Customer Reviews

To Fly: Contemporary Aerial Photography

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An earlier reviewer of this book made an interesting point... that it, the book, is very 80s- or 90s...!! The problem is, this book was published in 2007, and as such, with its 1980s feel, does NOT qualify for "contemporary".

The author, University of Boston professor Kim Sichel, has created an historical review of aerial photography, focusing her efforts on people who, in her eyes, have tried to produce artistic imagery. Here again, Prof. Sichel, and the hundred or so "thanked" individuals who assisted in the exhibit, failed to select interesting imagery. By selecting images which are artistic ONLY to the overly involved artists neck deep in the artistic community, where esoteric imagery ranks higher than image quality or broad viewer appeal to a larger group of viewers, Sichel has selected images which are, for lack of a less esoteric word, shite.

Of the 50 images in the book, well over half of them are pre 1999, and most of those are of such uninteresting subjects, poorly composed, exposed, or reproduced, as to be unwanted on a dentists office waiting room wall. There are however, evidently to prove the book is about contemporary artists, 6 images which were shot from very low levels using perspective control lenses. They are in such stark contrast to the rest of the book as to make the reader shake their head wondering WHY they were included. With virtually NO inclusion of commercial images made during the past five years (there are non at all in fact), the book completely fails to show what good contemporary photography is currently going on around the world. Add to that the three images provided by NASA, and your head begins to hurt as you contemplate what it is you are trying to understand.

In her one attempt to bring commercial photography into the book, Sichel discusses George Gerster, with a Phd in literature, a photographer for National Geographic for the past four decades (and thus creates EDITORIAL images, not commercial). Historically interesting, but of little visual value when none of his work is included in the book, regardless of which decade from the past it was from.

As someone who first pointed a 35mm Minolta Srt101 camera out the window of a Cessna 172 in 1978, and who has been involved with aviation and photography ever since, I cannot describe how truly disappointed in this book I am. There is such a wealth of truly amazing artistic aerial imagery available to anyone doing even a LITTLE research into this subject, that were Ms. Sichel to submit this text for credit in a college level course, she should be failed, and then taught how to use the internet.

Look elsewhere,
Matt Lang

My main focus now is RC aerial photography. This book shows excellent examples of ordinary aerial photography. As such, it's beautiful and inspiring, and well worth the price. However, one can view just as many beautiful works on the web, therefore the book is slightly dated. Shall I say- very 80-90s.