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After making careful plans to observe, photograph and sketch the total lunar Eclipse of Dec 10th 2011 in the Portland city center, fog formed late, so plans to relocate were rushed at the last minutes as we drove fast from the city to the Columbia River Gorge Crown Point Oregon Vista House, yet to find a hundred people, photographers, etc, most were ensconced in their cars with engines running, while Gorge east winds gusted to 60 mph with 25 degrees F.
So I set up my Celestron Nexstar 5i telescope anyway, huddled into the wind-shielded side of the Vista House with a few brave other photographers. I made quick mental notes of the image at medium power through the telescope and began to photograph crudely as the wind buffeted the scope and my Sony NEX5 camera poised high and teetering on its tripod over the telescope eyepiece. I made a few photographs for reference and some visual mental observations and notes were taken. I have possibly observed over two dozen total eclipses to date since my mid teens years; photographing perhaps a dozen of those events but this was the first sketch. I noted the very slight turquoise-blue fringe on the sunlit edge just after totality, as they predicted and rendered it slightly to the sketch.
Much in post preparation was then later made in the past week at home to produce this accurate large technical documentary dry pastel sketch onto 19" X 25" black Strathmore pastel paper completed today, December 19th 2011. As the foreground ambience seemed as partly visual and incidental to the whole scene, I decided to add in the nostalgic gas street lamps that slightly reflected the Vista House behind, also slightly showing the moons image on its windows and the streetlight lantern glass, causing several repeated reverse reflections.
-Mark Seibold
