When Peter Essick was commissioned to photograph the 65-acre Fernbank Forest in Atlanta, he decided he needed a photo of the forest in relation to the city’s skyline. So, he learned to fly a drone. On his commute home from Fernbank, he noticed a lot of construction. “It didn’t look visually interesting from the ground, but I decided to see how it would look from a drone,” he says. “I discovered I like the design and forms that were revealed by the low angle aerial perspective.” His interest led to his series and book, “Work in Progress” (Fall Line Press), documenting the abstract beauty of Atlanta-area construction sites.
Since his focus was on the soils and the processes and not the construction crew, he made an effort to not include work activity in the shot. Essick used a DJI Inspire 2 drone, which has an integrated camera with a high-quality sensor and allows for interchangeable lenses, he explains. “I found I needed a normal or slight telephoto to shoot straight down to not distort the architecture of the new framing,” he says. “Most of the less expensive drones have a fixed wide-angle lens, which made it necessary to use the high-quality Inspired 2 drone.”
In general, the sites usually have some combination of soil, steel, concrete, and wood, he adds. “It was always fun for me to try to make my best compositions with these elements.”
Amanda Arnold is a senior editor.
