By Sophie-Claire Hoeller
Few industries have taken as much of a hit this year as the airline industry.
While the number of air travelers has increased slightly since the start of the pandemic, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) recorded a 96% decrease in people passing through their checkpoints in April.
Tom Hegen, a German photographer, managed to find the beauty in this, using helicopters to take stunning aerial shots of the many planes that are currently grounded at airports in Germany.
His book, aptly titled “Airports,” was published in November. Keep scrolling to see his work.
Tom Hegen started taking photos of the many planes grounded at airports across Germany in April and May 2020.
The German photographer told Insider he loves aerial photography “because it basically makes the dimensions of human force on Earth visible.”
Hegel said he’s fascinated by “the abstraction that comes with the change of perspective, of seeing something familiar from a new vantage point.”
He’s interested in the concept of the Anthropocene, which describes the current era in which humans have had the biggest effect on climate and the environment.
“I explore the origin and scale of that idea in an effort to understand the dimensions of man’s intervention in natural spaces, and to direct attention toward how humans can take responsibility,” he said.
Hegen was fascinated by how airports became parking lots for grounded planes, and how planes, once a symbol of globalization, suddenly became a symbol of the pandemic.
He took pictures at six of the largest airports in Germany.
“I thought that this would be a very symbolic image for the year 2020,” he said of capturing grounded planes.
Once he started shooting, however, he also saw the beauty in the symmetry of airports and the grounded planes. The clean lines and geometric patterns are gorgeously minimal.
“I studied graphic design and applied general design principles to my work: clean compositions with geometric shapes, patterns, and lines,” he said.
He shot all of his images hanging from the open door of a helicopter, which was the only thing allowed to enter the sensitive airspace around airports.
Each shoot took about an hour, and took a lot of preparation and obtaining various permissions, Hegen said.
“I had to be in very close contact with the pilot as only he can navigate me into the exact position to take the perfect shot,” he said. “Preparation is everything for this kind of maneuver.”
The photographer said that aviation is one of the key factors in globalization. While it means that goods and people can be transported across continents faster, so can disease.
“This series plays with the side effects of globalization and shows the impact that a global disease can have on our life,” he said.
He hopes that society will learn from this crisis, and be better.
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