“Happy End is a photo-project about miracles in aviation history – 15 airplanes that had forced landings but ALL on board survived and were rescued from remote locations. The planes have been abandoned in the middle of nowhere for 10 years and up to 70 years. It’s part of my long term project ‘restwert’ (german for residual value) to document abandoned objects with fascinating backgrounds like cold war relicts, olympic sites, flooded churches, railroad tracks, never finished nuclear reactors, overgrown adventure parks etc.
It started with my interest in the visual disruption of nostalgic technology in endless landscapes – but soon i got hooked on these planes/stories and spent over two years researching and documenting them. Aviation miracles are rare and the planes remaining out there are very remote – but the challenge was motivating and it was like a pilgrimage to get to these ‘wonders’ on 4 continents from Papua New Guinea to the Arctic Circle.
My photography is not about documenting the planes condition & details but how they are embedded in nature after so many years. I try to capture the surreal beauty of these settings using high viewpoints or shooting through layers. Inspired by the shipwreck painters of the romantic period i look for dramatic skies, late light or fall colors to ‘glorify’ these wonderful planes. “
Dietmar Eckell
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/happy-end-a-photobook-about-miracles-in-aviation
