Aerial Shots

When travelling by aeroplane we experience an unnatural and very privileged experience of relative scale. In addition to becoming a kind of time traveller. I always get a stiff neck on a flight and you can see why from these photos. At first we are high above the clouds somewhere over continental Europe. Then as we descend you can see London with it's iconic winding River Thames from about 10,000 feet. (The Flight path into Heathrow Airport follows the river and on a clear day you get a model village tour (if you sit on the right hand side of the plane).

Descent

As we descend over farmland, we can see what a strange but essential human condition it is to carve up the land in the pursuit of growing food. Would it look the same on many other planets? It's a giveaway sign to any visitors exactly where we're up to and I personally love the organic stitch patterns it creates. But I also think about how unnatural it is compared to forest, which it mostly was or hilltops which look like the garden, but in miniature. Come with me as we close in on the land and marvel at the ingenuity of human survival in the 21st Century. I think in another 100 years it will all be in controlled environments where pests, humidity, temperature and even carbon dioxide levels can be carefully monitored and controlled.

• High above the billowing clouds at about 30,000 feet 1/500th @ f11 ISO 100

• The iconic snaking River Thames in this shot with Docklands and Canary Wharf, the financial capital of Europe, right there in your hand. 1/500th @ f11 ISO 250

• As we follow the river, Farmland makes up a multi-coloured patchwork of arable crops with small market towns and villages dotted here and there as it's been for hundreds of years. 1/250th @ f8 ISO 100

• In amongst the fields, pockets of what it used to look like before agriculture. Dark green trees of the forest, although this doesn't look natural anymore, rather more managed bits of private woodland. no EXIF data available

• Neat fields of ripened wheat and hedgerows are now visible in addition to roads and farmhouses. Also what looks like rather a tidy country pile surrounded by it's own piece of forest. No doubt home to the Lord of the Manor, or a well of politician. no EXIF data available

• Freshly harvested and ploughed in, new sprouting crops in this seasonal world of arable farming appear, running 24/7 all year round and waiting for no man. Make hay while the sun shines, lest it rot. 1/200th @ f10 ISO 400

• What looked like neat packages at 6,000 feet now appear to be higgledly piggledy wavy boundary lines dividing each farmers field with a richly planted hedgerow. An important ecosystem which the local wildlife has relied on for hundreds of years since the clearing of the forest and which is now in danger of disappearing entirely as it fails to be replaced when it withers on it's natural cycle. We'll be landing in approximately one minute so best sit back and brace brace brace. 1/200th @ f10 ISO 400

Technical

If you can, pick your seat get on the opposite side of where the sun is ! of course pick a window seat. On longer flights there's often a good view from the door. One of my most memorable views was from a door window. Looking across the Bay of Benghal, I could see the foothills leading up to the Himalayas as If I was looking at a map. Stunning. It's often difficult to get a good angle and sitting in front of the wing can help. Some of the best aerial shots can be taken on landing when the plane banks (if it's on your side you can see straight down). If you're (un)fortunate enough to get stuck in a stack, you might circle in a banking position for ages and then you get prime views. I've seen some wonderful things from the window seat which I haven't managed to photograph. Returning from Spain and crossing the Channel onto the UK mainland, I saw the RAF Red Arrows display team in formation practising their precision flight moves at a 1000' feet. Looking down on them they looked like toys as they turned their smoke jets on. It was one of those moments when you realised how privileged you were to be able to experience such a sight.. and I knew I was nearly home !