These shots were taken on the 11th of August 1999 from a campsite at Berni-Riviere in France. Roy Rookes had gone there the previous week to holiday with his family and I joined him there along with my wife and our two grandchildren on the morning of the eclipse. Prior to the event the children of the combined families showed little interest in an eclipse, preferring the distractions offered by the campsite. During and after the eclipse they could talk of nothing else.

The morning was cloudy, it even rained for a while and our spirits were low as we set-up our gear with plastic bags at the ready. Roy used his Meade ETX90 at prime focus with an additional camera on piggyback. I had two tripods, one with a simple drive to carry a camera with a 400mm lens and the other to mount another camera with a 500mm lens. My wife (Eileen) was charged to operate a 28mm lens from the comfort of a garden chair. The film used was 400asa Echtachrome.

Nerves were taught as the time for first contact approached. The cloud was dense and persistent. First contact passed with no sign of the Sun and then, shortly after, the Sun broke through the haze and we went into action.

The Mylar filters, lovingly prepared and adapted for each lens, were discarded as the cloud filtered the Sun for us. Likewise, the shoot list of exposures we had fretted over during the previous weeks was abandoned in favour of instant adaptation due to the variable visibility induced by the clouds. This made me leap from one camera to the other in order to get the best and maximum coverage. The images tell there own story.

As the total eclipse began the sky gradually darkened, the campsite lights turned on and I found that I could not see well enough in order to adjust my exposures. Time did not allow me to go to look for a white light so I used 'my best judgement'. As the total eclipse occurred the campsite went dark and a momentary hush fell that was broken seconds later by distant whoops and shouts of wonder from the campers at the sight of the eclipsed Sun.

There are many things that can unite people to think as one, like religion, wars or football matches. A total eclipse is surely the most peaceful way to do so, that is until the time we can all look down on Earth from space.