Here's an interesting experimental video from London-based filmmaker and motion artist Theo Tagholm (aka Mustardcuffins). Using found, mostly aerial archival footage, Tagholm transformed individual frames so that it looks like still photographs slide across the scenes. The effect is simultaneously charming and perception-altering. "Hiding in plain sight, the photograph skims across the skin of......read more
No stranger to the pages of SHFT, Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky returns with what may be his most ambitious project to date. The result of over five years of work, Water investigates humanity’s complex relationship with the world’s most vital natural resource. The project includes a series of photo exhibitions, a book, and a film. Shot in ten different countries, Water......read more
Mexico City, the most populous city in the Western Hemisphere, is home to over 21 million people. There are an astounding 25,400 people per square mile living in the city. In the above photos, Mexican photographer Pablo Lopez Muz shows what just that looks like, as seemingly endless rings of homes radiate out in waves from the city center. "In a megalopolis like Mexico City," says Lopez......read more
For 4 years now, I have been dreaming of exploring the 450 islands that make up the San Juans. I knew this year marked my moment to finally visit as they have just been declared a National Monument. In Obama's words, the islands are “a refuge of scientific and historic treasures and a classroom for generations of Americans.” Home to bald eagles, orca whales, harbor......read more
In in Squares project, Hungarian photographer Adam Magyar presents us with imaginary top-down views of people in the city. The images, created from hundreds of different pictures captured using custom-built photographic equipment, allow viewers to consider the pace and volume of modern urban living. "Squares is a series of non-existent urban places," he writes. "I created fake aerial photos and......read more
Site Specific is a summary of Olivo Barbieri’s ten-year project to record the world’s cities in aerial photographs. The book offers a thrilling survey of thirty-six cities throughout the world. At the same time, it presents a narrative of Barbieri’s evolving approach to photography and his ideas about the nature of the medium. Presented chronologically, the photographs begin......read more
With a commission from New York's Metro Transit Authority, Navid Baraty (previously) captured the city from a perspective few have ever seen. The NYC-via-Ohio photographer shot the images looking straight down from the edges of buildings around Manhattan. The inspiration for the photos came thousands of miles away, in Tokyo, while lunching in a skyscraper. “I looked straight down and saw......read more
If you've been a SHFT reader for any length of time, you know by now that we have a minor obsession with aerial photography, samples of which have been featured on this site many times. The aerial perspective offers a whole new way of seeing the earth, one that illuminates features of both natural and manmade environments in a way that's not possible from the ground. That's why we always choose......read more
Aerial work featuring this legendary break in Newport Beach, CA. "We have always been fascinated by this freak of Nature and wanted to capture from new angles and lightning. Total respect for surfers, bodysurfers and bodyboarders that risk it on every swell to experience the rush of this emblematic wave." (Air Reel Productions)...read more
This is a collection of aerial footage which my dad shot in the late 1980's which I recently had re-scanned at 2K resolution. I then edited and color corrected this little piece just for fun. Shot largely on Arri IIC with Eastman Kodak 5247 ...read more