Witnessing the Boxing Day Solar Eclipse in Singapore!

Hey everyone!

On 26 December 2019, Singapore (and many parts of Asia) witnessed one of many rare moments to happen to our fateful planet: an annular solar eclipse! A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the rotation of the Earth and the sun, resulting in the moon “blocking” out the Sun for a brief moment.

In Singapore, it was even more memorable and unique given that this was the first solar eclipse in 20 years, and the next solar eclipse would be in 2063. Naturally, we (like many Singaporeans) simply could not afford to miss this potentially once-in-a-lifetime occasion!

We chose the Marina Bay Promontory to wait for the solar eclipse. Unsurprisingly, many onlookers were already stationed by the waterfront, waiting patiently for the moon to pass over the sun. Setting up our gears certainly drew a bit of attention, as we set up our tripod and the Fujifilm GFX camera, with an adapter to fit the Mamiya Universal Press 150mm f/5.6 lens. It certainly appeared quite a beast when the MUP lens was latched onto the GFX body!

a8cd2645-be95-4c67-8bb8-a937867b77c0-8012-0000046082743bec_file — Damian setting up the Fujifilm GFX!

9d92f016-477f-4c03-8650-59a7b87a7dd0-8012-0000046082a2b8a3_file — And of course, he has his own polarising glasses (as did Sandra)! A must-have to avoid a direct view of the sun.

On the other hand, Sandra was also not missing out the fun; she was using the modified Polaroid Land Camera 180 with Instax wide back, which was able to capture the silhouette of the moon as it slowly moved past the sun:

3d51589d-9e79-4b9a-92bd-346cd3231345-8012-0000046082d30a71_file — The faint dark point in the sky was the edge of the moon creeping over the sun.

12ac9133-beec-413f-848a-6c9044415759-8012-0000046082fe6e32_file — We were impressed that the Polaroid Land Camera 180 was able to capture the silhouette of the moon, in the still-bright sky.

d8bc413f-0d2b-4a98-b258-e13ecd119b9d-8012-00000460832cbc44_file — And of course, while Fujifilm instax film is reputable for blotting out objects which are too bright, this actually brought out the quality of the circumstances, that being the moon passing over the sun.

df769424-8949-472d-804e-8a8ae60be1c1-8012-0000046083aa7d8e_file — And finally, the “ring of fire” as seen from the Land Camera!

On the digital camera front, the combination of the lens and the medium format GFX allowed us to capture the solar eclipse more closely than the modified Polaroid Land Camera 180. Take a look at some of the more interesting shots below:

DSCF6807 — The image looked like we were taking pictures of a crescent moon at night, but in fact, it was the moon slowly passing over the sun.

DSCF6826 — We were positioned beside an office building, so a close-up had the facade of the building in view.

DSCF6831 — The moon blocking out the sun! You can see the “ring of fire”, and the environment got real dark for a moment!

DSCF6841 — The moon slowly passed over and moved away from the sun. Eventually, the moon “passed” fully and the sun shone upon us again.

It was a surreal experience, watching the entire atmosphere darken as the moon followed its course and blocking out the sun. Our cameras were more than up to the task, as we had used a polariser as well! It also allowed Singaporeans to unite together to witness an exciting event, and even though we were right smack in the business district, many working Singaporeans had taken the time off work to capture this spectacular moment.

Overall, it seems like it would be a once (or twice) in a lifetime moment for us, and we were glad to have witnessed this spectacular event. Let us know if you have witnessed this momentous occasion and where!

Till next time,

Damianwithsandra