Have you ever looked up at the sky and admired a flock of birds flying back and forth with no apparent reason? Have you ever wondered if birds have some sort of air traffic control towers to guide them through their many complicated flight patterns? Probably they don’t, right? Then how come they always find their way in the sky and know where they go and where they come from? Of course, there are science people who have analyzed their flight patterns and know where they travel to and when, but how about an artist? What if an artist decided to observe birds’ flying habits and make a flying photography map out of them?
Catalan photographer Xavi Bou did just that! He figured out a particular way of photographing birds and their flight behaviours. “One day I asked myself what kind of trail the birds would leave in the sky if that were possible. It was then that I imagined the lines they would create and so I began to investigate how to make them visible”. This is how the “Ornitographies” series came to be. The art of photography and thorough motion study of the migratory birds’ flight patterns gave birth to something truly amazing.
From the “innocent and restless gaze of the child, who once was Xavi Bou to the adult photographer’s admiration for nature, especially birds”, rose something of great beauty. In the artist’s own words, “Ornitographies is a balance between art and science; a nature-based dissemination project and a visual poetry exercise but above all, an invitation to perceive the world with the same curious and innocent look of the child we once were”. As you can see, Xavi Bou is not just good with the camera, he’s also skilled with words and now it’s time to check out some of his amazing creations.
1. Yes, these are birds’ flight patterns and they are truly amazing
2. You’re walking down a road like this and have no idea what roads are up there!
3. Is this God’s painting or just modern photography?
4. Do birds run in circles or is it just us?
5. This could have been a nice haircut, but it’s just birds having fun
6. Were they running in circles or…? Nature has its strange ways
7. This could have been a beautiful tapestry, but it’s more than that!
8. This could have been a beautiful work of art
9. Abstract painting? No, birds flying!
10. Birds do find their way and we do find this beautiful, don’t we?
11. Somewhere in this beautiful world!
12. Flying over the horizon in their mad flight
13. The flight of grace over the endless ocean
14. “Ornitographies” in the sky by Xavi Bou
Via Flavorwire