This Skydiving Photo Took Six Attempts, Pure Stubbornness, Mad Precision – and Zero AI

Some photos feel like magic. Others feel like pure miracles. And yet the others are technical marvels. Andrew McCarthy‘s The Fall of Icarus is all of it.

Earlier this year, the astrophotographer teamed up with skydiver Gabriel C. Brown to pull off one of the most ambitious, technically demanding shots you’ll ever see. Gabriel, mid-jump, perfectly silhouetted against the glowing disk of the sun. It’s a shot that seems absolutely impossible to take, and it almost was. Almost. But as we’ve seen before, nothing seems impossible for Andrew, and he once again captured a marvelous photo (and a video) I just can’t stop staring at!

“Earlier this year, I met with my astrophotographer buddy @cosmic_background to go skydiving,” Gabriel recalls. “After the jump, we got to talking about how cool a shot like this would look (and how difficult it would be to pull off).”

And after he chat, neither of them could let the idea go. “Fortunately, Andrew is just as stubborn as I am,” Gabriel says, “so we began planning the shot!”

But as you can imagine, planning a photo like this isn’t just about a good idea and a clear sky. It meant scouting the right location, waiting for the perfect time of year, sourcing the right aircraft, and calculating the safe and precise altitude for the jump. They even had to factor in the aircraft’s power-off glide slope to align the sun at just the right angle.

As if it weren’t enough, they also needed flawless communication. This is why it’s important to mention the pilot, too, who was also an essential part of the equation.

The pilot was Jim Hamberlin, who had to “align the shot using the opposition effect from the aircraft and coordinate the exact moment of the jump on 3-way comms,” Gabriel explains.

And all of that was just to attempt the shot. And even then, nothing guaranteed they’d pull it off.

“As if that wasn’t hard enough, we had a myriad of malfunctions that almost led to the shot not being captured,” Gabriel explains. “But as you can see, against all odds, we got it on the sixth try!” What was on my mind was that it took only six tries to get this shot. That’s freaking marvelous!

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A post shared by Gabriel C. Brown (@blackgryph0n)

The Gear Behind the Shot

Andrew told us a bit about how he took the shot. Capturing the sun in rich chromospheric detail while nailing the razor-sharp silhouette of a skydiver took high-end gear, precise timing, and a meticulous mosaic process.

“I used an Esprit 150 with a Daystar Quark Chromosphere to capture the moment,” Andrew reveals. “The image is a mosaic, which allowed me to capture the rest of the sun in high resolution while preserving the fantastic silhouette.”

astropIf you’re familiar with Andrew’s work, you’ll know he’s no stranger to capturing mind-blowing astro photos. But this shot is in a league of its own.

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A post shared by Andrew McCarthy (@cosmic_background)

A Photo That Breaks the Rules

There’s something beautifully contradictory about this photo. On one hand, it’s grounded in hard science and technical precision. Every angle, calculation, and setting had to be perfect. On the other hand, it’s wildly poetic: a tiny human shape floating against the immense, burning face of our star. Makes you think and put things into perspective, doesn’t it? Astrophotography always does this to me, but aligning a human against a star really takes it up a notch!

Enjoy these fantastic images and stare at them as long as you need. Even if you cry a little, I won’t judge – you know I also cry when I’m in awe. And if you want to look at this wonderful astro piece in your own space (no pun intended), hurry up and get yourself a high-quality print from Andrew’s website.

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