Noah Wetzel, a photographer, and Red Bull Air Force athlete Mike Brewer spent nine months preparing to capture a once-in-a-lifetime image of a wingsuit flight through a total solar eclipse. The final image was taken in Spain during the 84 seconds of totality, with Wetzel working from nearly a mile away and using a Canon EOS R5 II, a 600mm lens, remotely triggered flashes, and precise calculations to capture the moment. The photograph shows Brewer racing through the glowing ring of totality at 150 miles per hour, his body frozen against the darkened sky. The project began with an idea that had already been proven difficult once, and Wetzel had to determine the eclipse's position, the athletes' flight path, and how to illuminate them from a distance. He chose a 600mm lens to provide more light and sharpness, and the final hero angle was shot with a Canon EOS R5 II and Canon RF 600mm f/4 lens. The lighting system was designed to illuminate different parts of the athletes as they moved through the frame, with four wireless flashes positioned along the horizon. The flash duration speed was critical to freezing the movement of the athlete, and Wetzel used a 1/200-second shutter speed to limit ambient motion blur. The triggering system had to work from 1,400 meters away, and Wetzel simplified the setup to remove potential failure points. The final photograph is the result of an enormous amount of invisible preparation, with the final frame depending on calculations, radio signals, flash duration, flight paths, focus, timing, and a subject moving through the sky at extraordinary speed. The intensity of the moment is inseparable from the image itself, and the photograph ultimately succeeded because the individual pieces of an extraordinarily complicated system came together at exactly the right moment.
