Birdseye Visionaire
How a paraglider, a camera, and a blooming field of lavender will change the way you see the world.
THE WORLD AS WE NEVER SEE IT
Ecology. Our collective discourse on the subject ranges from hipster t-shirts to scare tactics by various nonprofit apocalypticists. But rarely are we faced with a gripping eye-opener that uses the beautiful rather than the frightening and ugly to challenge how we think about the future of the planet.
Bulgarian photographer Alexander “Sasho” Ivanov does just that in his stunning 360° BULGARIA exhibition, a collection of breathtaking aerial photographs taken from a paraglider over the course of 8 years.
The project aims to awaken our emotional connection to the environment and remind us what exactly we’re losing as we’re squandering our planet.
The 58-year-old photographer’s inspiration is movingly honest and raw:
I was born here. I grew up here, together with the grasses, the stones, the trees, the rivers and the winds. They taught me who I am, they showed me how to see, hear and feel,
but most importantly – what it means to love and be free. This nature is a part of me, a part of my memory of myself.
We find the collection powerfully humbling. The birdseye take reminds us of our own smallness, of what a tiny fraction of the grand natural equation humans are and how full of marvel the world beyond us is — a world we’re slowly losing as we continue to stomp our little feet on every fiber of it.
The message is loud and beautifully clear: it’s time to rise above our petty sense of entitlement and look — really look — at the big picture. Because, unless we do, its magnificent vibrant color will continue to fade into the man-inflicted grayness.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
- Small World, Big Bite The big picture painted through smallness and sprinkles. Here’s a paradox: Thanksgiving is supposed to be about gratitude for what we have, a kind of humbling appreciation of our blessings, but somehow me manage to turn it into a celebration of gluttony. Photographer Matthew Carden’s Small World collection offers a...
- Globe-Trotting Goodness The big picture gets bigger, P2P filesharing gets legal, why the Japanese are better smilers than us, what Kentucky and Lithuania have in common, and how to replace the White House with a potato....
- Artist Spotlight: Chris Jordan What Van Gogh has to do with Big Tobacco and how piles of folded laundry put the prison system in perspective. The best of art is about something bigger than aestheticism, something that reflects on culture and makes a social statement that moves people. The work of artist Chris Jordan...
- Running The Numbers: Oceanographic Visualization What 20,500 tuna have to do with your old toothbrush, or how a plastic comb ended up on top of Mt. Fuji – Chris Jordan takes on the decline of marine ecosystems....
- Photography Spotlight: Blue Planet Run World-changing photography, or why the oil crisis is the least of our liquid worries. The best of photography goes beyond visual fascination and stunning imagery, and serves as a moving call to action. That’s exactly what photographers Rick Smolan and Jennifer Erwitt do in Blue Planet Run, their latest project...
Birdseye Visionaire – Can Photography Save Earth?…
A phenomenal photography project shot from a paraglider over course of 8 years. Stunning and moving, completely challenging the way we look at and think about the planet….
[...] 100 countries on 6 continents. (You may recall our fascination with aerial photography from the Birdseye Visionaire special issue a while [...]