AMAZING ADVENTURES FROM ABOVE: ZACK SECKLER
ZACK SECKLER
Photographer Zack Seckler does extraordinary things with his aerial perspectives. Hovering 500’ above the ground in a lightweight airplane, he is high enough to produce fascinating abstractions, yet low enough to get identifying details of the landscapes and life below.
Seckler’s adventures in Iceland and Botswana show off the beauty in these countries in fresh new ways.
The award-winning photographer, who became known for elaborately produced composite photos and quirky animal portraits of animals, began to take to the air a few years ago to capture landscapes from above, bringing his own distinct aesthetic to each image he creates.
Seckler’s aerial series has taken him across thousands of miles, with each image shot from the passenger seat of a two-seater sport plane. Animal tracks and shadows become fascinating compositional elements as herds of flamingos, gemsbok, and and zebra form patterns as they move across the landscapes. He is drawn to the line between reality on the ground and abstraction from the air.
Botswana becomes a wild set of impressions, with animals, vegetation, and salt ponds that form heady patterns.
Flying in a handmade ultra-light aircraft, at low elevations, Seckler can precisely maneuver, enabling him to act as if he were a giant paintbrush, creating “brushstrokes” as he passes over the landscapes.
Seckler can fly down to just a few feet off the ground and then soar to 1,000 feet, getting the best of both context and detail. Seckler deliberately avoids showing the horizon in his photographs, altering perspective even further.
Weather often dictates the locations for Seckler. But sometimes, he risks flying out as storms and even hurricanes threaten.
Seckler chose to head away from Iceland’s famed volcanoes and sheer-walled glaciers, instead gaining an overhead perspective of the ice-blue meltwaters as they swirl into the sea, with seals, sea lions, and seabirds dotting his frames.
Secklers study of Botswana is shown in new views, with his trademark balance between the reality and the abstract.
Read more about Amazing Adventures all this week on BeautifulNow, And check out more beautiful things happening now in BN Wellness, Impact, Nature/Science, Food, Arts/Design, and Travel, Daily Fix posts.
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