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World From Above

World 

Most of these shots were taken from a cruising altitude of 30,000 to 39,000 feet in a commercial jet, through thick plexiglas and small windows, while overflying Africa. Whether the vector is a Boeing 747, an Airbus 380 or 340, or an Advance Iota 2 paraglider, when airborne, one – as Saint-Exupéry said it so well – only sees well with the heart. It’s not about the canned, re-heated food. It’s not about bad movies on small screens. It’s not about frustrating entertainment remotes, nor a seat’s pitch or the lack thereof. It shouldn’t be about security checkpoints and radiation. It cannot be about weather delays and impatient queues. It's not about ego, or pride, or skill. Flying, whatever the machine, the altitude and the speed, is about poetry. It’s about the beauty all around, and the power within. It’s about dreams come reality, and ambition well used. It’s about defying gravity by borrowing a bird’s gracefulness and Da Vinci’s cunning vision. It’s about looking at the world we live in from a privileged perspective, and smiling, and loving it. It’s about being able to take a moment to clear one’s mind while moving just below the speed of sound, or think as fast as the neurons will fire while controlling a frontal collapse right after take off with the hill swinging back at you. More thoughts about flying and the view of the world <a href= "https://www.vincentmounier.com/blog2/aerial-thoughts-lost-in-view/" title="Lost in the view">here</a>.

Gallery Info...

Info:

World From Above

Most of these shots were taken from a cruising altitude of 30,000 to 39,000 feet in a commercial jet, through thick plexiglas and small windows, while overflying Africa.

Whether the vector is a Boeing 747, an Airbus 380 or 340, or an Advance Iota 2 paraglider, when airborne, one – as Saint-Exupéry said it so well – only sees well with the heart. It’s not about the canned, re-heated food. It’s not about bad movies on small screens. It’s not about frustrating entertainment remotes, nor a seat’s pitch or the lack thereof. It shouldn’t be about security checkpoints and radiation. It cannot be about weather delays and impatient queues. It’s not about ego, or pride, or skill.

Flying, whatever the machine, the altitude and the speed, is about poetry. It’s about the beauty all around, and the power within. It’s about dreams come reality, and ambition well used. It’s about defying gravity by borrowing a bird’s gracefulness and Da Vinci’s cunning vision. It’s about looking at the world we live in from a privileged perspective, and smiling, and loving it. It’s about being able to take a moment to clear one’s mind while moving just below the speed of sound, or think as fast as the neurons will fire while controlling a frontal collapse right after take off with the hill swinging back at you.

More thoughts about flying and the view of the world here.

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© 2005-2023 Vincent Mounier - All Rights Reserved

Lower Manhattan
Lucky LGA approach over Manhattan, our old Harlem apartment is almost exactly in the center of the shot
Portugal coastline just outside Lisbon
Lisbon suburbs
Lisbon suburbs
Lisbon aqueduct
Downtown Lisbon
Downtown Lisbon
Downtown Lisbon
Portuguese coastline south of Lisbon
Flying above Bagnères-de-Luchon, French Pyrénées, on my old Swing Arcus 2002
S-pattern approach flying the old Swing Arcus, Spain
Approach into Jo'burg
Magical Sahara Desert
Johannesburg townships
Near Cape Town on an ultralight
Near Cape Town on an ultralight
Over the Western Cape on a ULM, South Africa
Approach into Jo'burg
The Bronx, NYC
NYC's Central Park and Times Square
Approach over False Bay into Cape Town
Near Toronto Airport
Montreal Olympic Stadium, toy-style
Over Brooklyn, Manhattan in the background
Approach into La Guardia, Manhattan in the background
Approach into La Guardia, Manhattan in the background
Approach into La Guardia, Manhattan in the background
Manhattan's Midtown
Williamsburg Bridge, NYC
Long Island Sound, NY
Long Island Sound, NY
Power plant on the Hudson, NY
Montreal bridges
University of Montreal (UdeM)
Mont Royal, Montreal
Manhattan, Roosevelt Island, Queens
Catskills, NY
Jacques Cartier Bridge, Montreal - La Ronde amusement park is lower left
Montreal's Olympic Stadium
French village in the Parisian area
French countryside
French countryside
French countryside
Mouth of the River Canche, a bit to the east of the Normandie beaches, France
Boulogne-sur-Mer, Pas-de-Calais, France
The English Channel, with England on the left and France on the right
Dungeness National Nature Reserve, UK
Dover, UK
British countryside
The clouds start just before we reach London
Connecticut River Mouth
Long Island Sound
Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, 4 runways, 12.5 square miles
A bad picture of Paris - The Eiffel Tower and Bois de Boulogne behind it are clearly visible
Melun on the river Seine, south of Paris
French countryside
French countryside
French countryside

Welcome To Vincent Mounier Photography!

Catalogued in here is the harvest of almost twenty years of digital photography.

A good starting point if you don’t know where to go first is the main gallery list.

Enjoy, and don’t forget to pay the blog a visit for the latest content!

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