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  • The A30 highway runs deep into the South-West of England - from Exeter in the county of Devon to Penzance in the narrow peninsular of Cornwall. On certain dates in the calendar routes like this, near the Cornish town of Bodmin, England, come to a standstill from the huge volume of cars and private vehicles, all heading down to costal resorts and better weather. We see here a huge tailback of traffic that is queueing along one side of the British dual-carriageway (two lanes in each direction) from close-up  to the distance down and up a natural hill in this undulating landscape. The cars have edged forward are nose to tail for hours in summer heatwave and tempers fray, children arguing in the back and an otherwise relaxed holiday mood suddenly goes bad.
    RB_122-28-08-2000.jpg
  • A visitor to Oshkosh Air Venture, the world’s largest air show in Wisconsin USA, stands by an A-10 Thunderbolt Tank Buster or Warthog. Wearing a t-shirt depicting a Cherokee Indian and a Bald Eagle, the tourist awaits family as aviation enthusiasts climb steps to the aircraft's cockpit. The Fairchild-Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II is a single-seat, twin-engine jet aircraft designed to provide close air support of ground forces by attacking tanks, armoured vehicles, and other ground targets. It has also been involved with British friendly fire incidents in Iraq. Close to a million populate the mass fly-in over the week, a pilgrimage worshipping all aspects of flight. Picture from the 'Plane Pictures' project, a celebration of aviation aesthetics and flying culture, 100 years after the Wright brothers first 12 seconds/120 feet powered flight at Kitty Hawk,1903.
    aviation_corbis46-29-08-1998_1.jpg
  • Baggage belonging to a British Airways Concorde crew is lined up beneath their aircraft after arriving at Oshkosh Air Venture, the world’s largest air show in Wisconsin USA. Twelve cases match 12 of Concorde's tiny windows and some of the crowd either take shelter from the sun or walk around the supersonic jet in awe of this engineering marvel. Their baggage is lined up beneath the aircraft during its visit to this huge show in Wisconsin, USA. Close to a million populate the mass fly-in over the week, a pilgrimage worshipping all aspects of flight. The event annually generates $85 million in revenue over a 25 mile radius from Oshkosh. Picture from the 'Plane Pictures' project, a celebration of aviation aesthetics and flying culture, 100 years after the Wright brothers first 12 seconds/120 feet powered flight at Kitty Hawk,1903.
    aviation_corbis44-27-08-1998_1.jpg
  • About to board their Sri Lankan airlines flight to the Maldives, crowds of economy class passengers stand and make an orderly queue when their flight has been called by ground staff at London Heathrow airport England. Lines of people from all nations can be seen reflected in a large window that also overlooks the airport apron where their front-facing Airbus A340-300 aircraft awaits them, its flight-deck crew is seen in the cockpit readying their plane for the long night journey ahead. Catering service trucks are parked alongside the aircraft, loading supplies and all is on schedule from this large intercontinental airport hub to the much smaller island airfield in the middle of the Indian Ocean, the idyllic destination for holidaying Europeans.
    maldives01-10-11-2007.jpg
  • Tourists finding their way around London's Soho and the West End seek help with a large city map. A middle-aged tourist couple have stopped during their exhausting tour of London on foot, pausing to consult the large-scale plan of the capital's streets where landmarks, shops and the river Thames in context are shown as places of interest. Standing near the image of the map, there is also a circle denoting the radius of a 5-minute walk from this location in Leicester Square. The round line appears to encircle their upper bodies in a humorous scene of tourism and discovery, of adventures in the metropolis and of the facilities that Westminster council provide for their visitors.
    city_map02-21-09-2010 12-43-43_1.jpg
  • The tower containing Big Ben amid the Gothic architecture of Britain's Houses of Parliament and jogger on the Embankment. Passing-by at speed with a slight blur, the male sportsman runs by the racks of colourful postcards showing London scenes, their prices written on makeshift marker on a white board. Beyond is Westminster Bridge that stretches of the River Thames, towards the British Houses of Parliament, with Big Ben's clock tower rising high above. It is a fine sunny day and a woman is writing more prices for tourist mementoes of another board, leaning on the river wall. The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords (the upper house). Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster.
    parliament12-08-04-2010.jpg
  • Two elderly but travel-wise passengers read the morning newspapers while awaiting their check-in zone to open in Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5 departures concourse. The front page of the Daily Mail proclaims that Swine Flu is getting more serious after a period of summer when schools are about to re-open and temperatures about to drop for autumn. With their baggage stacked on a trolley the couple wait patiently after an early morning coach brought them to this aviation hub for BA only flights. From writer Alain de Botton's book project "A Week at the Airport: A Heathrow Diary" (2009).
    heathrow_airport667-17-07-2009_1.jpg
  • Half-silhouetted figures add to the bustle of a hectic arrivals concourse at Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5. Seen against the orange advertisement for Mastercard which shows scenes of London that sightseers will want to visit. People wait for family to pick them up and tourists await the rest of their groups and tour guides with baggage trolleys laden with possessions. Terminal 5 has the capacity to serve around 30 million passengers a year. From writer Alain de Botton's book project "A Week at the Airport: A Heathrow Diary" (2009).
    heathrow_airport605-15-07-2009_1 1.jpg
  • Parked on the apron at Paris Orly Airport, a lone pilot of the French national airline Air France, leans out of his right-hand seat's cockpit window of his Boeing 777-328/ER aircraft (F-GSQT). It is a bright morning at this international hub for Air France and without help from ground staff, the silver-haired gentleman who may be the captain and commander of the aircraft (because of age and seat position) has decided to get on with the job of cleaning his window himself much like a driver wiping away flies from his car windscreen. Here however, this chore being performed approximately six meters off the ground so safety is vital - just as a clear front view for the flight-deck crew before their flight. Attached to the plane is the mobile walkway, the air bridge, that awaits boarding passengers but no 'ramp agent' is below.
    esa_guiana02513-08-2007_1.jpg
  • A lady protects herself from a mid-day summer summer sun with a brightly coloured parasol brolley. Oblivious to the viewer, she balances her lunch snack on her lap with toes pointing inwards, exposed to the hot solar rays. Meanwhile, she holds on tight to her eager pet poodle dog who is straining on its leash, wanting to go for a walk along the largely unpopulated promenade in this Devon resort, otherwise known as the English Riviera. But splashes of white paint (from the painted beach huts) have been left on the pavement. It is a horrible place to sit in the sun and her partner has left her alone to sit on her sun lounger, leaving the second chair vacant.
