Publications: PC Photo 2007

High Art

Aerial Photographer Alex MacLean's keen eye

for geometry examines America at play.

By William Sawalich

Excerpts from the article :

"Many professional photographers were originally trained for other professions...A Harvard-trained architect, aerial photographer Alex MacLean is one such story.

Several books and a thriving aerial photography business later, what MacLean is doing is bringing attention to the condition of the American landscape and hoping to affect a positve change in the urban planning that shapes it.

His newest work, The Playbook, finds MacLean turning his camera to spaces used for play..."Sports is so metaphorical," MacLean says, "just by the lexicon of all the things that go on with play that we use everyday: out in left field, three strikes and you're out, all that stuff. Those metaphors actually carry over into regular land use in conceptual ideas. They're also illustrative of environments."

Adds MacLean, "It's just such a fundamental part of the human spirit to want to play. So much of our development and learning takes place in playing."

His explorations for The Playbook had him flying along the New Jersey coast, where he was surprised to discover the amazing patterns of water parks from above. One of those images landed on the cover of the book.

Other photographs in the book go from artificial-like the water parks in Florida adjacent to the ocean-to natural areas with picknickers in parks and hang gliders on the Carolina coast.

MacLean hopes that his photographs do sometimes take a little while to figure out. He says that's part of their purpose: "The pictures are supposed to be playful in themselves."

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