There's just something about the aerial view that offers a refreshing sense of perspective on the world, in senses both literal and figurative. Seen from the vantage point of 30,000 feet up, places turbulent and placid alike take on new shades.
German photographer Stephan Zirwes has earned a reputation for himself by hanging out of helicopters and snapping just this kind of aerial shot. In his Cities From the Sky photo set—and a new high-resolution drone video called Moving Stills—the German lensman sends a drone into the air to catalogue manmade and natural areas for recreation, from pools and golf courses to beaches in places as far-reaching as Las Vegas and Cape Town.
Now on view at the Opiom Gallery in a small town called Opio outside Cannes, France—of film festival fame—Moving Stills renders the world tiny and the people in it mere specks. Take a look below.