    england_beach02-15-12-2007 _1.jpg
  • Aboard the Carnival cruise ship Ecstasy, a father and son are practicing wearing life-preservers during the first few hours of their voyage from Miami around the Gulf of Mexico. They and every passenger on-board are being instructed by members of the ship's crew to muster (gather) in specific locations around the vessel before heading further out to sea. Under international law, everyone on a holiday ship like this needs to know what do in the event of an emergency at sea so well-organised drills are rehearsed on deck. The baby looks uncomfortable wrapped in his life vest but sucks on a pacifier dummy. The father looks relaxed in the knowledge that their lives are not risk on this occasion. The Panamanian-registered MS Ecstasy is a 70,367 ton cruise ship carrying 2,052 passengers and 920 crew belonging to Vegas-style Carnival Cruise lines.
    carnival_cruises01-22-12-2007 _1.jpg
  • We see a male passenger from the waste down with a laptop computer in one hand and a Retriever puppy peering out from his owner's bag in the other, both human and pet are about to board a domestic flight from Chicago O'Hare airport. According to the American Transport Security Administration, taking pets into the aircraft cabin is permissable but the animal is required to be presented to the Security Officers at the checkpoint. it may also walk with its owner through the metal detector but not through the x-ray scanner. Picture from the 'Plane Pictures' project, a celebration of aviation aesthetics and flying culture, 100 years after the Wright brothers first 12 seconds/120 feet powered flight at Kitty Hawk,1903.
    aviation_corbis51-10-11-2000_1.jpg
  • Waiting in line for a departing flight, an airline captain patiently queues with his flight baggage along with passengers. Rather than being on duty and flying the aircraft himself, he is travelling home as a passenger. On many commercial flights, off-duty air crew position as passengers. Airlines plan complicated logistics with cabin and cockpit crew members' duty rosters. This man's four stripes denotes his seniority as a captain who flies right-hand seat, in command of a airliner. In the US, pilots might also have National Guard careers flying jet fighters in times of conflict while off-duty in airline shifts. Picture from the 'Plane Pictures' project, a celebration of aviation aesthetics and flying culture, 100 years after the Wright brothers first 12 seconds/120 feet powered flight at Kitty Hawk,1903.
    aviation_corbis53-10-11-2000_1.jpg
  • Posing in the open doorway of an Airbus A319CJ Business jet, four female cabin crew members wear the uniforms of Qatar Airways whose airline has made a public relations stop at the Farnborough Air Show to publicise this new model of executive service. Airline stewards and stewardesses are nowadays more commonly referred to as cabin crew or flight attendants. They stand close together with broad grins showing their varied ethnicity. Middle-Eastern airlines generally recruit men and women from western Europe, Asia, Australasia and the Indian sub-continent dependent on routes and aircraft type. Picture from the 'Plane Pictures' project, a celebration of aviation aesthetics and flying culture, 100 years after the Wright brothers first 12 seconds/120 feet powered flight at Kitty Hawk,1903.
    aviation_corbis24-23-07-2002_1.jpg
  • The flight-deck crew of a Sri Lankan Airlines A340-300 series Airbus - registration number 4R-ADE - perform a series of pre-flight checks before a scheduled departure, while on the apron at Malé international airport in the Republic of the Maldives. Featuring electronic instruments it is known as a 'glass cockpit' and using a printed checklist manual, they methodically work through dozens of complex systems that require accurate input before the aircraft is ready for take off. Flight navigation computers, fuel and engine settings and radio frequencies all need programming by the two pilots, the captain on the left and the First Officer on the right. These modern airliners have only two pilots in a modern flight-deck as technology superceeded the need for a third member, the flight-engineers of a previous era of aviation.
    maldives452-15-11-2007.jpg
  • A slightly comical scene of modern air travel as two lady passengers haul matching suitcases at the British Airways self-check-in kiosk at Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5. The self-service kiosks that have been developed to allow customers to process their own ticketing on arrival at this aviation hub for British Airways. Once they've chosen their seat and printed a boarding pass, they can go straight to the Fast Bag Drop desk at the airport. There, baggage will be tagged by an agent and sent to the aircraft. At a cost of £4.3 billion, Terminal 5 has the capacity to serve around 30 million passengers a year. From writer Alain de Botton's book project "A Week at the Airport: A Heathrow Diary" (2009).
    heathrow_airport1434-18-08-2009_1.jpg
  • A father supports his son on his shoulders as a giant four-engined airliner passes directly overhead, about to land at London's Heathrow airport, England. Seen from a low angle, we see the graphic cruciform shape of the aircraft as it screams past two powerful airfield landing lights that help guide arriving aircraft to the runway. The backlit scene is largely monochrome apart from the boys red t-shirt and yellow-faced watch which are lit by flash, underexposing the overcast sky. Prior to 9/11, British airport authorities and police tolerated plane spotters near runway fences but with heightened terrorist alerts, these enthusiasts are told to move on or face arrest. Picture from the 'Plane Pictures' project, a celebration of aviation aesthetics and flying culture, 100 years after the Wright brothers first 12 seconds/120 feet powered flight at Kitty Hawk,1903.
    aviation_corbis13-17-08-1997_1.jpg
  • Seen in close-up detail, a holidaymaker's shirt is displayed in Magaluf. He has two pairs of spectacles hanging around his sunburned neck and a printed short-sleeved shirt depicting tropical paradise beach scenes with blue skies, palm trees and representing a Hawaiian Pacific Ocean scene with boats at sea, rolling on the waves. Magaluf is a popular holiday resort on the island of Mallorca, one of the Spanish Balearic Islands. A seedy resort very much orientated around British tourists and catering for both young parties as well as families, Magaluf is considered as an exotic alternative to the chilly seaside towns around the UK's coast.
    RB-0048.jpg
  • On a hot afternoon on Calcutta's Maidan, an Indian lady catches a frisbee disc in both hands in front of the glorious Victoria Memorial, the beautiful marble structure built by the British still during the days of the colonial Indian Raj. The lady is lit with golden light and her bottle green sari stands out from a background tree. She grimaces as she stretches to hold on to the frisbee and there are many hundreds of families and groups in the background, nearer to the white, domed building. Built between 1906 and 1921, it is a majestic white marble building at the southern end of the Maidan, a large expansive park in central Calcutta city. Nowadays it is a museum and group activities are being discouraged due to the fears that pollution will damage this fine structure that honours Queen Victoria, then Empress of India.
