Hello,

It has been a while since you heard from me about our fun adventure in Spain. I'm excited and I hope you are too.

The schedule is still the same: We'll meet in Barcelona on Sunday, Aug. 9. We'll stay in the city until Tuesday when we take the train to Zaragoza. I plan on taking it pretty easy during the day in Barcelona, both because I want to give people time to adjust to the jet lag and it will be very hot during the day. Many times on my European trips people come a day early to adjust but you won't really need to.

Spain is a late night place, in Zaragoza the hotel concierge recommended a nice restaurant and said it opens at 9, he meant 9:00 p.m. Many places aren't open before 8:00 p.m. I'm not naturally a night owl but staying up later is easier since it makes the time transition easier.

After arriving and settling into our Zaragoza hotel, we'll go out and do a practice shoot in the location we'll be the next day. We'll make sure our solar filters are good and practice the exposure, which will be the same as during the eclipse.

Wednesday afternoon is the eclipse, there won't be anything scheduled for the morning. We'll do prep, photograph the eclipse and then do some processing of our photos. And then, of course, a late dinner.

Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights we'll be out photographing the Milky Way. During the day will be processing sessions, so I recommend you bring a laptop and download your photos daily.

Sunday we are done and take the train back to Barcelona. I know some people are extending their stay and going to other places. You might want to check on flying from Madrid, it is about the same distance from Zaragoza as Barcelona but there are more flights, especially international.

Oh, about solar filters for your camera. They are a must. Regular ND filters won't get the job done. You can buy screw on filters but I like to make my own. If you want a home-made one, we'll have a craft making session after we arrive in Zaragoza. I'll bring everything we need, they work as well as the expensive ones you buy. I'll later query everyone about if you want to make a filter.

That's it for now, I'll send more info in late February. if you have any questions before then, just let me know.