About this episode

The episode recounts Jon Carmichael's extraordinary experience of photographing a total solar eclipse from a commercial airliner.

Following this week's solar eclipse, which brought a partial eclipse to the UK, much of Europe and parts of North America, we return to The Photowalk archive for one of the most extraordinary stories ever told on the show. Photographer Jon Carmichael wanted to photograph a total solar eclipse from 39,000 feet aboard a commercial airliner. That meant calculating where the Moon's shadow would fall, finding a flight capable of meeting it, and somehow securing exactly the right seat. What followed is a remarkable story of planning, persuasion, good fortune and photography, beginning with the influence of a geography teacher and eventually leading to an image bought by Elton John. Even if you've heard Jon tell parts of this story elsewhere, including in his TED Talk, this is one worth pulling up an imaginary bar stool for and hearing again. It's a genuine dine-out-on-it-for-the-rest-of-your-life story about being in precisely the right place, several miles above the Earth, at precisely the right moment. Also today, from our Facebook community, Pascal Bernandon shares Shared Loneliness. Over in the mailbag, Per Birkhaug finds his photographic 'why' with a little help from three…

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