    RB_057-18-11-1996.jpg
  • Looking at practice baggage of Heathrow airport's Terminal 5. Designed by architects Richard Rogers Partnership the controversial building opened with chaotic scenes on 27/3/08. British Airways passengers faced baggage disruption after a 6 year construction project that has seen the British public divided over the role of commercial aviation. At a cost of £4.3bn, the project was Britain's longest planning inquiry which lasted four years but finally employing a total of 60,000 workers. 30,000 square metres of glass in walls; 80,000 tonnes of steel were used - 17,000 in the roof alone; 5,000 doors, 800 toilets, 20,000 power sockets and 1,700 miles of cable; 60 new aircraft stands, including 14 for the Airbus A380; 13km of tunnels were bored for the state-of-the-art baggage handling to handle 12,000 bags per hour.
    heathrow_terminal_five-07-17-03-2008...jpg
  • Two toilet rolls are ready for use in a Paris hotel room toilet. Folded into triangular, pointed ends that point down to the bathroom floor in a famliar manner known to businessmen and and tourists during overnight stays in these anonymous and generic rest-stops frequented by travellers. Mounted onto a brown wall, the twin toilet roll holders are fixed side by side and have a shiny chrome finish.
    esa_guiana00412-08-2007_1.jpg
  • Four water-logged deckchairs have been abandoned on a wet Brighton's East Pier in East Sussex. It is Spring but the rain has driven away holidaymakers from this desolate and depressing spot from England's South coast seaside resort. We see a gloomy, grey sky and empty horizon with neither people, nor water activity but the stripes of the railings are echoed in the reflective wooden planks on this Victorian-era pier and of the fabric on the deckchairs. We wonder who might have sat on these chairs and where they might be now?  This landscape might be the antithesis of a holiday poster that repels rather than attracts tourists to this location.
    brighton_1.jpg
  • Having just disembarked from a Carnival Cruise ship at the port of Miami, Florida, two tourists carry and pull their baggage along to a waiting coaches that will transport them for onward journeys. Comically they also wear wide sombrero hats bought in Cancun during their vacation around the Gulf of Mexico, the destination of this popular cruise line whose base is Miami. Stitched with garish colours the souvenirs provide shelter from the overhead tropical sun though the woman of this couple chooses to hang hers over a shoulder and keeps her original hat on her head. This may be the couples' honeymoon or just a special annual holiday away from the kids or a humdrum lifestyle where the weather is far from the intensity of Florida, a favourite resort for Americans not liking foreign travel.
    sombrero_tourists_1_1.jpg
  • Reflected in the surrounding pond, we see the glorious Victoria Memorial, the beautiful marble structure built by the British still during the days of the colonial Indian Raj. Couples and families gather in the Memorial's grounds to experience the cool air of late-afternoon near the white, domed building. Built between 1906 and 1921, it is a majestic white marble building at the southern end of the Maidan (literally meaning open field, the largest urban park, a large expansive plain in central Calcutta city. Nowadays it is a museum and group activities are being discouraged due to the fears that pollution will damage this fine structure that honours Queen Victoria, then Empress of India.
    RB_062-18-11-1996.jpg
  • A young brother and sister look on in awe while a British Airways check-in lady asks security questions of the pair's parents who are taking her children on a long-haul flight from London Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5. The family baggage has been tagged and is about to disappear down the belt to join up to 70,000 other items in this average day at T5. The siblings stare as the young woman checks the travel details of the mother and father who have booked Business Class seats for them all. From writer Alain de Botton's book project "A Week at the Airport: A Heathrow Diary" (2009). .
    heathrow_airport1396-18-08-2009_1.jpg
  • An accumulation of badges show where a passenger on board a Heathrow Express train to Heathrow Airport has travelled to. Sewn onto the traveller's rucksack, the countries represented by these patches show a much-travelled young person who has amassed a collection of world air miles and travel experiences, with their national flags and emblems on display in a way that adventurers show their routes and wanderlust to others, perhaps as proof of a lifetime wandering the world's borders and airports. As each badge is added, it accounts for new travel companions and the hazards and joys of modern air travel. From writer Alain de Botton's book project "A Week at the Airport: A Heathrow Diary" (2009).
    heathrow_airport714-22-07-2009_1 1.jpg
  • Half-silhouetted figures add to the bustle of a hectic arrivals concourse at Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5. Seen against the orange advertisement for Mastercard which shows scenes of London that sightseers will want to visit. People wait for family to pick them up and tourists await the rest of their groups and tour guides with baggage trolleys laden with possessions. Terminal 5 has the capacity to serve around 30 million passengers a year. From writer Alain de Botton's book project "A Week at the Airport: A Heathrow Diary" (2009).
    heathrow_airport605-15-07-2009_1.jpg
  • Two elderly passengers have stopped by in a retail space called World of Duty Free to taste Scottish Malt Whiskey in Terminal 5 at heathrow Airport. The two South-Africans travel widely across the world to visit their extended family and like to stop by this shop to try the various blends of Scotch with the help of a sales person who helps them decide which bottles to buy. Together they swallow the fine alcohol and taste its delicate and subtle differences. From writer Alain de Botton's book project "A Week at the Airport: A Heathrow Diary" (2009).
    heathrow_airport132-13-07-2009_1 1.jpg
  • Mothers and sons hug emotionally in the international arrivals hall of Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5 airport. Three families have gathered to meet their respective sons who have been travelling around the world during their university gap year sabbatical trip of a lifetime. With balloons and banners amid the hectic concourse where other relatives greet their loved-ones after months away from home on their adventures. This is a tradition practised across the world's airports where families are separated by the need to travel or work in other countries and the emotion of meeting again after long absences is always hard. From writer Alain de Botton's book project "A Week at the Airport: A Heathrow Diary" (2009).
    heathrow_airport83-13-07-2009_1.jpg
  • Holding her doll, a young white child wearing a pink dress explores the Délice Restaurant in old Kourou, French Guiana, South America. The daughter of French parents who are in this French-administered colony in connection with the nearby European Space Agency (ESA). The girl is confident enough to leave her parents' side and appear in an open doorway. On the other side of the wall is a giant brightly-painted mural depicting a more traditional side of life in this tropical country. The word Guyane is the French name for Guiana. A female in national costume stands near a palm tree, local produce and vegetation. Meanwhile a dark-skinned Creole man sits on a stool smoking a cigarette chatting to unseen friends - a barfly occupying his usual lunchtime seat. It is a scene of internationalism, cross-culture and youth versus old age.
