Antoine Rose shoots photographs from the air. He shoots them hanging off the edge of a helicopter thousands of feet above ground — in wind, in subzero temperatures, in the dark. But sometimes the conditions are just right for a day at the beach, and Rose captures these surreal, candy-coloured images of the sand and surf below.
His first aerial beach photographs came along by pure accident. While shooting a kiteboarding competition in Rio in 2002, his helicopter flew over beaches in Ipanema and Copacabana, giving him his first glimpse of how strange and beautiful beaches looked from above. Rose has since perfected his technique, and his Up in the Air series chronicles beaches in Miami, Coney Island, and the Hamptons.
Shooting from edge of a doorless helicopter is not for the faint of heart. To get the best shots, Rose dangles out the aircraft with only a harness to keep him from going splat. After an especially rough emergency landing, he had to go to the hospital.
Logistically, shooting from the air is also tough. The weather can conspire against you. So can helicopter availability. And air traffic control. In New York once, a police helicopter followed them asking the pilot to change the flight plan.
Rose has also shot cities at night and seascapes and snow — all from the air. For more of Rose’s photography, head over to his website.
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