Photographs from any aerial platform are welcome

February 9, 2018 1:12 PM

The winners of the 2017 SkyPixel Photo Contest have been announced.
posted by Johnny Wallflower (2 comments total)

I couldn't figure out what this one was until I clicked on one of the companion photos; it's like Uber for bikes!
posted by peeedro at 4:25 PM on February 9, 2018 [1 favorite]

I can't help but think about Robert Capa's line, "if your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough." That 737 in the forest? Just one photo in a photo story. The overhead shot is a useful establishing shot, but all the other photos are better, because they tell us about a person and why he chose to live there. What problems does he have to solve, living in a plane in the woods. What's beautiful about it? Show me those. Take me there. Or that guy hanging the noodles. Show me where he works, who else is there, his tools, his hands, the relationship he has with his customers.

There is a coldness to so many of these. Symmetry, geometry, colour and straight lines. But no intimacy. Can't get too close from 200 feet off the deck.

I don't want to be too crusty here, I enjoy the perspective. It's novel. It creates new opportunities for landscapes, both natural and man-made. But I want to be closer.
posted by thenormshow at 6:41 PM on February 9, 2018