Two pilots and a pair of photographers collaborated to create a set of photos featuring two planes passing through the last solar eclipse in North America for 20 years. Kevin Coleman and Pete McLeod were two pilots who worked with photographers to create some of the most famous photos. In order to make the most of the four minute window of totality, Snipes and Mashton spent a lot of time coordinating the shoot, from figuring out the lighting conditions and plane formations to the ideal positioning of all involved. The pilots had to fly in a formation of 1,500 feet in elevation and four feet apart so that the sun and moon would be in the same frame. Red Bull says that the Red Bull Air Force team member received instructions from the photographers that he translated directly to the pilots. Coleman says that when you have darkness from the eclipse, a flight angle that needs to be perfectly lined up with the sun, and only four minutes to take the shot, it makes it incredibly challenging. The team covered the planes' wings in a reflective wrap in order to make them more visible and to work better in the darker skies cast by the moon. I loved being able to create something that no one has seen before with our team. It was an extreme challenge to get the planes, the sun, the moon, and the lights all within one exposure. The two planes were only able to pass over the photographers three times. To make sure it went smoothly, the team had to test the plan many times and shoot lots of flyovers to check out different illumination solutions. This is one of the hardest photos I have ever taken. There are known settings to capture an eclipse, but when you need to figure out the height of the planes above ground level to frame and scale them perfectly with the eclipse, it is a totally different game.
Red Bull says this project was undertaken to celebrate the rare celestial event and also challenge both pilots and photographers to try new, unexpected projects. It has been great to be a part of this.
Unless otherwise noted, the photos are from Red Bull.