No, not the solar eclipse that’s going to happen on August 21 of this year. This is the sculpture of anodized aluminum called “Eclipse,” by Charles O. Perry in the open atrium of the Hyatt Regency San Francisco. I was there yesterday and photographed it in black and white. I had to keep waiting for the sun to go behind clouds because light from windows would create hot spots on the sculpture when the sun wasn’t obscured.

I had only a 50mm lens, so I either had to back way up (good thing the lobby’s huge) or opt for a frame-filling shot that turns the object into an abstract. Frankly, I think it works either way. I also toned the monochrome photos, partly so that they wouldn’t be so literal, and partly because the tone emphasizes the “cold steel” feel of the metal object.

Here’s the tighter abstract shot.

Given all the possibilities, capturing the sculpture would be a great assignment for instructors to give their photo students. Then again, maybe they already do.