See Stunning Images of the Total Solar Eclipse From Nat Geo Photographers
National Geographic photographers were stationed from Iceland to Spain to document one of the year’s most anticipated celestial events.
On August 12, the moon’s shadow swept from Iceland to Spain, bringing Europe its first total solar eclipse since 1999—and mainland Spain its first in more than a century.
For a few minutes, the moon completely blocked the sun, revealing its corona and briefly turning day to darkness along the path of totality. That path began in northern Russia before crossing Greenland, Iceland and the Atlantic, then reaching Spain and a small corner of Portugal. Near Iceland, totality lasted as long as two minutes and 18 seconds.
Roughly 15 million people lived within the path, while hundreds of millions more across Europe, parts of North America and northwestern Africa saw at least a partial eclipse. Anyone who watched needed certified eclipse glasses or another proper solar filter whenever any part of the sun remained visible; only during totality was it safe to look directly at the eclipse without protection.
Spain got one of the most dramatic views. The eclipse began there around 5:30 p.m. UTC, or 7:30 p.m. local time, with totality sweeping across the country roughly an hour later. By then, the sun was already sitting low on the western horizon, giving photographers a chance to capture the darkened sun against the landscape rather than high overhead.
That low angle was part of what made this eclipse unusual. The moon’s shadow skimmed across the northern part of the planet, keeping the eclipsed sun relatively low in the sky along much of the route. In far northern Greenland, totality even brought a brief spell of darkness to places that had seen almost continuous daylight through the summer.
And the sky show didn’t end with the eclipse. The Perseid meteor shower peaked later that same night, and because a solar eclipse can only occur during a new moon, there was little moonlight to wash out the meteors. Under the right conditions, observers could even catch a bright Perseid during totality.
National Geographic photographers were stationed along the path to capture the eclipse as it unfolded. Here are some of the best images from across Europe—and the details that make each one worth a closer look.
Spain: A Total Eclipse at Sunset
Picos de Urbión, Spain
National Geographic photographer Reuben Wu documented the 2026 eclipse from the Picos de Urbión in Spain, where he set out to photograph more than the eclipsed sun itself. He wanted to bring the eclipse into the visual language that defines his work, using artificial light to illuminate the dark landscape and make the foreground part of the celestial scene. He looked for elements including a glacial lake and dramatic ridgelines that he could light against the darkened sky.
“With this eclipse, I wanted to combine my own visual language with the eclipse so that this image not only looks like an eclipse, but also looks like one of my images,” Wu says.
Burgos, Spain
For National Geographic Explorer Rüdiger Ortiz-Álvarez, who watched from Burgos, Spain, near the center of the path of totality, the transformation was startlingly sudden. As the moon completely blocked the sun, daylight briefly faded and the sun’s corona emerged around its darkened disk. “It felt like a surreal moment—it went by so fast,” he says. “Suddenly it was black, a strange night, and the solar corona in the sky. It calls to something deep within us.”
The sudden darkness affected more than just the people watching. Ortiz-Álvarez noticed birds abruptly flying toward shelter, as though night had arrived unexpectedly. Researchers documented similar responses through citizen-science efforts such as Ecoeclipse, a Spanish project studying how the eclipse affected the acoustic behavior of birds and bats.
(Surprising ways animals react to solar eclipses.)
Ebro Delta, Spain
Catalan photographer and National Geographic Explorer Wayra Ficapal had decided a year earlier that she wanted to experience the eclipse from Spain’s Ebro Delta, but she chose the exact location only a week beforehand. After realizing that the moon’s shadow would trace much of the Ebro River from northern Spain toward its mouth in the Mediterranean, she headed to the Illa de Gràcia bridge in Sant Jaume d’Enveja, hoping to photograph the eclipsed sun reflected in the water.
“I had read that experts advise not to look only at the eclipse, but to pay attention to your surroundings, the sky and the stars,” Ficapal says. “But during the minute and a half that it lasted, I couldn’t take my eyes off the Moon as it eclipsed the Sun. It was magical, like a scene from another planet. You feel that you are part of the cosmos.” As totality approached, she heard birds calling before they suddenly fell silent and felt the temperature drop sharply. When daylight returned, mosquitoes emerged in force.
For Ficapal, the experience was also deeply communal. “Experiencing a total eclipse is a collective experience that makes you realize that we are all part of something bigger.”