    esa_guiana20415-08-2007_1.jpg
  • Largely American passengers re-join their cruise holiday voyage around the Gulf of Mexico during a day's stop-over in Cancun, Mexico. Reflected in the puddles of recent seasonal rain, they queue up on the port's quayside to have their identity passes checked before being allowed back on board the Fun Ship Ecstasy. Seen above them and in reflected in the water at their feet are some of the many windows and portholes of this enormous vessel belonging to the Vegas-style Carnival Cruise lines company. The Panamanian-registered MS Ecstasy is a 70,367 ton cruise ship carrying 2,052 passengers and 920 crew whose routes are mainly around the Gulf and Carribean Sea.
    carnival_cruises03-15-12-2007 _1.jpg
  • Air passengers exit and enter a transit train at Chicago O'Hare airport, Illinois USA. They pull suitcases behind them as they negotiate the airport terminal transport system that takes them across the sprawling complex of terminals and tunnels. A large central yellow traffic arrow saying OUT is most prominent telling arriving people to keep in the middle, allowing those departing to enter the carriage from the sides. There is a slight blur to the picture showing the hurrying nature of modern air travel, vastly different from the pioneering days of flight for only the socially elite. Picture from the 'Plane Pictures' project, a celebration of aviation aesthetics and flying culture, 100 years after the Wright brothers first 12 seconds/120 feet powered flight at Kitty Hawk,1903.
    aviation_corbis49-10-11-2000_1.jpg
  • Looking at International Arrivals of Heathrow airport's Terminal 5. Designed by architects Richard Rogers Partnership the controversial building opened with chaotic scenes on 27/3/08. British Airways passengers faced baggage disruption after a 6 year construction project that has seen the British public divided over the role of commercial aviation. At a cost of £4.3bn, the project was Britain's longest planning inquiry which lasted four years but finally employing a total of 60,000 workers. 30,000 square metres of glass in walls; 80,000 tonnes of steel were used - 17,000 in the roof alone; 5,000 doors, 800 toilets, 20,000 power sockets and 1,700 miles of cable; 60 new aircraft stands, including 14 for the Airbus A380; 13km of tunnels were bored for the state-of-the-art baggage handling to handle 12,000 bags per hour.
    heathrow_terminal_five-20-17-03-2008...jpg
  • Wearing a company wastecoat and blue rubber gloves, the uniform of a Holiday Inn employee, a man of Black ethnicity bends forward to wipe the glass revolving doors at the entrance of this hotel in Paris. Nearby is the man's trolley containing janitorial cleaning products such as a mop and bucket, towels, cloth rolls, atomiser sprays, detergents and tissues needed to maintain the high standards of this motel chain. Coincidentally, a customer is also bending down to re-arrange something in her baggage and leaning at the same angle as the cleaner.
    esa_guiana02113-08-2007_1.jpg
  • A lone walker passes by a partially-collapsed broken sign announcing the summit of Rannoch Moor, Scotland UK, 1,350 feet above sea level. He is hunched against a driving wind at this altitude and the country he is walking over is bleak and boggy, a wetland high up in the Scottish Highlands. Thick tufts of grass and moss lie about in this tough terrain, held in great affection for long-distance hikers. Rannoch Moor is a large expanse of around 50 square miles (130 km²) of boggy moorland to the west of Loch Rannoch, in Perth and Kinross and Lochaber, Highland, partly northern Argyll and Bute, Scotland. Rannoch Moor is designated a National Heritage site.
    RB_128-12-10-1996.jpg
  • Looking up to the Nokia information screen and 40m high roof of Heathrow airport's Terminal 5. Designed by architects Richard Rogers Partnership the controversial building opened with chaotic scenes on 27/3/08. British Airways passengers faced baggage disruption after a 6 year construction project that has seen the British public divided over the role of commercial aviation. At a cost of £4.3bn, the project was Britain's longest planning inquiry which lasted four years but finally employing a total of 60,000 workers. 30,000 square metres of glass in walls; 80,000 tonnes of steel were used - 17,000 in the roof alone; 5,000 doors, 800 toilets, 20,000 power sockets and 1,700 miles of cable; 60 new aircraft stands, including 14 for the Airbus A380; 13km of tunnels were bored for the state-of-the-art baggage handling to handle 12,000 bags per hour.
    heathrow_terminal_five-01-17-03-2008...jpg
  • A young African mother allows her sleeping baby some well-earned rest at Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5. In the departures concourse the mum and her child await their check-in zone to open in this international aviation hub in West London. The infant sleeps soundly, wrapped to its mother's back in the traditional manner for carrying children in the developing world. It is a simple scene of everyday care for one's child and airport operator spent £4.3 billion on Terminal 5 which has the capacity to serve around 30 million passengers a year. From writer Alain de Botton's book project "A Week at the Airport: A Heathrow Diary" (2009).
    heathrow_airport1068-11-08-2009_1.jpg
  • A close-up detail of teenage words, written in marker pen on a young person's arm in the departures concourse of Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5. Holding the handles of her baggage trolley that has an open bag in which we see some possessions, the girl displays the words 'I (heart) love you' and the name of Kentin Bisou. It may be a declaration of true love or just a teenage prank before an adventure starts from this aviation hub. From writer Alain de Botton's book project "A Week at the Airport: A Heathrow Diary" (2009).
    heathrow_airport619-15-07-2009_1 1.jpg
  • A helium-filled Welcome Home balloon floats in the air and a home-made banner stretches across Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5 arrivals hall. Three families have gathered to meet their respective sons who have been travelling around the world during their university gap year sabbatical trip of a lifetime. With balloon and banner amid the hectic concourse where other relatives greet their loved-ones after months away from home on their adventures. This is a tradition practised across the world's airports where families are separated by the need to travel or work in other countries and the emotion of meeting again after long absences is always hard. From writer Alain de Botton's book project "A Week at the Airport: A Heathrow Diary" (2009).
