The book LA NY: Aerial Photographs of Los Angeles and New York is a dazzling visual tale of two cities, Los Angeles and New York, photographed from the air, shooting straight down to emphasize the particular patterns of place and how the urban grid adapts to local topography – and, indeed, how the topography is itself adapted to human purposes. These two most distinct and distinguished cities are revealed in astonishing detail, as photographer Jeffrey Milstein explores residential and commercial neighborhoods, parks and recreation sites, as well as industrial districts and the infrastructure of transportation. Iconic buildings and landmarks appear, but also the compelling geometries of suburban housing developments, apartment complexes, commercial hubs, entertainment and financial centers, as well as airports and shipping terminals.
Using the highest-resolution cameras available mounted to a stabilizing gyro, Milstein leans out of helicopters and does steep circles in small airplanes over Los Angeles where he grew up and over New York where he now lives, looking for shapes and patterns of culture from above, continually awed by the difference between the aerial view and the view on the ground. He emphasizes the abstraction of pattern and reveals aspects of urban design and planning of both cities at the same time as he offers an intensification of detail and an abundance of information. However high up the vantage point, he composes his images so that the viewer is still vividly aware of the human scale. In an intriguing proposition of compare and contrast from a bird’s eye point of view that combines architecture, science, and art, Jeffrey Milstein brings a fascinating new vision of aerial photographs with this dual portrait of Los Angeles and New York. In the foreword to the book, American Photographer Jay Maisel notes: “I love these works not so much for the technical virtuosity but for the resultant revelation of content. It is this aspect of Jeff Milstein’s work that leaves me breathless at the scope of his ambition and execution. This is his love affair with what is. There is no editorializing, no manipulation of reality. This is a concept based on joy and sensitivity to what he beholds.”
Jeffrey Milstein, LA NY: Aerial Photographs of Los Angeles And New York
Published by Thames & Hudson
$29.95
