Photos by aerial photographer Jason Hawkes. This series (except for the last image) was done for a tie-in book for the BBC television series entitled “Britain from Above.” Hawkes spent three months flying throughout the UK to get these scenes and shot the images from a twin star helicopter using a Nikon D3, with either a 14-24mm or 70-200mm lens. For some of the shots, Hawkes was tethered to his MacBook Pro to check the sharpness of his images as he took them. The night images were shot using a mount with triple stabilizers mounted on the floor of the helicopter. Hawkes, who is based just outside London and works worldwide, has produced over 35 aerial photographic books for publishers such as the BBC, Random House and Harper Collins in the U.K., Europe and the U.S.

“City of London at night” by Jason Hawkes, with digital post production by GMJ London. This image ran as a triple gatefold cover on the UK’s launch issue of Wired magazine (April 2009).