aerial

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Photography

Abstract Aerial Photographs Reveal the Beauty of Meandering Waterways

The project Water.Shapes.Earth uses aerial photography and storytelling to bring an understanding to the complex and diverse ways water inhabits our planet, from a radioactive water pond in Huelva, Spain to mud volcanoes in Azerbaijan. The images provide an abstract look at Earth’s surface, presenting purple-hued veins of a divergent river or an icy body of emerald water laced with severe cracks and splinters in its surface. Stories accompany the many images, which bring attention to how each might be a sign of climate change, and to highlight our own destructive mark on our environment. You can read about a salty marsh in Spain or glacial river tributaries in Iceland on Water.Shapes.Earth’s website. (via Colossal Submissions)

Art Photography

Striking Aerial Photographs of Namibia’s Arid Landscape Appear as Abstract Paintings

Australian photographer Leah Kennedy captured Namibia’s colorful, dry topography on a recent aerial safari. Much of the artist’s work is aerial, which satisfies her creative affinity for combining abstraction and duality in her photography. Kennedy traveled in a Cessna light aircraft, as well as in a helicopter sans doors, using a medium format camera. She shares with Colossal, “The resulting images are, at least temporarily, removed from their reality they take on different forms and in some cases appear to be of microscopic origins or reminiscent of something else entirely. This ambiguity and departure from reality is what intrigues and inspires my work.”

In addition to her fine art portfolio, Kennedy teaches workshops and offers tutorials on photography and Photoshop. You can see more of her site-specific series and purchase prints of select photographs on Kennedy’s website, and follow her work and travels on Instagram.

Photography

Abstract Patterns Emerge from Iceland’s Colorful Topography in Aerial Photographs by Stas Bartnikas

Moscow-based photographer Stas Bartnikas captures landscapes from above. This perspective presents an abstracted view of the scenes below, turning mountains, waterfalls, and streams into compositional elements that provide color or texture. Bartnikas refers to his works as “aero-art,” and intends to capture the character and personality of each abstracted landscape when shooting. “It is almost the same as photographing human portraits,” he tells Colossal. “Each portrait is unique and conveys its own message.”

Iceland is one of Bartnikas’s favorite locations to photograph due to its surreal combination of ice, snow, volcanic formations, glacial rivers, and beaches. “Regular travelers are able to see only so much of this amazing place, whereas aerial photography allows us to see places that are inaccessible on foot,” he continues. “This very different perspective enables us to capture the beauty of our Earth in its fully glory and uniqueness.”

For each series, Bartnikas charters a plane to fly him around the area. His next destination to photograph is San Diego, where he plans on capturing some of the southern parts of the United States and a few northern parts of Mexico. He is one of the winners of the upcoming Siena International Photo Awards and his work, among the other winners, will be featured at the Beyond the Lens photo exhibition held from October 28 to December 2, 2018 in Siena, Italy. You can view more of his work on his website and Instagram.

Photography

Ephemeral Winter Weather on the Faroe Islands Captured by Photographer Felix Inden

Photographer Felix Inden recently explored the Faroe Islands with the goal of capturing the landscape’s ephemeral wintery weather. “Imagery from the islands is frequently seen in social media,” Inden explains. “What I had rarely seen was really winterish imagery, so my plan was to capture the islands in their winter dress. Easier said than done, because of the Faroese weather. It’s not a place where harsh winter conditions are likely to happen for a long time. Most often it is one or two snowy days—then new rain comes and washes it all away.”

Based in Germany, Inden travels frequently for his work, and leads workshops in such photogenic places as Iceland and Norway. You can see more of his far-flung photography from the comfort of your couch, including this captivating trip to the Lofoten Islands, via Instagram, Facebook, and Behance.

Photography

Aerial Explorations of International Cityscapes Washed in a Neon Glow by Xavier Portela

After a visit to Tokyo in 2014, self-taught photographer Xavier Portela became frustrated by how static and two-dimensional his images appeared. His photographs didn’t capture the emotions, acute stimulation of senses, or electric feeling one experiences while gliding through the bright lights of a foreign city with jet lag-induced insomnia. To explore this vibrancy and atmosphere Portela began to manipulate the colors in his images, amplifying their saturation to make each reflect what the brain remembered, but the original image couldn’t convey.

“When you are taking photographs on the streets you have way more than just a frame, you have variables like temperature, noise, people, smell,” Portela tells Colossal. “You have tons of details that make our senses and brain record a specific ‘scene’ of that moment. When you got home and you look at your photographs on screen, you only have a frame in two dimensions. It’s frustrating how much information you just lost… I wanted my shots to look like as if they came straight out of a manga. Vibrant and electric.”

Portela’s series Glow is an ongoing archive of urban images from his trips to Tokyo, Hong Kong, Bangkok, New York City, and more. Each photograph is edited with a wash of neon-inspired pink, blue, and purple lights. Although previous series have included photography taken on the street, more recently he has begun to produce aerial views of the sparkling cities below. You can see more images from the Belgo-Portuguese photographer and filmmaker on Instagram and Behance. (via This Isn’t Happiness)

Animation

Arena: A Short Film That Weaves Together Images of Man-Made Shapes Collected Through Google Maps

Arena is a short film by Ireland-based artist Páraic McGloughlin which explores the similarities of international roadways, farming infrastructure, and urban design. In the minute and a half work, McGloughlin presents thousands of aerial images collected from Google Maps to create a series of winding pathways and geometric shapes that snake across the screen.

“I put a lot of focus on imagery containing flat lines, symmetry and grids as they are so different to the patterns/shapes made by nature, and hoped in turn that this would be most effective,” the artist told Directors Notes. “It wasn’t until I started messing with some images that I thought to allocate the idea of the game of life – ‘Arena’ to the theme as it fit perfectly in my opinion.”

The fast-paced video is set to a soundtrack by the director in collaboration with his brother Pearse McGloughlin. You can see more of Páraic McGloughlin’s work on his website and Instagram. (via The Kid Should See This)

Photography

Aerial Images of Vibrant Landscapes by Photographer Niaz Uddin

Niaz Uddin is a photographer, director, and filmmaker that explores a variety of natural landscapes from high above. His color-saturated photographs explore crowded beaches and remote tide pools, capturing each of the scenic environments from a bird’s eye view. One of my favorite images is the picture above, which provides a rare perspective of the Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone National Park. You can see even more sky-high images on his Instagram, and buy limited prints on his website.