On Wednesday 12th August during the total solar eclipse visible from Mallorca, Spain, Horacio Llorens flew over the Sóller valley, in an aerial and photographic operation prepared over more than a month by a five-person team. The eclipse began at 19:38 CEST and totality arrived at around 20:31, lasting approximately one minute and thirty-six seconds, with the Sun barely two degrees above the horizon.

Horacio wrote: “Seeing the eclipse from the sky was incredible. I watched the shadow coming closer little by little, until the sky went completely dark, the temperature in flight dropped several degrees and the air turned strangely turbulent. I would have loved to see totality, but a cloud on the horizon stole that moment from us. Nerves were right on the surface, with the whole team giving everything. It felt like the final of a World Cup, with my pulse racing.”

Unlike a conventional shoot, an eclipse allows no second takes. The usable window was totality itself, barely more than a minute and a half, and it required the pilot's position in the air, the path of the Sun and the camera framing to align at the very same instant.

Photographer Marc Marco wrote: “Photographing my first eclipse just two degrees above the horizon is already an enormous challenge. Getting Horacio to appear exactly between our position and the Sun made the shot harder still. If we wanted the totality picture, we had a minute and a half and nothing more.”

The team spent weeks working with relief cartography and solar-path simulations to establish which points on the island would give a clear view of the eclipsed Sun above the horizon while still allowing a safe take-off and landing. Several alternative scenarios were considered, including a low-altitude option on the northwest coast in case of strong wind at height.

The weather on the day allowed the team to work from the ridge of the Serra d'Alfàbia while Horacio Llorens flew in the valley, between the observers and the setting Sun. The aim was to compose an unusual image: the silhouette of a paraglider set against an ever-narrowing Sun, with the relief of the Tramuntana and the sea behind.

Photos courtesy of Marc Marco and Sebastián Astorga

Watch the video of this adventure by Allen Candela below: