2008 - Phaidon
This coffee table aerial photography book is intriguing from some many angles. First, the book comprises photographs of rarely seen Iran, definitely a player in current events right now. In addition, the photographs are all from the late 1970's, which makes one wonder why they are being released only now.
The photographs, though dated, are surprisingly crisp. Very surprisingly crisp. And yet there is a phenomenal juxtaposition of clear photographs of a very old looking civilization - and yet you know this is how a lot of these people have lived for many, many generations.
To see this part of the world, this specific civilization, is breathtakingly beautiful. There are locations and architecture that I have never seen (nor heard) of before. A truly stunning book.
Amazon description - In 1976 and 1978, aerial photographer Georg Gerster had the rare opportunity to record the landscape of Iran on over 100 flights and 300 flying hours. This unique photographic project resulted in a near-complete documentation of the major archaeological sites and important landscapes in the region.
The book includes spectacular images of ancient citadels, desert ruins, and rice fields spreading like a vast patchwork quilt in a river delta. There are many unexpected sights, such as the bird's-eye view of a crowded ski resort in the Elburz Mountains, within easy reach of Tehran. Iran's densely packed cities, such as Bushehr, located on the Persian Gulf, are elegantly captured by Gerster. They appear so very different from Western European or North American cities of the same period; the complex, interlocking flat-roofed buildings are both timeless and timely, with architecture that has stood unchanged for thousands of years, along with brightly-colored 1970s cars parked in the colonnaded courtyards. Even the Iranian landscape contains surprises: on closer inspection, the elaborate patterns made in fields with tractors and ploughs turn out to have more to do with politics than agriculture or land art. A law at the time Gerster was photographing allowed people to claim unused land by planting crops on it, and this type of ''agridoodle'' was apparently enough to support such a claim.
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