Things have been rather challenging of late. Having just managed to get the photography business off the ground, finally a living, breathing thing of its own, two sudden deaths in the family as well as the loss of my best friend (all within a week) prompted a move halfway across the country for the second time in a year. Now came the adjusting period both personally and professionally. The personal hurdles are obvious and varied, but it’s the professional ones that have come as a shock.

     Lugging all of the equipment back to Texas was an understood necessity, but finding a place to put it proved more challenging than anticipated; every single square foot was filled with boxes of our life. It looked like it was time to bite the bullet and set up a studio. But where? After searching all over, we finally found a building just outside of Tyler to use, but problems finding a competent electrician seem to have put the kibosh on that little dream.

Planning started nearly a year ago, in October of 2016, when I discovered that the upcoming big move (from East Texas to upstate South Carolina) would put us right in the path of totality, no additional travel required. So at the tail end of February, after things started to settle down a bit post move, I reserved an 800mm from BorrowLens.com and started our research on the best says to shoot this once in a lifetime opportunity. 
Fast forward to August, the Friday before the big day, and a ringing doorbell brought out the excited kid in us as I leaped over the couch and rushed to greet the smiling UPS man delivering my much anticipated glass. Tearing open the plain, brown cardboard packing like a four year old on Christmas morning revealed the hard sided Canon case, and only two small latches stood between me and the mother of all primes.
My lord, if possible it's bigger than the pictures made it out to be, amazing.
A little gentle un-packing, despite the mounting excitement at the prospect of the stellar shots (pun intended) I just know I'm going to get with this thing, and I'm hunting for the camera body. A quick twist of the Mark III body to check this baby out, and we get our first view of . . . Error code 1?!
​. . .