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July 1, 2006 by Vurdlak | Share  

Just look at the pictures below. Now admit, what was the first thing that came to your mind? I believe that the answer was something like “no way these images are for real, they must be some sort of scaled models”. I’m sorry to inform you that you were wrong. Actualy it’s the other way arround. It’s hard to convince people that Olivo Barbieri’s aerial photographs are for real. They look uncannily like hyperdetailed models, with absent imperfections of reality. Streets are strangely clean, trees look plastic, and odd distortions of scale create the opposite effect of what we expect from aerial photography: a complete overview, like military surveillance.

Olivio began the “Site Specific project” in Rome, before moving on to Amman, Jordan; Las Vegas; Los Angeles; and Shanghai, China. He achieves the distinctive look by photographing from a helicopter using a tilt-shift lens; a method that allows to choose what he really liked in focus.


Model World by Olivo Barbieri
Model World by Olivo Barbieri
Model World by Olivo Barbieri
Model World by Olivo Barbieri
Model World by Olivo Barbieri
Model World by Olivo Barbieri
Model World by Olivo Barbieri
Model World by Olivo Barbieri
Model World by Olivo Barbieri
Model World by Olivo Barbieri
Model World by Olivo Barbieri

Comments

26 Responses
  1. Stadtkind says:

    Few months ago I’ve seen photos taken like these in a magazine. They were taken by Miklos Gaal. I found some of them on the web. I think you might like them too.

    here they are:
    http://taik.homeip.net/artists/popups/portfolio.lasso?ID=K00006

  2. nikos says:

    These photos look like models to me mainly because of the depth-of-field effect. When taking closeups of models, small objects, etc. depth-of field-is often compromised. When taking pictures from great distances depth-of-field is not usually an issue. Because we are used to seeing closeups that often have areas that are out of focus—and panoramas that are usually entirely in focus—these images contradict our experience and our brains try to make sense of the paradox.

  3. Patrick says:

    I have a happy mai-mai.

    norway

  4. tha man says:

    cool…!

  5. sanna says:

    These are really great, they’re images you can study for hours and every time you look at it you will discover something new! That’s what a good picture (or painting) is all about, for me at least… Ps: Are they for sale?

  6. Cowboy says:

    I like my dad’s socks…they smell like sheep..:)

  7. man says:

    WoW

  8. thomas says:

    Fantastic!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  9. Nina From Norway says:

    Amaizing;p

  10. BurninRubber says:

    I built a model country before which actually had tiny buildings, pylons, electric power lines, motorways, houses, trees, cars, people, etc. I made a li’l volcano and waited a minuite…. and…. BAM! Every bodies’ tiny vauxhalls were completely melted! If you don’t belive me, I’ll try and take a picture and send it to show you the piles of melted plastic and metal!

  11. Melia H says:

    This is amazing…I live in Vegas so its great to see!

  12. I Boy says:

    IT IS REAL ?

  13. Woah says:

    This is so plastic U liar!!!!!!!!!!!

  14. SpençaB says:

    YES! SANTA MONICA AND DISNEY HALL.

    Rock on Los Angeles. :-D

  15. isbdead says:

    Is that guy related to the musician?

  16. Look says:

    I made some of these myself.

    Not near as good as this guy though.

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/justin_elbert/sets/72157594314827587/

  17. FALLAPALOOP says:

    wow those are good the 5th one is of the seattle E.M.P. for those people that didnt know that ok well thats all bye

  18. Anonymous says:

    The photos are blurry.

  19. Anonymous says:

    The effect can be reproduced in Photoshop using a Quick Mask and Gaussian Blur.

    Example

  20. Anonymous says:

    Where was that first photo taken? At first glance I thought it was the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

  21. Anonymous says:

    Where’s the sixth one supposed to be in the world?

  22. Anonymous says:

    Where’s the sixth one supposed to be in the world?

  23. Anonymous says:

    After I read the paragrph, I see that some of them are real, but I still have a hard time beliveing that others are.

  24. Anonymous says:

    this is done extremely poorly i do not believe they’re models at all i cant believe the awful editing on this im extremely disappointed

  25. Anonymous says:

    They look like very bad photos of very good models. A very convincing effect. Though in some it is not so convincing…

  26. Anonymous says:

    The only one that looks real to me is the Disney Concert Hall in L.A. (#6) The rest really do look fake!

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