S treaks of red bunting zigzagging through Chinatown, tents for garden parties pitched in Buckingham Palace and secret roof gardens tucked into the tops of city skyscrapers. This is a side of London most people never see – unless they are hanging out of a helicopter. Which is what the 75-year-old daredevil artist Donn Delson does, all to bring a fresh perspective on familiar places to people on the ground.
“Art is about creating a story and evoking emotion, giving people an experience they might not otherwise have had. I want people to feel like you’re in a helicopter with no door,” he said. “I try to express a lesson I learned, that things aren’t always what they seem at first glance.
It’s good when you take a beat to look at something and give a second consideration as to what it is and what it means to you as a person.” Delson, based in Los Angeles, takes his photos by flying around for a couple of hours in a doorless helicopter until he identifies a target image. The pilot then turns the helicopter on its side, enabling Delson to suspend himself and angle his camera to capture an image taken directly overhead that needs to be “tack sharp”, despite buffeting winds.
He then blows these up into large canvases that measure about 2.5 metres by 3.5 metres.
London is one of his favourite cities to photograph thanks to its unusual urban topography – a mix of old and new architecture that has sprouted up in erratic, organic combination, and surprising bursts .
