By Mark McConville
A SPECTACULAR aerial tour of the USA has revealed a wizard’s broom-eye-view of Universal Studio Hollywood including Hogwart’s Castle.
The incredible photographs offer a new perspective of the resort with the colourful children’s rides, a dynamic Universal show and plane wreckage in a backlot of the studio all pictured.
Other stunning shots show New York’s famous amusement park in Coney Island, with a race track, rollercoasters and Ferris wheels clearly visible. A brightly lit Santa Monica Pier also illuminates the night in one of the pictures.
The bird’s-eye-view photographs were taken by New York-based photographer Jeffrey Milstein (72), from Los Angeles, as he flew over the various resorts in a helicopter.
“I have primarily been shooting the manmade landscape from the air for the past six years,” he said.
“As a former-architect with an interest in graphic design, I look for dramatic light and patterns and geometry that make a well balanced and pleasing classical composition, while at the same time looking for pictures that show us something about our culture.
“I have a helicopter with the door off and I have the pilot make steep turns so I can lean out and shoot straight down.
“It’s exciting and you see things you would never get to see and get to take pictures to show other people new things.”
Mr Milstein, who used a Phase One IQ3 100-megapixel camera and Sony A7r2 to take the images, explained the challenges of photographing the amusement parks from above.
“Problems include getting the pilot to keep making steep enough turns as it’s a little stressful and the wind makes my eyes tear up so sometimes I can’t see through the viewfinder,” he explained.
“Ever since I was a teenager I was fascinated by the views of the earth from above. I got my pilot’s license when I was 17, and flew around Los Angeles taking pictures of the city.
“Now many years later I have returned to the air with much more sophisticated equipment to document the amazing patterns of man-made landscape as seen from above.”
