top of my backyard fence. You can see the tip of Camelback Mountain in the background.

This lizard is a black collared lizard. It has a fairly large head and get quite big. They saunter to side to side and are not afraid of very much.

I have seen them hold their ground and their territory is quite large. They do push-ups in the sun and they are regularly out in the open. I try to leave sprawling bushes in my yard for these lizards to live under.

Man and Butte at Dusk

When I was hiking on Papago Buttes recently I saw this hiker standing on top of the buttes contemplating the world at dusk.

The opportunity to photograph him with this beautiful color in the sky was too interesting to pass up.

I tried to photograph him while he was standing and walking on top of the butte, but his movements at dusk kept causing a blurry photo. I had to take long exposures because of the lack of light.

I took a chance and shouted out to him to go back to the peak of the butte and hold still so I could photograph him. He politely obliged.

After he hiked to my level on Papago Butte, we introduced ourselves and I met Andrew Gallo, a journalism student at Arizona State University. A shout out to Andrew for allowing me to capture this photo of him and the butte. I hope you enjoy another Arizona classic photo.

You can now enjoy our travel photos on Viva la Voyage. We now have India photos posted and plan to post new travel photos each Sunday.

Phoenix Skyline at Nightfall

The last colors of the darkening sunset provide a backdrop for the glistening twinkle of the lights of the Phoenix skyline.

Going from left to right in the skyline, the large low-rise building on the far left is Chase Field, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks. The stadium has a retractible roof.

The second high-rise to the right of Chase Field with the crane with the white light on top is the building under construction where our office will be located next Spring. I am excited to go back to working in downtown Phoenix.

I hope you enjoy the colors and shapes of the Phoenix skyline.

Solar Eclipse Sunset

Today's photo shows the sky during the third contact and fourth contact of the solar eclipse. The corpuscular rays beaming into the water are so vibrant.

This photo was taken after totality, which is when the Moon blocks the Sun while we were north of the Cook Islands and west of French Polynesia in the South Pacific.

The clouds in yesterday's photo, taken before totality, and the clouds in today's photo, taken after totality show how exciting it was for our ship to maneuver and be able to find a hole in the sky for a clear view of the total eclipse.

As you scroll through the photos below to see the sharp and amazing solar eclipse photos, you have to marvel that the clouds parted for a short time to allow us to experience and photograph the solar eclipse.

The Sun was supposed to set into the Ocean while in a partial eclipse. What a photograph that would have been had the clouds not blocked the last stage of the eclipse.

Nonetheless, the entire experience was wonderful even though there is no possible way to absorb all that occurs during an eclipse. It means you have to go chase more eclipses as there truly is more to experience than what we could do as first time solar eclipse chasers.

And, that is a good way to end this solar eclipse series, we will plan for the next one and hope you join us too.

Solar Eclipse Shining on South Pacific

Today you can see the Sun's glow shining on the sea before the Moon eclipses it.

I watched the sky and the water when experiencing the solar eclipse of July 21, 2009 in the French Polynesia and Cook Islands area.

The sky was very different to watch. The shadows were also very unusual and very detailed. Twilight descended all around us as totality approached and occurred. Temperatures did drop.

The planet Mercury was supposed to be visible above the eclipsed Sun, but I did not see it. I was probably too focused on the Sun and Moon and my camera equipment.

Partial solar eclipses can be seen up to 3,000 miles away. We were in the middle of nowhere in the South Pacific chasing this total solar eclipse. Having a ship helped tremendously so that the ship could maneuver and get us a hole in the clouds to see the eclipse.

We also learned a lot more about the green flash, which we actually saw several times on this trip. It was amazing each time and a very interesting process to learn about.

Our sky is inspiring and quite a show when we understand even more of what to look for. We really enjoyed the astronomy lessons at night looking into the sky from the ship's sun deck identifying constellations in the Southern sky. The Southern sky was very different to look up at and find familiar constellations like the Southern Cross.

Enjoy all of the solar eclipse photos by scrolling down or selecting solar eclipse under labels. Tomorrow I will show the sunset that occurred during the fourth contact between the Sun and Moon as the solar eclipse ended. During third contact, the clouds took over most of the rest of the time. It made us appreciate the fact that we were able to obtain the wonderful photos you see below and to observe the eclipse during at least 60% of the duration of the solar eclipse. The solar eclipse lasted about two hours.

Partial Eclipse with Horn Effect

Today's photos show the moon rising away from the Sun. The clouds are also lapping around the solar eclipse.

The effect looks like a horn in the sky.

This is considered third contact when the moon is moving away from covering the Sun.

The different phases of the eclipse were very surprising to me. There was always something new to see in the sky. It is still hard to believe that a solar eclipse and totality would be so unique and have so many different photographic opportunities.

Can you imagine what people must have thought in olden times when they had the moon block the sun for six minutes? No wonder all of the superstitions and unusual traditions and sacrifices occurred.

I am almost done with my series on the solar eclipse and I hope you have enjoyed the photos and learned a little about astronomy and some tips on taking photos of the sky, with these changing light conditions and changing atmospheric conditions.