    heathrow_airport63-13-07-2009_1 1.jpg
  • Beneath an ugly breeze block concrete wall, a couple are enjoying their holiday in the English seaside town of Paignton, Devon. Sitting in striped deckchairs they are both curiously touching their own genital areas between their legs, perhaps both scratching an itch. The lady in sunglasses wearing a floral dress on the left looks guilty while her topless male partner appears more amused by the interruption. In this depressing corner of Paignton, also called the English Riviera, the grey construction behind them is a grim reminder of what it is often like to holiday in one's own home country where few exotic luxuries are found. Such squalor is unfortunately common around the UK and a reason why people take their vacations abroad. Even the grass below them is bare with weeds growing and soil at the foot of the wall.
    england_beach01-15-12-2007 _1.jpg
  • On a busy Summer weekend, families enjoy the old Tarr Steps Clapper Bridge over the River Barle in Exmoor National Park, Devon, England. Crossing on the huge stone prehistoric slabs which weigh up to 5 tons apiece, children play with fishing nets, walk dogs and sit enjoying the view below of others who mess about in a small inflatable dinghy on the flowing stream. Located in a National Nature Reserve about 2.5 miles (4 km) south east of Withypool and 4 miles (6 km) north west of Dulverton, this spot is a favourite tourist place in South-West England. This typical clapper bridge construction may date to around 1000 BC. It is 180 feet (55 m) long and has 17 spans and designated by English Heritage as a grade I listed building.
    ella+sam29-25-08_2002_1.jpg
  • Late at night, in a gloomy arrivals gate at Chicago O'Hare airport, a young man sits patiently on his own awaiting the arrival of his girlfriend after a holiday in Asia. It is the last flight to land and a helium balloon floats on a string bearing the words 'Welcome Home', a popular gesture for relatives in airports around the world, each having their own cultural way of showing affection for arriving family members after long absences. The balloon stands still, the only colour amid the drab interior of this sprawling airport hub. Picture from the 'Plane Pictures' project, a celebration of aviation aesthetics and flying culture, 100 years after the Wright brothers first 12 seconds/120 feet powered flight at Kitty Hawk,1903.
    aviation_corbis54-10-11-2000_1.jpg
  • A female passenger leans forward with head in hands amid the busy terminal at Chicago O'Hare Airport, Illinois, USA. Fellow-travellers in the background appear unworried, waiting for their respective flights in a calm manner. The lady in the foreground's body language however, suggests fatigue and distress and perhaps a fear of flying. Picture from the 'Plane Pictures' project, a celebration of aviation aesthetics and flying culture, 100 years after the Wright brothers first 12 seconds/120 feet powered flight at Kitty Hawk,1903.
    aviation_corbis52-10-11-2000_1.jpg
  • Two queens and one princess, members of the British royal family are depicted on a postcard rack in central London.  On the left is Queen Elizabeth (known as the Queen Mother (born Bowes-Lyon) who died at the age of 101 in 2002. Her daughter is the present Queen Elizabeth the second and to her right is Princess Diana, the Princess of Wales who died tragically in Paris in 1997. The three are seen on sale outside a tourist shop in Whitehall in the borough of Westminster where revenue-earning foreign holidaymakers frequent to see major landmark sites such as Parliament and Buckingham Palace. While the Queen wears a formal crown, the Princess is with a tiara and all three are on sale for 30 pence (£0.3)
    royal_family-06-09-1997.jpg
  • The zoomed lights of Macau's Hotel Lisboa Casino. Macau's biggest attraction is its gaming business, especially after this colony reverted from Portuguese to Chinese rule and mainline Chinese flocked here. Its gambling revenue in 2006 weighed in at a massive £3.6bn - about £100m more than Las Vegas. Though many forms of gambling are legal here, the most popular game in the casinos is baccarat, which generates over two thirds of the gaming industry's gross receipts. The official languages are Portuguese and Chinese and the Macau Special Administrative Region, more commonly known as Macau (Macao) is one of the two special administrative regions (SARs) of the People's Republic of China (PRC), along with Hong Kong.
    RB_141-08-07-1994.jpg
  • Under a threatening sky, freshly-painted blue gates overlook the Himalayan village of Ghandrung bathed in sunshine in central Nepal. Also called Ghandruk or Gandruk, this settlement is situated in what is known as the Annapurna Sanctuary (conservation region), a 55-km-long massif whose highest point, Annapurna I, stands at 8,091 m (26,538 ft), making it the 10th-highest summit in the world. The village is also a stopping-off point for trekkers and backpackers who pass-by on their way to the walk in high peaks. The Mountain Region (Parbat in the Nepali language) is situated at 4,000 meters or more above sea level. Houses and dwellings are substantial structures with properties well-swept and well-maintained.
    nepal_gate01.jpg
  • An aerial view of a completely uninhabited, deserted island seen from a regional aircraft passing overhead atolls and islands, an hour's flying time north of Malé, capital of the Indian Ocean Republic of the Maldives. We see the perfectly clear blue sea surrounding a tiny flat island of white coral beach sand, ringing tropical vegetation and scrub that is in jeopardy to rising sea levels as global warming makes sea level locations like this vulnerable to flooding. The Maldives comprise of twenty-six atolls, featuring 1,192 coral islands of which 80 are holiday resorts with 200 inhabited by indigenous communities. This Islamic nation of 298 sq km (115 sq miles), lie seven hundred kilometres (435 miles) south-west of Sri Lanka.
    maldives172-13-11-2007.jpg
  • An accumulation of badges show where a passenger on board a Heathrow Express train to Heathrow Airport has travelled to. Sewn onto the traveller's rucksack, the countries represented by these patches show a much-travelled young person who has amassed a collection of world air miles and travel experiences, with their national flags and emblems on display in a way that adventurers show their routes and wanderlust to others, perhaps as proof of a lifetime wandering the world's borders and airports. As each badge is added, it accounts for new travel companions and the hazards and joys of modern air travel. From writer Alain de Botton's book project "A Week at the Airport: A Heathrow Diary" (2009).
    heathrow_airport714-22-07-2009_1.jpg
  • A close-up detail of teenage words, written in marker pen on a young person's arm in the departures concourse of Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5. Holding the handles of her baggage trolley that has an open bag in which we see some possessions, the girl displays the words 'I (heart) love you' and the name of Kentin Bisou. It may be a declaration of true love or just a teenage prank before an adventure starts from this aviation hub. From writer Alain de Botton's book project "A Week at the Airport: A Heathrow Diary" (2009). .
