Aerial Photography: The Latest Architecture and News

Each year, on the first Friday in June, people in the US celebrate National Donut Day. The origins of this commemoration go back 100 years: soon after the US entrance into World War I in 1917, the Protestant Christian church and international charitable organization The Salvation Army sent a fact-finding mission to France. It was during that mission that volunteering women began serving free donuts to soldiers on the front lines with the aim to boost the troops’ morale. These women, dubbed “Donut Lassies,” are often credited with making donuts widely popular in the United States when troops returned home from war.

In celebration of Earth Day, we invited Benjamin Grant—founder of the Daily Overview—to select the five "overviews" which he considers to be among the most inspiring that his platform has shared. The image above, taken on Christmas Eve in 1968 by astronauts of NASA's Apollo 8 mission is, according to Grant, "believed by many to be the first "overview" of our planet, captured by astronaut Bill Anders." This photograph dramatically pulled into focus the simultaneous magnificence, intricacy, and terrifying fragility of the planet we inhabit. Since that moment the advent, acceleration, and accessibility of satellite imagery has made one thing abundantly clear: that humankind has had a considerable effect on Earth, for better or for worse.

Photo of the Day: Ghadames, Libya http://t.co/MpRCAemGuy #pod #photography

— National Geographic (@NatGeo) March 27, 2013

Since time immemorial, and more recently, humans have wondered what the world looks like from above. This fascination has historically manifested in the plan drawing and aerial photography. In this vein, and using a motorized paraglider, National Geographic photographer George Steinmetz has captured a stunning bird’s-eye view of the ancient city of Ghadames, in Libya.

Photographer Amos Chapple has traveled the world, capturing well-known landmarks and cities from the perspective of a drone. From the Katshi Pillar in Georgia to New Delhi’s Lotus Temple and the star fort in Bourtange, the Netherlands, Chapple carried out “as much aerial work as weather and local laws allow.”

See 12 of his most impressive photos after the break. 

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“Nestled into the desert landscape that defines Nevada’s visage,
Ascaya feels as if it were shaped by the elements.
[...]
Where stone rises up to meet the sky, there is a place called Ascaya.”
- The Ascaya promotional website

Not quite, according to Michael Light’s soon-to-be released book, Lake Las Vegas/Black Mountain. Covering the advance of suburban Nevada into the desert, this two-part book looks at Lake Las Vegas, a then-abandoned victim of the 2008 real estate crash which has since emerged from the other side of bankruptcy, and nearby Ascaya, a high end housing estate that is still in the process of being carved into Black Mountain. Light’s photography doesn’t so much question the developers’ summary as it does, say, blast it, scar it, terrace it and then build a large housing development on the remains. Featuring beautifully composed aerial shots of the construction sites and golf courses covering the desert, the book is a clear condemnation of the destructive and unsustainable development in Nevada. Much more than that, though, Light is highlighting a wider philosophy behind developments like Ascaya and Lake Las Vegas that fundamentally fail to connect American society with the American landscape in a non-destructive way.

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Earthrise, a photograph taken on Christmas Eve of 1968 by astronauts of the Apollo 8 mission, was a defining moment for our collective understanding of the world in which we live on. For the very first time it dramatically pulled into focus the simultaneous magnificence, intricacy, and terrifying fragility of the planet we inhabit. Since that time the advent, acceleration, and accessibility of satellite imagery has made one thing abundantly clear: that humankind has had a considerable effect on Earth, for better or for worse. Daily Overview's self-defined mission is to "consider the places where man has left his mark and then conduct the necessary research to identify locations to convey that idea." They do so with incredible effect.

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What is the draw of the aerial view? Whereas architects and designers often find solace in this particular spatial perspective there is a more inclusive, universal appeal to this way of seeing. The ease of access to online mapping services has increased our collective reliance on understanding our world from above.

Maps condense the planet into a little world inside our pocket, the commodification of which has universalised the ‘plan-view’ photograph. The question of whether or not their ubiquitous availability, having now been assimilated into our collective consciousness, is a positive step for the status of the plan is a discussion ongoing. Yet, in the face of this dilemma, architectural photographers are pushing the boundaries of drone technology in order to find new meaning.

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