The series von Oben began in 2016, somewhat by chance, during a flight over northern Iran.
Originally, the images were intended to serve as visual connectors within other projects. However, after several intentional flights, the photographs evolved into an independent series.

The aerial perspective allows for a distanced view of urban structures, particularly striking in the early images of Tehran, a city that had never appeared to me in this way before.

A central question of the work is what distinguishes subjective photography from machine-made images such as those from satellites or drones. What makes an image personal if technology can capture the same view, often with greater precision?

The series moves within the tension between human perception and technical reproduction, exploring whether the difference lies in the conscious moment of taking the photograph.

I presented a selection from the v.O series, created between 2017 and 2019 and printed on fine art canvas paper, in the group exhibition Spatium at RFL Düsseldorf. The show featured works by Dirk Grobelny and Erik Mikaia.

Our shared focus on the bird’s-eye perspective, expressed through Erik’s paintings and aerial imagery, Dirk’s 360-degree panoramic photography, and my own aerial photographs, inspired the exhibition’s title Spatium, the Latin word for “space.”