"Mesmerizing....Look long enough and the obsession of photographer-pilot MacLean begins to resemble genius."―Los Angeles Times The tradition of aerial photography arose from a keen nineteenth-century desire to see "the world in motion." Starting with Nadar's photographic balloon trips, airborne experimentation with landscapes and cityscapes continued through great photographers from Steichen to Burkhardt. With Alex MacLean, we enter a different world. For thirty years, this committed photographer has portrayed the history and evolution of the American land, from great desert spaces to agricultural patterns to city grids. A trained architect who is closely involved in landscape heritage protection issues, MacLean has set out to create a series of pictures that show and explain the universal history of town and countryside. What he has to say may be invigorating or alarming, but it always raises the issue of the landscape's future. This new collection of exemplary photographs taken across the American landscape reflects MacLean's passionate interest in the effects of time, geological movements, shifting landscapes, redeployment, pollution, urban sprawl, and the overlapping of surfaces and activities. More than 400 color photographs reveal in a unique way the physical splendor of America: both the beauty of the ongoing inhabiting of the land and the potential for modern planning to create spectacular environments. 400+ full-color photographs

Designs on the Land: Exploring America from the Air

Arts & Photography

MacLean, Alex S.

BESSE, Jean-Marc

Corner, James

Tiberghien, Gilles A.

MacLean, Alex

Individual Artists

Thames&Hudson

For more than 30 years, Alex MacLean’s aerial photographs have captured the evolution of the American landscape and the complex relationship between its natural and constructed environments that contribute to climate change. Over: The American Landscape at the Tipping Point is an ambitious and visually breathtaking catalogue of the extraordinary patterns and profound physical consequences brought about by natural processes and human intervention. The book allows readers to visualize climate change and our culture's excessive use of resources and energy, which account for our oversized carbon footprint. It demonstrates the extent to which the human ecosystem, and our economic and social well being, are dependant upon our wise use of land and its resources. Over is divided into sections covering such as Atmosphere; Way of Life; Automobile Dependency; Electricity Generation; Deserts; Water Use; Sea-Level Rise; Waste and Recycling; and Urbanism. MacLean’s powerful photographs and insightful text make it clear that maintenance of the current American lifestyle is incompatible with a planet of diminishing natural resources and a finite atmosphere. Over compels us all to reconsider our basic assumptions about how we live, work, and play, and reveals that, while the challenges we face today are not insurmountable, the future depends on our collective vision, passion, and commitment.

Over: The American Landscape at the Tipping Point

Abrams

Pilot and photographer Alex MacLean has flown his plane over large areas of the United States, documenting the landscape from beautiful agricultural patterns to geometric city grids. In his new book, he directs his lens at the rooftops of New York City, showing the great complexity and life of the roofs of New York's buildings. Depicting not only the city's famous water towers, but pools, tennis courts, gardens, sunbathers, art, and restaurants up in the air, MacLean's powerful images give readers a glimpse of a part of the city that usually remains hidden. His photographs leave little doubt about New York City's "green" potential and the belief that improved outdoor spaces above lead to more livable cities below. Maps and captions help the reader to easily locate the photographs, and an essay by Robert Campbell puts MacLean's work into context. Whether you are new to the city native born, this fascinating look at hidden New York will be a revelation.

Up on the Roof: New York's Hidden Skyline Spaces

Photography & Video

Princeton Architectural Press

Above and Beyond takes an aerial view to conclusively demonstrate how suburban sprawl is forever changing the look of America—and how that can be avoided. Alex MacLean's photographs—many of them combined with computer simulations to illustrate how landscapes are transformed over time—show how traditional development patterns produce more compact cities and towns. In conjunction, the authors introduce communities that have successfully fought sprawl, invigorated their town areas, and overcome the car-culture mentality of sprawl development. The case they make, and the examples they offer, will inspire planners, officials, and concerned citizens everywhere.

Above and Beyond: Visualizing Change in Small Towns and Rural Areas

Politics & Social Sciences

Campoli, Julie

Humstone, Elizabeth

Social Sciences

American Planning Association

The rise in sea level is a visible and remorseless indicator of global warming, the consequences of which can be experienced worldwide - in contrast to other effects of climate change that are not yet noticeable at a larger scale. The book illustrates, in an impressive way, the ecological, commercial, and social impact associated with the rise in sea levels, taking the examples of the American East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico: the author has documented this region from his Cessna between 2005 and 2018 using large-format aerial photography. The pictures illustrate the different conditions of the areas documented at different times of the year, before and after major weather events, and thereby provide evidence of how dramatically the geography and landscape are altered due to climate change.

Impact: The effect of climate change on coastlines

Birkhauser

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Books by MacLean, Alex