    heathrow_airport619-15-07-2009_1.jpg
  • A helium-filled Welcome Home balloon floats in the air and a home-made banner stretches across Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5 arrivals hall. Three families have gathered to meet their respective sons who have been travelling around the world during their university gap year sabbatical trip of a lifetime. With balloon and banner amid the hectic concourse where other relatives greet their loved-ones after months away from home on their adventures. This is a tradition practised across the world's airports where families are separated by the need to travel or work in other countries and the emotion of meeting again after long absences is always hard. From writer Alain de Botton's book project "A Week at the Airport: A Heathrow Diary" (2009).
    heathrow_airport63-13-07-2009_1.jpg
  • A helium-filled Welcome Home balloon floats in the air in Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5 arrivals hall. Three families have gathered to meet their respective sons who have been travelling around the world during their university gap year sabbatical trip of a lifetime. Floating upwards, the balloon is brightly coloured amid the hectic concourse where other relatives greet their loved-ones after months away from home on their adventures. This is a tradition practised across the world's airports where families are separated by the need to travel or work in other countries and the emotion of meeting again after long absences is always hard. From writer Alain de Botton's book project "A Week at the Airport: A Heathrow Diary" (2009).
    heathrow_airport50-13-07-2009_1.jpg
  • Three dads are looking their respective children of varying ages - from a baby to an infant and 8-year old. In the foreground a father reads his tabloid newspaper as his toddler sleeps contentedly in its pushchair, a dummy in the mouth and a blanket scross its body to keep out a chilly breeze. Further back another man stands waiting for his partner with a baby, also asleep in the buggy. And thirdly, a male pushes his daughter in pink up a small slope on a bicycle that uses stablizers. It is a busy scene on Paignton seafront on the Devon coast. Elsewhere children and adults of all ages walk along the esplanade enjoying an overcast and windy day on holiday. This theatrical scene is about the ideal father and the family unit.
    england_beach06-15-12-2007_1.jpg
  • A lone bather wallows lazily in the calm pool waters at the Grand-Hôtel du Cap-Ferrat (formerly the Bel Air Hotel), Alpes Maritimes, France. Basking on his back, the man lies with arms outstretched, the warm buoyant water making him weightless. he has found inner-peace and there is restful tranquility here, where surface-tension allows the bather to unwind completely in this idyllic place on the French Cote d'Azur riviera. Behind his head unoccupied sun loungers are facing the Mediterranean Sea, its clear horizon empty except for a lone yacht that sails along the ocean coast. The colour of both sea and pool are the same on this overcast day that allows us to experience a more muted tone to the scene, also allowing us to see the contiunation of natural waters, as if they run from one to the other.
    cote_dazur01-15-12-2007 _1.jpg
  • Whilst on a cruise aboard the Fun Ship Ecstasy during a voyage from Miami around the Gulf of Mexico, passengers enjoy a sexual game on deck beneath a strong tropical sun. Male contestants have lined up to be inspected by a blindfolded lady wearing a swim suit and painted nails who is required to identify her own husband by feeling his lower body and torso. Howls of laughter emit from the other men as the lady realises that this is indeed her own spouse who stands on a chair, his bulging crotch at chest height. She smiles to herself, still blind beneath a towel and the moment is funny enough for all to enjoy a happy hour of organised entertainment on deck. The Panamanian-registered MS Ecstasy is a 70,367 ton cruise ship carrying 2,052 passengers and 920 crew belonging to Vegas-style Carnival Cruise lines.
    carnival_cruises02-15-12-2007 _1.jpg
  • Empty chairs and open Bibles, all bathed in yellow artificial light make this airport chapel in Frankfurt am Main, Germany a European modernist haven from the chaos of global air travel; an escape from delays, terrorism and overall fears of flying. Predominately Christian with small corners for Muslim believers, the new modernism at Frankfurt/Main reflects a strong European tradition of functional design – far removed from the drab, dourness of many similar American facilities. Picture from the 'Plane Pictures' project, a celebration of aviation aesthetics and flying culture, 100 years after the Wright brothers first 12 seconds/120 feet powered flight at Kitty Hawk,1903.
    aviation_corbis32-19-10-2000_1.jpg
  • The nose detail of a de Havilland Comet in the colours of the long-defunct airline Dan Air is seen in profile at the Imperial War Museum's Duxford airfield, Cambridgeshire, England. The British de Havilland Comet first flew in July 1949 and is noted as the world's first commercial jet airliner as well as one of the first pressurized commercial aircraft. Early models suffered from catastrophic metal fatigue and the aircraft was redesigned. Here, the nose structure is held together with rivets that sit askew of the aircraft skin making it aerodynamically unfit to fly. It remains however, one of the classic and iconic designs in the history of commercial aviation. Picture from the 'Plane Pictures' project, a celebration of aviation aesthetics and flying culture, 100 years after the Wright brothers first 12 seconds/120 feet powered flight at Kitty Hawk,1903.
    aviation_corbis15-12-12-1997_1.jpg
  • A father supports his son on his shoulders as a giant four-engined airliner passes directly overhead, about to land at London's Heathrow airport, England. Seen from a low angle, we see the graphic cruciform shape of the aircraft as it screams past two powerful airfield landing lights that help guide arriving aircraft to the runway. The backlit scene is largely monochrome apart from the boys red t-shirt and yellow-faced watch which are lit by flash, underexposing the overcast sky. Prior to 9/11, British airport authorities and police tolerated plane spotters near runway fences but with heightened terrorist alerts, these enthusiasts are told to move on or face arrest. Picture from the 'Plane Pictures' project, a celebration of aviation aesthetics and flying culture, 100 years after the Wright brothers first 12 seconds/120 feet powered flight at Kitty Hawk,1903.
    aviation_corbis13-17-08-1997_1 1.jpg
  • Crowds of visitors and locals gather on the terrace of an Ocean Drive cafe in Miami Beach. It is early evening and we see the blurred people moving about over the picture during a time-exposure of a few seconds. The colours of ambient neon lights that these streets are well-known for have become very vivid with bright pinks and reds a main feature of this scene. A menu board listing cocktail drinks prices stands on the sidewalk. Candles have been lit in glass jars on table tops. Ghostly, blurred Palm trees sway about in the coastal breeze against the fading sky of early evening. This is a vibrant district of tropical Miami, Florida. The place to hang-out and be noticed. Glowing pinks and blues are vivid in this scene where beautiful people and expensive cars cruise along slowly, each parading bodywork and personality.
