High Diving Under The Total Eclipse

Yesterday’s total solar eclipse got Americans very excited, being the first to travel from coast to coast across the entire United States in the height of summer during prime daylight hours for 99 years.

Among the millions who travelled to the ‘area of totality’ where the sun was 100% obscured by the moon (outside this diagonal line from the northwest to the southeast US the sun was a few percent less than completely covered) were a few athletes and professional photographers working for Red Bull and aiming to do something different during this “once in a lifetime opportunity.”

Australian female cliff diver Helena Merten joined male counterparts Orlando Duque, David Colturi and Andy Jones for an eclipse leap from a special 20-metre platform in McMinnville, Oregon.

Their dives were captured via high-optical quality front-surface mirrors with current Red Bull Cliff Diving men’s leader Duque adding another dramatic stunt to his iconic 2013 helicopter dive in front of New York City’s Statue of Liberty.

“I was so excited, I was literally shaking,” said photographer Dustin Snipes. “I knew we had such a small window to nail the shots but we did it. The experience was everything I could ask for.”

“It was one of the craziest dives I’ve done in my entire life,” said Red Bull Cliff Diving veteran Duque. “We knew it was going to be dark, but not that dark! Having one shot at this dive made it that much more exciting.”