Photographer Takes to the Air to Capture Grounded Aircraft

CNN recently featured well-known architecture photographer and Fstoppers tutorial guru, Mike Kelley, for his latest project. "Life Cycles" follows the evolution of aircrafts from creation to their destruction.

Kelley is a Los Angeles-based photographer that's made a national name for himself over the years as an architecture and real estate photographer. He has also partnered with Fstoppers several times, creating "Where Art Meets Architecture" 1, 2, and 3. Kelley has taken to the air with his latest project to create images of airplanes throughout their lifespans. "Life Cycles" was recently featured on CNN's travel section.

For this project, Kelley utilized helicopters to capture unique perspectives of the aircraft. He stated, "The thing that appealed most to me was reversing our perception of looking at airplanes.” While many of the images in the collection are from LAX, Kelley also traveled to the desert to photograph acres upon acres of aircraft boneyards. Throughout the collection you can see perfectly aligned, condemned aircraft waiting for their number to be called; called to be deconstructed.

Kelley also hints at his next project in the interview which he said could possibly have an aviation theme as well.

For more information on the project and additional images make sure to check out Kelley’s website.

Images used with permission of Mike Kelley.