    miami_beach01-15-12-2007 .jpg
  • Stopping work for a moment to pose for a portrait on the sea wall at Lowestoft, Suffolk, England, a team of the resort's lifeguards show their youth, fitness and bodies beautiful, displaying themselves in the sun of a fine summer day. There is only one female member but some are standing on the wall while others are seated in deck chairs, a ladder seat or on the hot sand near three sexy girls are are sunning themselves near a railing. Wearing bikinis one is not asleep but eyeing-up some of the alpha-male specimens  on show wearing only red shorts. Meanwhile, holidaymakers walk past with ice-creams. It is a bright scene and obviously a busy time for these safety experts when tourists forever get themselves into danger in the sea and surf. Currents here make for a hazardous experience for those unable to swim out of trouble.
    england_beach04-15-12-2007 _1.jpg
  • Soon to arrive in the English port of Portsmouth from Cherbourg, the first of its routes, we see the SeaCat leaving its watery wake in the English Channel. Hoverspeed Great Britain is a 74 metre long, ocean-going catamaran built in 1990 by Incat for the UK company Hoverspeed. It is powered by four 20RK270 marine engines with a 7080 kW at 100% Maximum Continuous Rating (MCR). The engines were built at the Newton-le-Willows site which at the time was part of the Alstom group. Since then it has been bought by MAN B&W Germany and the site was closed and production transferred to nearby Mirrlees Blackstone site. Hoverspeed, formed in 1981 by the merger of Seaspeed and Hoverlloyd, was a ferry and hovercraft company that operated on the English Channel from 1981 until 2005.
    seacat_at_sea-18-06-1990.jpg
  • While visiting London's tourist sites, a young boy of about 5 years-old spends time at Horse Guards where a soldier from the Household Cavalry, also dressed in a deep red coat, stands motionless and at-ease. It is a bright day and the gray stonework amplifies the scarlett uniform tunics as the boy has his picture taken by family. The British Household Cavalry is classed as a corps in its own right, and consists of two regiments: Life Guards (British Army) and the Blues and Royals (Royal Horse Guards and 1st Dragoons). They are the senior regular regiments in the British Army, with traditions dating from 1660.
    RB_134-25-06-1989.jpg
  • One a hot November night, a Sri Lankan Airlines A340-300 series Airbus - registration number 4R-ADE - is bathed in high-intensity floodlights on the apron at Malé international airport in the Republic of the Maldives. Surrounded by passenger steps, servicing vehicles for catering and the loading of baggage and air freight in the below-floor holds, the aircraft is readied for its next flight to Colombo, another journey for this aircraft as it travels across the world's air routes.
    maldives434-15-11-2007.jpg
  • An aerial view of unidentified islands seen from a regional aircraft passing overhead the atolls and islands to the north Malé, capital of the Indian Ocean Republic of the Maldives. We see the perfectly clear blue sea surrounding the islands and tiny sandbanks of white coral beach sand, all of which are in jeopardy of rising sea levels as global warming makes sea level locations like this vulnerable to being overwhelmed. The only sign of life is the tiny island in the bottom right of frame where holiday resort accommodation ring this dot in the ocean. The Maldives comprise of twenty-six atolls, featuring 1,192 coral islands of which 80 are holiday resorts with 200 inhabited by indigenous communities. This Islamic nation of 298 sq km (115 sq miles), lie seven hundred kilometres (435 miles) south-west of Sri Lanka.
    maldives170-13-11-2007.jpg
  • Looking up to the Fast Bag Drop facility Heathrow airport's Terminal 5. Designed by architects Richard Rogers Partnership the controversial building opened with chaotic scenes on 27/3/08. British Airways passengers faced baggage disruption after a 6 year construction project that has seen the British public divided over the role of commercial aviation. At a cost of £4.3bn, the project was Britain's longest planning inquiry which lasted four years but finally employing a total of 60,000 workers. 30,000 square metres of glass in walls; 80,000 tonnes of steel were used - 17,000 in the roof alone; 5,000 doors, 800 toilets, 20,000 power sockets and 1,700 miles of cable; 60 new aircraft stands, including 14 for the Airbus A380; 13km of tunnels were bored for the state-of-the-art baggage handling to handle 12,000 bags per hour.
    heathrow_terminal_five-05-17-03-2008...jpg
  • A slightly comical scene of modern air travel as two lady passengers haul matching suitcases at the British Airways self-check-in kiosk at Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5. The self-service kiosks that have been developed to allow customers to process their own ticketing on arrival at this aviation hub for British Airways. Once they've chosen their seat and printed a boarding pass, they can go straight to the Fast Bag Drop desk at the airport. There, baggage will be tagged by an agent and sent to the aircraft. At a cost of £4.3 billion, Terminal 5 has the capacity to serve around 30 million passengers a year. From writer Alain de Botton's book project "A Week at the Airport: A Heathrow Diary" (2009). ...
    heathrow_airport1434-18-08-2009_1 1.jpg
  • A young brother and sister look on in awe while a British Airways check-in lady asks security questions of the pair's parents who are taking her children on a long-haul flight from London Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5. The family baggage has been tagged and is about to disappear down the belt to join up to 70,000 other items in this average day at T5. The siblings stare as the young woman checks the travel details of the mother and father who have booked Business Class seats for them all. From writer Alain de Botton's book project "A Week at the Airport: A Heathrow Diary" (2009).
    heathrow_airport1396-18-08-2009_1 1.jpg
  • A female member of the Thomas Cook staff issues foreign currency to an unseen airline passenger in the departures concourse at Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5. This Bureau de Change is one of two companies trading in foreign exchange, travel insurance and travellers cheques for passengers passing through this aviation hub is west London. We see on the wall behind the assistant, a beach paradise scene of palm trees, calm seas and beach chalets, the idea of tranquillity and prosperity. On the left are the exchange rates for the world's currencies for purchase at this kiosk. From writer Alain de Botton's book project "A Week at the Airport: A Heathrow Diary" (2009).
    heathrow_airport1135-12-08-2009_1.jpg
  • Mothers and sons hug emotionally in the international arrivals hall of Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5 airport. Three families have gathered to meet their respective sons who have been travelling around the world during their university gap year sabbatical trip of a lifetime. With balloons and banners amid the hectic concourse where other relatives greet their loved-ones after months away from home on their adventures. This is a tradition practised across the world's airports where families are separated by the need to travel or work in other countries and the emotion of meeting again after long absences is always hard. From writer Alain de Botton's book project "A Week at the Airport: A Heathrow Diary" (2009).
