Total Eclipse over Port Maitland Lighthouse - 1 Day Solargraph (2024.04.08), Ontario, Canada

Total Eclipse over Port Maitland Lighthouse was made on April 8, 2024, during the total solar eclipse that crossed southern Ontario. The single-day exposure was made at Port Maitland Lighthouse on Lake Erie, near Dunnville, Ontario, a place connected to my childhood.

Using a homemade pinhole camera and light-sensitive photographic paper, the image records the sun’s movement across the sky as a physical trace of time. The arc is interrupted as the moon passes between Earth and the sun. Morning clouds mostly cleared before the eclipse, allowing the event to register above the lighthouse.

The camera was positioned in advance using an astronomy app to align the eclipse with the lighthouse beacon. At this location, the previous total solar eclipse occurred in 1932. The next is not expected until 2144.

Unlike a conventional eclipse photograph, this work is not captured in a fraction of a second. It is a record of duration, prediction, weather, chemistry, and chance. The eclipse is not simply pictured. Its interruption of sunlight is recorded directly by the photographic paper.