Sense of home

Coming to this late: Yann Arthus-Bertrand's epic project 'Home' is available to watch on YouTube until the end of the day (haven't read up on the whys and wherefores of this yet; just get streaming). Here's the trailer:



I love how that man views the world. I remember seeing 'Earth from the Air' outside the Natural History museum in London a few years back. I wandered along this incredible open-air corridor of phenomenal shots, gaping at the colours and patterns and shapes of the world. There was an interview with Arthus-Bertrand, where he talked about the guilt of filming catastrophes (flooded town, child stranded on roof, sees approaching helicopter and expects to be rescued rather than photographed). He also spoke of the difficulty in getting perspective in massive landscapes, and revealed his neat solution: keep a red windbreaker in the helicopter. If you need to, you can make your assistant wear it, drop them off on the cracking-apart ice sheets, and take a great aerial shot. All you have to do is find the little red man, and you get a sense of the landscape's breadth.

Sure enough. I went back through the exhibition, looking for the little red man, and there he was... arctic wastelands, jungles, deserts. I often wondered what it must feel like, watching the helicopter take off, trace widening circles around him, if he ever doubted that they would return...

Anyhoo, the weekend was fantastic! And more on that in due course. For now, stream away...