While studying architecture at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, Alex MacLean took a course on community planning that would ultimately change the course of his destiny. As part of the program, he became exposed to aerial photography and a few years after he graduated, he obtained his commercial pilot license. Shooting through an airplane window, MacLean found mesmerizing patterns, bringing to light order and chaos in ways we could only imagine.
More than anything, MacLean’s photos record change that’s not just brought on by nature but, more interestingly, by human intervention. Houses, airplanes and people appear miniature in size and parking lots feel cold and empty or uncomfortably cramped.
Besides being a photographer and pilot, MacLean is the co-author of several books including Over: The American Landscape At The Tipping Point, a visually stunning catalog of the extraordinary patterns and profound physical consequences brought about by humans and nature.