Partial Annular Solar Eclipse

Today there was an annular solar eclipse. I was too far south to see the Ring of Fire, but I got to see the sun shaped like a crescent with a couple cards with a pinhole and with my camera. 

This picture came out rather nicely, considering I couldn't use my viewfinder to set up the shot because I would burn my eyes out if looked at the sun through my 300 mm camera lens.

After getting all the pictures I wanted of the sun, I turned around and saw some interesting shadows on the wall, with upside-down crescents of light shining through the leaves. It's the same thing happening there as the pinhole I used to see the eclipse.

Butterflies and the Beach

Right now I live close to the beach so one day I walked down and took some pictures of the sunset.

Also nearby is a butterfly preserve where monarch butterflies spend the winter.

The sun caught the wings of the handful of butterflies on this tree, but the trees in the shade had some of their branches and large parts of their trunks covered with the butterflies.

This Christmas I got a wide angle lens (10-22 mm). I used it to take some pictures at some beaches.