The View from Above

Posted on 18. Feb, 2009 by Kerry Banks in People

While surfing the Net the other day I ran across some amazing photographs by Yann Arthus-Bertrand, a Frenchman who travels the globe shooting the earth from helicopters, airplanes and hot-air balloons. The stunning burnt-orange image shown here depicts Algerian sand dunes after a rain. Of course, you may already be familiar with Arthus-Bertrand since he is a frequent contributor to National Georgraphic magazine, has published more than 60 books and is a recipient of France’s most prestigious award, the Legion D’Honneur, for his photographic work on the environment. But I admit that I had not heard of him, and so discovering his work was a revelation. I followed the links to his website www.yannarthusbertrand.org/, where I greedily devoured galleries of aerial shots taken in more than 100 countries. I suggest you do the same, but only if you have a couple of hours to spare, because you are quite likely to get swept away by the experience.

Sandbank on the coast of Whitsunday Island, Queensland, Austrialia.

Arthus-Bertrand stumbled into his artistic vocation. In 1976, at age 30, he left France and moved to Kenya with his wife Anne and two children to study lions in the Maasai Mara Reserve. At the time he was a journalist dabbling in photography, but in Kenya he began to focus more intently on his camera, snapping shots of the animals while his wife concentrated on the writing. To pay the bills, he began guiding tourists around in a hotel’s hot-air balloon, which he realized was a unique vantage point from which to capture the beauty of the natural world. The aerial perspective became his calling card.

In the 1990s, under the patronage of UNESCO, Arthus-Bertrand began creating an image bank of earth seen from above. These were to be more than just photographs; they were to be a visual record of the world’s environment for the current generation and the many more to come. In 1999, these pictures came together in the form of a book entitled The Earth from Above. It became one of the best-selling illustrated books in the world, with more than three million copies sold, and was translated into 24 languages. Although just a single-volume edition, it soon became a travelling exhibition seen by more than 120 million people in 110 cities.

Tuareg tribesman with camels in Niger’s Tenere Desert.

Arthus-Bernard’s intent with the book was simple. “With Earth from Above, I simply want people to see the earth as it is today, as faithfully as possible,” he said. “What motivates me is the impact a photograph can make within the framework of environmental preservation. The great novelty of our time is that mankind has the power to change its environment and I want my photos to testify to this fact so people can realize this.”

In 2000, the Frenchman mounted another ambitious show entitled Earth from the Air: A Photographic Portrait of Our Planet. The exhibition of 160 images took 10 years of research and fieldwork to produce, during which time Arthus-Bertrand took more than 100,000 shots and clocked up more than 3,000 flying hours, travelling across 76 countries.

Flamingos on Kenya’s Lake Nakuru.

Today, in addition to photography, Arthus-Bertrand is involved in non-profit projects for different organizations. In 2005, he created GoodPlanet.org, a non-profit organization that is dedicated to the promotion of sustainable development, a common theme throughout all his different ventures. Well aware of the impact his own photographic activities have in generating greenhouse gases, he has decided to finance projects that promote renewable energies, are more energy efficient and encourage reforestation. Arthus-Bertrand is also the chairman of GoodPlanet, a non-profit organization in France that has decided in partnership with ADEME (French environment and energy management agency) to combat climate change.

Alberta’s oil sands.

In the meantime, if you happen to be in New York this spring you can catch a new travelling exhibition of Arthus-Bertrand’s remarkable aerial photography: Earth from Above will be on display from May 1 to June 28, 2009, at the World Financial Center Plaza. In 2010, San Francisco and Los Angeles will host the exhibit of 150 large-format images, which has previously been seen in more than 120 cities around the world.

Discharge from a gold mine in Mindanao, Philippines.

As always, his goal with this latest exhibit is to get people to change their lives, leaving smaller footprints and a more sustainable future. As Arthus-Bertrand noted in a recent interview: “We want everything faster. We cut the trees faster than the trees grow. We take the fish faster than they can reproduce. We send CO2 into the sky faster than the CO2 can be absorbed. If we don’t change, nature is going to force us to change.”

Photo Credits:

#1,2,3,4,5,6: Yann Arthus-Bertrand

Tags: Travel Photography, Yann Arthus-Bertrand