Jason Hawkes makes his aerial photos almost exclusively by hanging out of Eurocopter AS355 helicopters.
BY JEFF KENT • OCTOBER 2020 ISSUE
Jason Hawkes never photographs while standing on the ground. At least not professionally. For more than 20 years, he’s plied his trade from the sky, dangling out of helicopters while creating breathtaking images from perspectives few people ever experience themselves.
Based near London and known globally for his aerial photography, Hawkes has traveled from New York to Norway, Miami to Morocco, capturing scenes of people, places, and progress for a wide range of commercial and editorial clients. Along the way, he’s published about 50 books of aerial images that few people could even imagine before the days of ubiquitous satellite imagery.
Hawkes now hovers in the midst of a field facing massive upheaval. Like many commercial photographers, he’s seen his specialty altered nearly beyond recognition by an influx of inexpensive stock photography and the changing buying habits of ad agencies. Yet the need for aerial photography persists, and higher-altitude professional imagery like Hawkes’ is as-of-yet unaffected by drone photography. So where does that leave an aerial specialist like Hawkes who’s working at the top of his game, both literally and figuratively?
