A Dizzying Tour of London

Aerial photographer Jason Hawkes has seen London from just about every angle. For the last 20 years, he’s been photographing Great Britain’s capital from an AS355 twin-engine helicopter, capturing the cityscape from as low as 450 feet to as high as 3,000 feet. The door of the aircraft has been removed so that when Hawkes shoots, he and his photography equipment can be tethered directly to the helicopter, allowing him the necessary flexibility to take unique shots of the always-changing metropolis. “It’s been a strange year for London and the U.K. with Brexit,” Hawkes said. “Things have calmed down a bit, but as a country, we are stepping into the unknown.” The messy national politics on the ground, however, haven’t yet reached the beauty or bustle of London from the sky. Here he has shared with The Atlantic a selection of his images from 2016.

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