Nikon USA:

We spoke with Joshua Cripps about an image he created during an annular solar eclipse in the Dubai desert. He was already going to be in the Middle East in mid-December 2019 and when he found out there would be an annular solar eclipse and he decided to extend his trip to photograph it.

Joshua says he spent a “crazy amount of planning” the shoot. He used the PhotoPills app to plan the location aspects of the shot including the shooting position he would be in as well as the position of the man and camel.

“In order to have this specific proportion between the size of the camel and the size of the sun we had to be standing a very specific distance away from the camel, almost exactly 1,000 feet,” Joshua says. “In addition to that shooting distance we also needed to find a dune that was visible against the sky at a very specific angle (6.15°) so that the sun would be in eclipse exactly when it rose behind the dune. Finding a dune that met those exact criteria was a challenge, but ultimately we succeeded,” he added.

Because Joshua only spoke English and the farmer only spoke Arabic he drew an image in the sand to show the man what he wanted him to do.

As a photographer, sometimes you get lucky. And sometimes, you work your ass off to get just the right shot. This one is incredible.