Capturing the earth from above with Paul Prescott of Amazing Aerial

Image Credit: Adobe Stock/AmazingAerialAgency.

When Paul Prescott was 15 years old, he took all his earnings from his part-time job in a café and spent it on a camera. While studying international business a short while later, he took pictures for the school yearbook. “My first passion was taking pictures of people, seeing the emotions in people’s faces,” he says.

Later still, when working in advertising in London, he took his camera along on a trip through India and fell in love with travel photography. And in 2006, he decided to quit his day job and become a commercial photographer.

But as much as he loved the creative process, he discovered some pitfalls in his new career. “I went into it out of passion for photography,” he says, “and then I got stuck into this process of shooting and shooting and shooting and uploading. And I lost that passion somehow.”

Then, on a trip to Berlin, he visited a camera shop and bought a drone. That purchase helped him regain his passion. “With aerial photography, I could just concentrate on the art rather than the outcome.”

Gaining a new perspective on work — and the world

Prescott says he feels like an adventurer when he’s flying his drone. “I can go on hikes, I can go to islands, and I can bring my drone with me,” he says. “I feel the sensation of excitement and of discovery. I'm not always sure what I'm going to actually find, and that's the beauty of it.”

He also enjoys working in a third dimension. “With ground photography, you don’t have that scope. With aerial, you can go up, you can go sideways, you can quickly go over a hill and come back.”

And not only does he love aerial photography, he also loves what high-quality aerial footage brings to the world. “I think the reason why people are so attracted to aerial photography is because they're seeing locations that they've never seen before, from a completely different perspective.”

As he was building his aerial photography skills and business, he realized he wanted to establish a vision for his work. “I wanted to create images that would make people fall in love with the planet and respect it,” he says.

It was a big vision, so he decided to reach out to photographers he admired and propose a global collaboration. Together, they created a beautiful collection of aerial photography called Amazing Aerial. The team now includes 160 photographers in 60 countries, and they offer photos and videos from over 110 countries.

“Every single photographer has their own style,” Prescott says. In addition to drone photographers, Amazing Aerial includes artists who use parasails, fixed wings, and helicopters. “We have a certain diversity, and what is very beautiful is that we all get inspired from each other.“

Building technical skills and pushing creative boundaries

Prescott says that over the last six years, aerial photography has progressed by leaps and bounds.

“A great shot five years ago is maybe not such a great shot today,” he says. “In terms of technology, the new drones are coming out with zoom lenses. And I'm always impressed that our photographers are really pushing their limits in getting better and better shots.”

For photographers interested in trying aerial, he says it’s important to get to know your drone. “You need to know your heights and all the technical skills. I have crashed quite a few times. But once you've honed in on the skills of flying, then your brain can go into a creative process and all the technical things go into the background. It’s little bit like driving a car — you just do it automatically.”

Prescott believes that preparation is just as critical as technical know-how. “If you only shoot the location without doing the creative work, you're missing out on creative possibilities. Clients and buyers really love to see that you can shoot something from a different perspective, but you can even take it a further step and make people go, wow, that's really something.”

As for what makes great drone footage? Prescott says you can’t just put your drone up in the air and expect that you're going to get an amazing shot. You have to think about composition and, of course, light.

“When you're on the ground, the light works differently than when you're in the air,” he says. “Because you're up, and you're shooting down. That golden hour, getting those shots just after sunset where the shadows are not so strong and the lights and the colors are beautiful — that's the best time to shoot.”

Sharing joy in the present and leaving a legacy for the future

Prescott finds tremendous satisfaction in his work, and he loves sharing it with others. “When I take a photo, I'm giving part of myself into that photo,” he says. “And when I show my photo to other people, I want to give them a little bit of the same joy that I have.”

And while he finds beauty in telling stories from around the world, he acknowledges the other side of his work. He says that when people see aerial photography from beautiful locations, the resulting tourism can have an environmental impact. “We really need to find a balance between beautiful photography and the respect of the environment,” he says.

“I think the Amazing Aerial collection will live on and be a reference that people can look back on,” he says. “Whether it's a glacier, whether it's a sea, whether it's a landscape, in a few years’ time they can look back on it and actually compare. So I think that's where the legacy lies.”

Discover the Amazing Aerial collection on Adobe Stock, and watch our recorded livestream with Paul Prescott to hear more about his approach to aerial photography and commercial success.

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