this is what Jimmy Chin does for a living.  he climbs and takes photographs so the rest of us can get a sense of what a scene looks like from a different angle.  well, a higher angle anyway.

the two basics of photography are lighting and composition.  the angle is part of the composition.  that is Jimmy’s niche in photography; the angle.  for others, like Richard Avedon, it’s lighting.

© The Richard Avedon Foundation

lighting is a rather difficult aspect to master, as a camera cannot exactly capture what your eye sees.  don’t get me wrong, there are very sophisticated cameras available now in the market; but none are as perfect as the human eye.  a good example?  capturing blacks and whites in an image.  the human eye can see both at the same time flawlessly.  a camera can’t exactly master this, though it can get really close.

in terms of composition, there is a little more wiggle room in what can be produced without the aid of editing software.  you can edit a photograph to make it lighter or darker, change the warmth, saturation, hue, etc. but short of just cutting off parts of a photograph it’s a little harder to manipulate the composition (though of course it can still be accomplished).

below are some great photographs from Jimmy showing his eye for giving audiences a different angle.

© Jimmy Chin

if you want to see more of Jimmy’s work, check out his Instagram feed for some wonderful photographs.