I highly encourage everyone to try to book one solar eclipse trip in their lifetimes as it is such a spectacular experience.

Diamond Ring Effect

Look at the rays on the diamond ring. Gorgeous. I love this photo of the solar eclipse that occurred on July 21, 2009 in the South Pacific.

You can see the clouds that provide dramatic back drop for the diamond ring effect of the sun and moon. The clouds were quite a challenge and can easily block the entire experience.

I did not yet have my solar filter placed back on my camera lens but did so shortly after this photo.

When photographing the solar eclipse, I used bracketing so I could capture the photos in various exposures with the click of the cable shutter release device. I was taking continuous shots.

I used manual focus to set my focus and did not rely on infinity. You do not want to use digital zoom as that does not give more details.

I took photos in raw and jpeg so I can try to work with them later and create a composite using software like Photomatrix or HDR. This is all new to me so I am going to continue to expand my knowledge and experience with cameras and software.

I thought I would have taken the entire series of photos at F-8 or F-11 but I had to adjust based on the fast moving ship and rockiness of the waves.

One of the most important items I invested in just before the trip was a Manfrotto tripod with a ball head. The tripod helped immensely to keep my camera still. It was easy to use, very functional, but it is also very pricey. I hope to have it for life.

Another tip is to make sure you remove the UV lens filter from your camera before taking photos of a solar eclipse. Also, you generally do not want to use a sun shade on your camera as that can cause reflection.

You also need to be prepared to change your ISO as conditions change. It would be good to shoot an eclipse at ISO 200, but I mostly used ISO 400 because of the ship's movement. Also, the temperature cools during an eclipse so you have to monitor your focus and other settings.

The key is also to shoot photos at many different shutters speeds, going from 4000 down to one second then cycle back to 2000 or 2500 and go again. In comparison, if you were shooting the Moon, you might be using F8 and 125 for the shutter speed.

I hope you are enjoying this solar eclipse series. It was a very challenging experience to photograph but so rewarding with photos like the one today. I did keep stopping to just look in admiration at the eclipse, the Moon's shadow across the ocean, the shadows around us, which were very strange indeed, and to listen to all of the comments from the people around me wearing their strange 3-D looking glasses to view the eclipse.

It was a hoot to see and hear people during the eclipse. The eclipse from first contact to fourth contact lasted about two hours.

Diamond Ring with Ruby Accents

Experiencing totality was amazing. As totality ends, the moon begins to rise above the sun during the eclipse and you stand ready to see what happens next. You look for Baily's Beads and then the Diamond Ring Effect.

Baily's Beads occurs just before and after totality for about 10 seconds. Baily's Beads are the rays of sunlight shining through the mountains and valleys on the Moon, which can create the effect of looking like a necklace. These must be observed through a solar filter.

The Diamond Ring effect is slowly developing in today's photos. You can also see the ruby accents in the chromosphere around the bead of light beaming and forming the diamond in the ring. Tomorrow's photo is a fabulous diamond ring and left me in awe.

Now some of you may be wondering if I had any knowledge of astronomy before this solar eclipse tour. The answer is I did not. I knew basics about astronomy from school but never learned or understood the details of a solar eclipse until this trip.

We planned to go on this trip for two years. The trip was created by Travel Quest International and Wilderness Travel. They arranged lectures throughout the cruise in the South Pacific. We also had star gazing in the Southern Hemisphere at night with the astronomers.

There will be another solar eclipse in the South Pacific on July 10, 2010 so you too can sign up and see this special event while also enjoying beautiful French Polynesia. The eclipse will be closer to Tahiti and Moorea and Bora Bora so you will not have to travel as far out to sea to observe it. Travel Quest also has a tour to Easter Island in Chile to experience the July 10, 2010 eclipse from land.

The lectures were given by top notch speakers including Alex Filippenko (astronomy), Rick Feinberg (astronomy), Owen Gingerich (astronomy), John Hay (environmental and marine sciences), Ethan Daniels (marine biology), and speakers from the Jean Michel Cousteau Ocean Futures Society.

Topics included Solar Eclipses, Photography Do's and Dont's, Dark Energy, Black Holes, Supernovas, Astronomy Basics and History, Climate Change, Reef Fishes, Sharks, Biomigration, and more. It definitely was like being back in school and we could have up to four lectures in a day. At least we were in school on a gorgeous ship called the Paul Gauguin in the South Seas north of Pukapuka island and west of French Polynesia and north of Cook Islands.

There were a lot of solar eclipse chasers and teachers, professors and scientists on the trip, but there was plenty of room for first time solar eclipse novices like me to go and enjoy the experience and learn so much about our remarkable universe.

Corona with Prominence

This photo of the corona was taken using a faster shutter speed on my Nikon D90 camera. You can barely see the orange prominence at about the 2:00 position. The second photo shows the red prominence even better.

The faster shutter speed lets in less light so instead of white light, as in yesterday's photo, today's photos show more of a yellowish band of the sun's rays.

You can use this same technique when taking photos of a sunset. If you set your camera for a darker setting (i.e., a faster shutter speed or a higher f-stop), you can get more color in the sunset and more definitions in the clouds on a bright day.

