Light and Leaves

I watched the phenomenon of the solar eclipse with my good friend Shea Hembrey under a row of katsura trees at the Cornell Botanical Gardens. Years ago, Shea had told me about the camera obscura effect that occurs during an eclipse. It was a hard concept for me to grasp until I had the chance to witness it for myself. The light that filters through the openings between leaves acts like a pinhole camera and projects the image of the eclipse onto the ground. Slowly, almost imperceptibility, the shadows had shifted and crescent shapes of light dotted the pavement all around us.

A dual projection of the eclipse seen through binoculars at the Cornell Botanical Gardens