Designs on the Land: Exploring America from the Air

by Alex S. MacLean

"Mesmerizing....Look long enough and the obsession of photographer-pilot MacLean begins to resemble genius."― Los Angeles Times The tradition of aerial photography arose from a keen nineteenth-century desire to see "the world in motion." Starting with Nadar's photographic balloon trips, airborne experimentation with landscapes and cityscapes continued through great photographers from Steichen to Burkhardt.

With Alex MacLean, we enter a different world. For thirty years, this committed photographer has portrayed the history and evolution of the American land, from great desert spaces to agricultural patterns to city grids. A trained architect who is closely involved in landscape heritage protection issues, MacLean has set out to create a series of pictures that show and explain the universal history of town and countryside. What he has to say may be invigorating or alarming, but it always raises the issue of the landscape's future.

This new collection of exemplary photographs taken across the American landscape reflects MacLean's passionate interest in the effects of time, geological movements, shifting landscapes, redeployment, pollution, urban sprawl, and the overlapping of surfaces and activities. More than 400 color photographs reveal in a unique way the physical splendor of both the beauty of the ongoing inhabiting of the land and the potential for modern planning to create spectacular environments. 400+ full-color photographs

Genres: Art, Photography, Coffee Table Books

368 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2003

About the author

Pilot and photographer Alex MacLean has flown his plane over much of the United States documenting the landscape. Trained as an architect, he has portrayed the history and evolution of the land from vast agricultural patterns to city grids, recording changes brought about by human intervention and natural processes. His powerful and descriptive images provide clues to understanding the relationship between the natural and constructed environments. MacLean’s photographs have been exhibited widely in the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia and are found in private, public and university collections. He has won numerous awards, including the 2009 CORINE International Book Award, the American Academy of Rome’s Prix de Rome in Landscape Architecture for 2003-2004, and grants from foundations such as the National Endowment for the Arts and the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting in 2014. MacLean is the author of eleven books including, Up on the Roof: New York's Hidden Skyline Spaces (2012), Las Vegas | Venice (2010), Chroniques Aeriennes: L'art d'Alex MacLean (2010), Alex MacLean: Given a Free Hand (2010), OVER: The American Landscape at the Tipping Point (2008), Visualizing Density (2007), The Playbook (2006), Designs on the Land: Exploring America from the Air (2003), Taking Measures Across the American Landscape (1996), Look at the Land; Aerial Reflections of America (1993) and Above and Beyond; Visualizing Change in Small Towns and Rural Areas (2002). MacLean maintains a studio and lives in Lincoln, Massachusetts.

Reviews

[Peter Tillman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a pretty good book of aerial photos by the author, with some weaknesses. First, the photo reproduction is good (for that time), but the photos are undated. Second, the text is pretty vacuous and academic. Third, there's an annoying (to me) air of academic "social consciousness" and political correctness in the photo selections.

Still, MacLeean is a fine photographer, and he has some really excellent photos here. Along with some dumb, dull ones. I love the aerial perspective. 3.5 stars, and I'm wobbling between rounding up or down. OK, pretentious, dumb book design. 3 stars it is.

[Clare · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not surprised no one has reviewed this book, because it doesn't appear like there is much worthwhile reading in a book of photographs, but the interviews with Alex MacLean about his technique and how he landed in this line of work are actually pretty interesting. Very striking images of human impacts on the American landscape, with simple accompanying text that provokes a "well, duh" response from most who are drawn to his work and are already familiar with the issues he describes. I had seen some of these photographs in an exhibit at the Harvard Natural History Museum, so it was great to read the whole book and find out more about the individual photographs from their captions which were not part of the exhibit. Makes a good coffee table book.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

prequel to Over