Before We Explain the World

Photography by Lu Heng

1Leaving the Known

Leaving the Ground

Story 3 of 51 · 5 photographs

Look at the aircraft from the ground, then let your eyes rise. A fuselage, clouds, then terrain: each changes the scale for the next image. Something that looked large becomes a small outline.

  1. A flying silhouette at sunset; Aircraft tails form a dark row against a thin orange line of sunrise.
    10

    A flying silhouette at sunset

  2. An aircraft viewed from behind, low over a runway with landing gear extended.
    11

    Just above the runway

  1. An aircraft seen from below, its dark underside against blue sky.
    12

    An aircraft overhead

  1. A helicopter above the mountains; A helicopter passes above a snowy mountain range under a hard blue sun.
    13

    A helicopter above the mountains

  2. A small helicopter crosses blue sky above pink-edged clouds.
    14

    A helicopter in the evening sky