Earth from Above: Wild Aerial Photography Series

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Lurid zig-zags of black and red cut across a green landscape at a coal mine; flocks of birds fly in formation across a pristine sky. Suburban neighborhoods form perfect circles in the countryside and tiers of a sand dunes step down from the sea to the forest. This contrast of natural and man-made patterns is what photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand saw of the world during a five-year odyssey by air over six continents.
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Earth from Above,” Bertrand’s large-scale photography series, is the result of that journey, bringing these birds-eye images of the earth to those of us who can’t embark on a similar quest. The aerial photographs capture the dazzling combination of order and chaos that is life on this planet.

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Not only has Bertrand made these images available free to the public as wallpaper downloads, he has also brought his $16m film, ‘Home’, a documentary about humanity’s impact on the planet, to American cinemas at no charge to viewers. Bertrand sees it as his “gift to the world.”

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“With Earth from above, I simply want people to see the Earth as it is today, as faithfully as possible,” Bertrand says. “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 realise this.”