Tarragona, Spain
National Geographic photographer Babak Tafreshi, working with Amirreza Kamkar, documented the eclipse in collaboration with the city council of Tarragona, a UNESCO World Heritage site in Catalonia. Tafreshi, who has photographed 15 eclipses since the 1990s, positioned eight cameras around the city to capture the eclipse alongside Tarragona’s Roman ruins, medieval architecture, port, and present-day crowds.
For Tafreshi, eclipses are about more than astronomy. “It’s beyond the cover of science and astronomy and physics—it has this relationship to humans, which makes it very unique,” he said in an interview with ABC News ahead of the eclipse. “It brings us all together.” Eclipse chasers arrive from different countries, cultures, and backgrounds, he adds, “sharing one common passion through mother nature.”
A Coruña, Spain
National Geographic photographer Jonas Bendiksen documented the eclipse with his wife and three daughters from the deck of their sailboat near A Coruña, Spain. The family was sailing from Norway and preparing to cross the Atlantic when their arrival in Spain happened to coincide with the eclipse—a bit of timing Bendiksen described as “a lucky omen.” “Nothing can quite prepare you for a total eclipse,” Bendiksen says. “It feels entirely existential, and I think the whole family felt it.” Together, they watched totality unfold from the deck before continuing their journey across the Atlantic.
Italy: A Partial Spectacle
National Geographic Explorer Camilla Ferrari documented the August 12, 2026, eclipse from Santuario di Soviore (Soviore’s Sanctuary) in Monterosso, Liguria, Italy. While Italy sat outside the path of totality, viewers there could still watch the moon partially cover the sun. The La Spezia Amateur Astronomers Association of the Monte Viseggi Science Park organized a viewing event at the sanctuary, bringing together astronomy enthusiasts to experience the partial eclipse.
“I was just in awe,” Ferrari says. “It is so special to be able to witness events like these because they put in perspective our position in the cosmos, and the correlations that tie every element within it, in a sort of dance. It’s such a special feeling.”
United Kingdom: Partial Eclipse, Different Perspectives
Norwich, England
National Geographic photographer Paul John Bayfield photographed the partial eclipse over Norwich, Norfolk, in the United Kingdom, capturing a herring gull against the darkening sky. Although the eclipse reached only about 91 percent there, Bayfield says the change was unmistakable as temperatures dropped and daylight faded.
“An unsettling and marvelous moment arrived as the temperature dropped and the sky darkened,” he says. The usually ever-present herring gulls descended to nearby rooftops, “clucking in confusion.” For Bayfield, the birds’ reaction became one of the most memorable parts of the eclipse: “A sight I shall remember for a long time.”
Edinburgh, Scotland
National Geographic photographer Robert Ormerod took a more experimental approach to the partial eclipse visible from Scotland’s capital, creating abstract images inspired by the scale and strangeness of the celestial event.
After photographing the 2024 eclipse in Texas, Ormerod says he wanted this experience to feel less frantic. “I had the firm idea that I wanted to play, experiment, and build upon what I learnt from the first experience,” he says. His goal was to evoke “the enormity of space” and the feelings celestial events can inspire.
London, England
National Geographic photographer Hannah Reyes Morales photographed her daughter, Ami, during the partial eclipse visible from London. Morales had nearly forgotten about the event until the light inside their flat began to dim. She first noticed the eclipse in the shadows cast by a tomato plant, then again through the holes of a colander. As she tried to show her two-year-old what was happening, crescent-shaped patches of sunlight appeared across Ami’s face—“an astronomical event unfolding on her tiny body,” Morales says.
“I often lament at the world with our gazes fixed on our phones,” she adds, “but for a few minutes it felt like we were looking up together, noticing the sun, paying attention to the shape of shadows.”
Austria: When the Eclipse Comes to You
National Geographic photographer Robbie Shone photographed the eclipse from his home in Tirol, Austria, sharing the experience with his family from their balcony. For Shone, who has spent much of his career traveling to remote places as a cave photographer, the simplicity of the moment made it especially memorable.
During the 1999 eclipse, Shone was deep underground exploring a local cave and missed the event entirely. This time was different. “No flights, no expensive trips, no chasing it around the world,” he says. “Just home, family and an incredible moment happening right above us. Sometimes the best experiences are the ones that come to you.”