To enjoy a solar eclipse like this one, which occurred on July 21, 2009 in the South Pacific, the Moon has to barely cover the Sun to allow for the solar atmosphere (the corona) to be seen. To see the corona, the Moon and the Sun have to appear to be the same size in the sky.

If the Moon were smaller, it would not cover the Sun's entire disk. If the Moon were bigger, it would block out the corona. Everything has to be just right to see the corona like the one in today's photo.

The Sun is 390 times the diameter of the Moon. The Sun is also 390 times farther away from the Earth.

During an eclipse, when the Sun and Moon are aligned during totality, they appear to be the same size in our sky. It is lucky when this phenomena happens.

In this Saros 136 2009 eclipse, the Moon was relatively closer to the Earth in the Moon's orbit, and the Sun was relatively farther from the Earth due to the Earth's orbit. This made the 2009 eclipse one in which the Moon's size was greater relative to the Sun in comparison to other eclipses. The net result is an eclipse that has a thinner and more spectacular corona.

Now, go pick up a six pack of Corona beer, add lime, and toast the corona you are seeing in today's photo. I always wondered where the name of that beer came from.

Look tomorrow for more of the solar eclipse series and the fabulous Diamond Ring Effect.

Corona with Polar Brushes

This photo shows totality, where the Moon has covered the Sun. You can see the polar brushes delicately framing the corona.

The solar eclipse was brilliant and mesmerizing. Totality during the solar eclipse lasted about 3.5 minutes.

A total solar eclipse happens about once every 18 months. Each eclipse is visible only from a narrow area covering less than 1% of the Earth's surface.

Solar eclipse chasers often travel to remote locations to have the opportunity to see the solar eclipse.

The July 21, 2009 eclipse that I experienced is known as the Saros series because of its long durations of totality. Each eclipse in the Saros series occurs 6,585.3 days (over 18 years) after the last Saros series eclipse. The 2009 eclipse is technically called Saros 136.

The photo of the partial eclipse I showed yesterday requires a solar filter to be placed on your camera lens to take photos. Once totality occurs, you have to remember to remove your solar filter and take photos and watch totality with the naked eye. You put the solar filter back on once the moon starts rising up and the bright sunlight bursts out.

It helps to use a cabled shutter release button to reduce vibration or movement of the camera. Even pushing the button manually on your camera can cause blurriness. I do not like wireless shutter release devices, which require batteries.

The next phases of a solar eclipse to watch for are Bailey's Beads and the Diamond Ring Effect. I was very lucky to capture a beautiful diamond ring photo, which I will post in two days as part of this solar eclipse series.

Solar Eclipse Prelude

This century's best total eclipse occurred on July 21, 2009.

This photo shows the moon rising to cover the sun to create night and is a partial eclipse. Night is this month's city daily photo theme.

I was very fortunate to obtain a very sharp photo right after first contact between the moon and sun. It almost looks like a spotlight.

We planned this solar eclipse trip over two years ago. The eclipse occurred over China and the South Pacific.

We opted to be on a ship in the middle of the Pacific Ocean west of French Polynesia and north of the Cook Islands. The ship provided the important element of maneuverability, as there was a 50% chance of clouds that day. A ship allows you the chance to move to find a hole in the sky to watch the eclipse. We were at sea for five days to get to and from the location for the eclipse.

As it turned out, we did have clouds block the view and we all worried we would miss the eclipse, like so many people in China who had rain and clouds block the view. But, as first contact occurred, the ship moved to find a hole in the sky and we therefore were able to photograph and experience a once in a lifetime event.

We learned terms and concepts such as first contact, planet and shadow bands, Baily's beads, shadow cone, diamond-ring effect, corona, prominences, polar brushes, corona streamers, and chromospheric color changes.

Also, we had to use homemade solar filters to photograph part of the eclipse using Baader AstroSolar Safety Film at $45 for one 8.5 x 11 inch sheet. Dave of Costa Rica Daily Photo was in charge of making the actual filters to go over the camera lenses, which ended up working beautifully as you can see from today's photo.

I took this photo with my Nikon D90 camera using the solar filter Dave created and I manually focused the lens on the sun for sharpness instead of relying on infinity. I took photos at an aperture of 5.6 or 8, ISO at 400 because of the moving and rocking ship, and I would take photos at different shutter speeds throughout the event. I used a 70 to 300 mm Nikon telephoto zoom lens, but set just below 300 for maximum sharpness.

Over the next week, I will share a photo a day of the spectacular solar eclipse. I will share some of the astronomy terms and information that we learned, photos of the various phases of the eclipse, and photo tips. We learned a lot on this trip and it was our first solar eclipse since we made pinholes in cardboard to look at an eclipse many years ago when we were in elementary school.

The solar eclipse creating "night" took about two hours from start to finish and totality lasted over 3.5 minutes for us at our location. In some places it lasted up to 6 minutes. This is the longest period of totality for a solar eclipse until 2132.

Please check out City Daily Photo bloggers interpretations of the "Night" theme. Click here to view thumbnails for all participants