Witness to Totality in the Wild

On April 8, 2024, I stood in the forests of Lake Placid, NY, camera in hand, as the world went quiet. The window to witness the total solar eclipse — totality — was just over four minutes. But in that time, everything changed.

The light dropped, the animals stilled, and the sky gave us something ancient. Capturing that moment wasn’t just about getting a shot — it was about being in sync with the planet, with timing, with chance.

Photographing an eclipse from a place like Lake Placid, surrounded by raw wilderness, reminded me why I do this: to chase the rare, the real, and the wild. Moments like this are once-in-a-lifetime — but they’re also proof that nature still knows how to stop us in our tracks.