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The awe of turning skyward together

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Riley Robinson/Staff

I almost couldn’t believe my eyes. The light began to fade, muted and amber. The air went cold. The buzz of the crowd seemed to wane with the sun. I worked as quietly and quickly as I could, trying to make frames that captured the joy in our collective anticipation. Thousands of people donned goofy plastic glasses and turned their eyes toward the sun. Totality was coming.

Many of my favorite assignments of 2024 have had these quiet, magical moments, among people totally focused in wonder on the natural world. In Mexico City, on a boat in the canals of Xochimilco, the sun rose behind a puffing volcano and lit up the occasional fisherman. No one aboard with me spoke, except to murmur a rare “wow.” Months later, in a forest in New Hampshire, early-morning bird-watchers turned their binoculars to the tree line, elbows lifted like wings, themselves forming a silent, waiting flock. How special it is to marvel among strangers.

That day in April, as the moon crossed between the sun and Earth, causing a total solar eclipse, the quiet erupted into hooting and hollering. It felt as if the universe had let out a joyful, lupine howl. I shot frame after frame after frame, aiming my camera at the sky, then the crowd, then the sky again. I checked my camera screen to see whether I had really captured what I’d witnessed. Only then, for a few more seconds, did I put my cameras down and become part of the crowd – eyes up skyward, jaw dropped in awe, a moment of all-in amazement.

Riley Robinson/Staff
Riley Robinson/Staff
Riley Robinson/Staff

The other photos that I loved in 2024 are below.

Riley Robinson/Staff
MEXICO CITY: A woman retrieves laundry at a shelter for asylum-seekers, April 15.
Riley Robinson/Staff
PHOENIX: JD Vance, the then2024 Republican vice presidential candidate, delivers remarks at the Arizona Biltmore, Sept. 5.
Riley Robinson/Staff
PHOENIX: Supporters of Donald Trump take a selfie while waiting for JD Vance to deliver a speech at a campaign event at the Arizona Biltmore, Sept. 5.
Riley Robinson/Staff
WASHINGTON: A woman protesting for Palestinian rights stands outside the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, a polling site, Nov. 5.
Riley Robinson/Staff
CHICAGO: Arlena Hampton, a union pipe fitter with Local 597, poses at the Chicago Women in Trades workshop, Oct. 10.
Riley Robinson/Staff
BERKELEY, CALIF.: Ruth Whippman, author of “BoyMom: Reimagining Boyhood in the Age of Impossible Masculinity,” and her son Abe Levine watch TV, April 20.
Riley Robinson/Staff
MEXICO CITY: Carlis cuddles up with her father, Jose Antonio, in front of their tent, April 15. Their family fled Venezuela and was camping in the street outside a shelter.
Riley Robinson/Staff
MEXICO CITY: Brenda Magaña Díaz, a staffer for the Xóchitl Gálvez Ruiz presidential campaign, leaves a meeting at the campaign’s headquarters, April 15.
Riley Robinson/Staff
NEWPORT, VT.: Spectators look on as swimmers compete at the Memphremagog Winter Swimming Festival, Feb. 23.
Riley Robinson/Staff
TUCSON, ARIZ.: Saguaro cactuses dot the landscape in Saguaro National Park, Sept. 6.

Click here to explore all of our favorite photos.

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