aerial

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Photography

In Tom Hegen’s Aerial Photos, Swimmers and Loungers Texture Two Florida Beaches with Colorful Patterns

As much of the northern hemisphere braces for gray, wintery weather, photographer Tom Hegen (previously) highlights the warm, vibrant oceanside of Florida’s Siesta Key and Miami beaches. Swimmers and sunbathers escaping the rays under colorful umbrellas line the coast and appear as textured, geometric shapes dotting the water and white sandy expanses. The Beach Series juxtaposes the haphazard with the organized, documenting both neat rows of uniform loungers and clusters of people as they congregate along the shoreline.

See all of the sun-soaked photos in Hegen’s collection on Behance, and find prints, posters, and books of his aerial works on his site.

 

Photography

Aerial Photos Showcase the Annual Flamingo Migration that Transforms India’s Pulicat Lake into a Vibrant Spectacle

Each January, Pulicat Lake in Tamil Nadu, India, harbors tens of thousands of lanky, pink-feathered birds that gather in the warm waters during their annual migration. Approximately 20 flocks of flamingos land in the region in early November and stay until May, transforming the 750-square kilometers of brackish lagoons into breeding grounds for the long-legged creatures.

Photographer Raj Mohan documented these temporary settlements in a series of aerial images that capture the birds’ sprawling, even bizarre formations. The avians dot the landscape, congregate in heart-shaped groups, and align in long, perfect diagonals, seemingly choreographed arrangements visible only from above.

Mohan’s images were taken during what’s known as the annual flamingo festival, which “promote(s) tourism at Pulicat. Several bird photography contests, environment education sensitization programs, school excursions, etc., are organized to increase awareness,” he shares on Peta Pixel. “This attracts a large number of bird watchers and photographers from different places.” In addition to the spectacle they create, the flamingos also help to control the otherwise rampant algae growth in the lake and prevent the need for human intervention.

A corporate professional by day, Mohan is based in Chennai but currently spending his time in Bangalore. Travel has always been his preferred way of exploring India’s natural diversity, and you can find more of his work on Instagram. For another glimpse of flamingo migration, head to Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula with Claudio Contreras Koob.

 

Photography

Precise Aerial Photos by Mitch Rouse Document the Immaculate Patterns of California Farmland

Captured above Kern County, California, a collection of aerial photos by Mitch Rouse (previously) highlight the vibrant precision of American farmland. The striking images frame segments of fields and groves that juxtapose the exactitude of large-scale production with organic growth. Long, rainbow-like rows of botanics, a single pink tree among an orchard of yellow, and repeating squares of dried vegetation transform the agricultural topographies into textured tapestries bursting with color.

Explore the full Farmland series and shop prints on Rouse’s site. You can follow his latest projects on Behance and Instagram.

 

Photography

Salt Extraction Sites Turn Landscapes into Vivid Tapestries in Tom Hegen’s Aerial Photos

Since 2018, German photographer Tom Hegen (previously) has been soaring above regions from western Australia and Senegal to France and Spain as he documents the vivid landscapes of salt production. His mesmerizing aerial images peer down at evaporation ponds that carve the earth into a patchwork of vibrant hues. “What attracted me was the graphic and abstract appearance of these landscapes, which almost has a painterly quality. This is also the core feature that aerial photography has to offer: an unfamiliar few at ordinary things that surround us,” Hegen shares about the project.

Spanning nearly 300 pages, a forthcoming book titled Salt Works compiles more than 160 images from the series. Although their footprints vary widely, many of the areas spotlighted approach extraction in a similar manner: Harvesters often route seawater into these fields or small pockets of land, and the sun and wind help evaporate the liquid, leaving the crystalline minerals behind. Micro bacteria tint the salt into striking pastures of rose, aqua, and ochre, transforming the areas into rich tapestries of color.

Shop prints and posters from the series on Hegen’s site and pre-order Salt Works. Find more on Instagram and Behance.

 

Photography

Aerial Photos Highlight the Rugged, Textured Topographies of the American Badlands

Awash in pale blue light or the glimmers of dusk and dawn, the dry, eroded terrains of the American West appear as otherworldly vistas in the works of Stockholm-based photographer Tobias Hägg (previously). Captured in spring of this year, the aerial images peer down on or out across the vast, rugged landscapes known as badlands. These regions are replete with geological formations and terrain diversity, and Hägg spotlights such shifts in elevation and soil by documenting the rippling, ravine crevices and buttes that overlook the area. Light and shadow dramatize the images and accentuate the textures and depth of the extraordinarily craggy topographies.

Prints of Hägg’s images are available in his shop, and you can find more from photographer, including new a forthcoming book comprising a decade’s worth of work, on Behance and Instagram.

 

Photography Science

Paul Nicklen Photographs the Colorado River as It Etches Itself Like Veiny Branches into the Landscape

It is a common understanding in writing studies that to recount a disastrous event in literal and graphic detail may damper the purpose of the story by pushing the reader away. In order to elicit experiential feelings, writers often learn to employ tools and strategies such as metaphor, poeticism, and structure. This could also be understood as an exercise in empathy because rather than force the reader to feel by summarizing the experience for them, the writer creates an environment where one can reach for closeness and camaraderie in their own ways.

Paul Nicklen, pioneering conservation photographer (previously), calls nature “the first and greatest artist” in his latest collection, the Delta Series. To expand Nicklen’s statement across disciplines, nature may also be the first and greatest writer. In the series, he captures the vestiges of the Colorado River that trickle, roar, and finally, crawl their way down to Baja, Mexico. Though the silt itself is the site of tragedy, traces of freshwater gorgeously spread like branches, or fingerprints, or lungs, or as Nicklen writes, like veins.

 

These lines not only tell the story of the “megadrought,” a term scientists use to describe the impact of the climate crisis since the year 2000 on an already dry West—as of June, both the U.S. and Mexican governments have agreed to release water from irrigation canals and restore the ecosystem in Baja—but they also craft the effects of reduced snowpack, thirstier soil, and higher temperatures into a grand metaphor for the interconnectedness of life. Even in the midst of ruin, nature speaks in symbols. With its last breath, the river reaches for its kin: the ocean. Unable to meet that immense body, the water carves its final words into the landscape. The familiar shape of its sprawl reminds us that we are inseparable, intimately woven into each other, and share responsibility for every living thing around us until the very end.

Nicklen’s Delta Series is on view as part of Evolve, which opens on October 1 at Hilton-Asmus Contemporary in Chicago. See more of the photos on his website and Instagram.