SOLAR CRESCENTS

Solar Crescents

This is a photograph which I took on 16^th February 1980 (33 years ago!), in Bangalore, during the solar eclipse which occurred on that day.

I used a Sunflex twin lens reflex camera and black-and-white film to snap this picture.

I remember the eclipse very well. It was a phenomenon we had never witnessed before. Schools had declared a holiday and the people of Bangalore preferred to remain indoors rather than venture out during the eclipse. Those of us who dared to come out were very careful not to look up at the sun.

I had set up a mirror in the garden outside my house to reflect the sun’s image onto a wall inside and we had a live relay of the eclipse!

As I came out to adjust the mirror, I saw a strange and eerie sight on the ground. There was a gooseberry tree right in front of my house. Sunlight filtering through the gaps between the leaves of this tree fell on the ground and appeared as thousands of crescents. The eclipse had created a phenomenon wherein every gap between the leaves of the tree became a pinhole camera which showed the image of the partly-eclipsed sun on the ground. It was a strange and wondrous sight and one not seen commonly.

Luckily I had my camera loaded and ready and could capture this image (the shadow of my head is also seen in the foreground) for posterity!