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In today’s social media world, amateur photography has become an enjoyable pastime for many – and now that there’s a total solar eclipse on the way, a lot of people have been asking about how to safely go about taking photos of the phenomenon.

To help these eager celestial shutterbugs, Audie Murphy/American Cotton Museum plans to host a presentation by longtime meteorologist and astrophotographer Gary Woodall next Monday, in which he’ll talk about how he plans to photograph the eclipse – for which Greenville will be within the path of totality from around 12:24 p.m. to 3:04 p.m. on April 8, with the actual eclipse occurring for about four minutes and 10 seconds starting at 1:42 p.m.

Woodall worked for the National Weather Service for more than 30 years, where he started as a storm spotter, then spent much of the rest of his career training storm spotters.

His career took him from Midland to Fort Worth to Phoenix and then to Memphis. Then, upon retiring, he moved to McKinney to be closer to his wife Melissa’s family in Greenville.

In retirement, Woodall has been indulging in one of his other interests, astronomy and using his telescope for astrophotography.

“Mostly, I’ve been doing it just in my backyard, but in town, there’s a lot of light pollution from street lights and city glow, but I’ve still got some good shots,” Woodall said at a previous presentation at the Audie Murphy Museum in 2022. “Someday, I hope to go out with my telescope to West Texas, like to the Davis Mountains, where the McDonald Observatory is and I’d have clearer, darker skies to work with.

“As a meteorologist, I was already looking up, but with astronomy, I’m now getting to look a little higher,” Woodall added.

His presentation on eclipse photography will begin at noon on April 2. The museum is located at 600 Interstate Highway 30 Frontage Road in Greenville. Admission will be free for museum members. Otherwise, the price will be $8 for adults; $6 for senior citizens, veterans and college students; and $3 for students 6 to 18 years old.

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