[Solar Eclipse]

Standing atop Mount Santa Lucia in northern California at approximately 2:34 p.m. on January 11, 1880, Carleton Watkins was able to make only one exposure during the instant of complete eclipse. Accompanied by professors from the newly created University of California and the United States Naval Observatory, Watkins waited slightly more than an hour for the moon to begin its movement and assume its temporary position directly in front of the sun. The radiating sun, its brilliance hidden by the black moon, lies suspended over a sea of clouds whose rippling waves dominate the sky. Only the inclusion of the treetops in the foreground serves to ground the image in a familiar reality. See another photograph Watkins made from Mount Santa Lucia that day while waiting for the full eclipse.

Adapted from getty.edu, Interpretive Content Department, 2008