    heathrow_airport83-13-07-2009_1 1.jpg
  • Standing on weathered concrete at an old launchpad from a bygone age, space tourists stop to photograph the current Ariane 5 launchpad while on a tour of the European Space Agency at Kourou, French Guiana. They are mostly Japanese, representing their B-SAT communications satellite which is to be sent into orbit later that night alongside a US-made Hughes Corporation and Lockheed Martin technology. An American NASA space technician walks past the four Japanese as they hold cameras that record their souvenirs of a memorable day at this space facility deep in the South American rainforest. The orange bags carried by all are gas masks. Should the out of sight rocket booster explode or leak liguid propellant, dangerous fumes might overcome the visitors.
    esa_guiana09114-08-2007_1.jpg
  • Using a tabloid newspaper, a father seeks shelter from sunshine while sitting in a council deck chair. On the front page of the paper is a headline saying "Butchered' showing a picture of an unfortunate young 3 year-old boy murdered by a maniac axeman. Close-by is the man's own son who is digging a hole furiously in the sand. He looks uncannily like a slightly older version of the murdered boy. This coincidence is heightened because of the body-language of the digging lad, seemingly about to chop an unseen object with his red spade. Both man and boy are on holiday at the northern English seaside resort of Scarborough, North Yorkshire and they are otherwise having a great time on South Beach, near the Grand Hotel building, high up on the cliff.
    england_beach03-15-12-2007 _1.jpg
  • Seen through a glass screen, we see a crowd of passengers - a mixture of business and holiday travellers - awaiting the departure of their commercial flight from Frankfurt am Main international airport, Germany. Reflected lights and other windows merge into this scene of European air travel where the everyday misery of delays and disruption affect millions on a daily basis. Some people are still seated while the more enthusiastic wait in line, queuing for the imminent departure. Frankfurt is also a sprawling hub for the German state airline Lufthansa. Picture from the 'Plane Pictures' project, a celebration of aviation aesthetics and flying culture, 100 years after the Wright brothers first 12 seconds/120 feet powered flight at Kitty Hawk,1903.
    aviation_corbis33-19-10-2000_1.jpg
  • Like a huge caged animal in a zoo, the cockpit section of a Boeing 747 'jumbo' jet is perceived peering over the barbed-wire perimeter fence at London's Heathrow airport between engineering schedules and more transcontinental flights. Two fluffy cumulus clouds are stacked vertically above the hump of the airliner's nose to form three white blotches of the same tone. This major hub is mainly for British Airways operations, one of the three busiest airports in the world. When asked what is his favourite building of the Century, architect Sir Norman Foster offered the 747 the Jumbo has since carried 2.2 billion people: 40% of the world’s population. Picture from the 'Plane Pictures' project, a celebration of aviation aesthetics and flying culture, 100 years after the Wright brothers first 12 seconds/120 feet powered flight at Kitty Hawk,1903.
    aviation_corbis14-17-08-1997_1 1.jpg
  • In the shelter of a large red and yellow-striped marquee tent, a middle-aged husband and wife relax in deck chairs on Brighton's East Pier, England. The wife appears to be asleep and has taken the prrecution against splinters from the pier's planks by spreading a tiny towell to rest her feet upon. She has dyed hair and large sun glasses and her bony legs are tanned and veined from much exposure to the sun. The husband is also fully-clothed with a loud checked jacket, black shoes and socks and he sits crossed-legged with a peaked cap and dark glasses with his hands across his belly. They are in a peaceful spot on this pier, a Victorian seaside structure built in 1899 for those taking the air to walk out onto the sea without getting their feet wet.
    pier_couple01.jpg
  • A rather obese woman stands in the waves at the seaside resort of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk. With hands behind her back and fingers interlocked the lady wears a turquoise bathing costume that just about fits her ample, wide body. Her bottom is large as are her legs that have cellulite on the tops of her thighs. She looks left alone, a solitary person standing with her back to the viewer - or perhaps she is standing guard, keeping watch on children as they play safely in the sea. Water splashes against her lower legs and is frozen still by a fast shutter speed. It is a fine, bright sunny afternoon on this Eastern coast of England, more noted for very changeable weather rather than the heatwave experienced here.
    obese_bather.jpg
  • In the terminal at Charles de Gaulle/Roissy airport, Paris France, the peace of the airport chapel looks like a Star Trek-style place of worship, typical of the new airport experience pushed upon in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. Short stools and padded benches line the intimate space in the satellite building. Designed by Paul Andreu, Charles de Gaulle became a symbol for airport modernity becoming an ‘Aérogare’ where trains and planes whisk the new world traveller of the late ‘60s, away beyond an ever-extending horizon. From here, the Air France Concorde crashed on the aviation employment town of Gonesse on July 25th 2000. Picture from the 'Plane Pictures' project, a celebration of aviation aesthetics and flying culture, 100 years after the Wright brothers first 12 seconds/120 feet powered flight at Kitty Hawk,1903.
    aviation_corbis31-24-07-2001_1.jpg
  • With few visitors to see, a young boy pees into the water surrounding a model town at the Splendid China model village, the 30 hectares large tourist attraction in the city of Shenzen, China. The kid aims into the water with his mother's help. In the background we see some of the 50,000 ceramic figures and scenes from a period in Chinese history and further away, modern skyscrapers in the metropolis contrasting with ancient, traditional village life. Splendid China is an attraction at the Overseas Chinese Town, Shenzhen that has scaled down replicas of China's historical buildings, wonderful scenes and folk customs. The scale models are of a 1:15 with 100 miniaturized landmarks such as The Terracotta Warriors; Great Wall; Forbidden City; Old Summer Palace etc. all laid out according to their geographic locations.
    shenzhen_peeing04-21-1995_1_1.jpg
  • A British lady applies a layer of sun cream to her hand on a beach in Magaluf.  In the foreground, and aligned with the lady's own body is a sun lounger with a beach towel draped over which depicts the torso and legs of a cartoon Hercules Adonis character complete in ancient Greek style with muscular thighs and short skirt. In the background is a hotel building and two other tourists with their tanned backs towards the viewer. Magaluf is a popular holiday resort on the island of Mallorca, one of the Spanish Balearic Islands. A seedy resort very much orientated around British tourists and catering for both young parties as well as families, it is considered as a hot and exotic alternative to the chilly seaside towns around the UK's coast.
    RB-0049.jpg
  • During a time-exposure of a few seconds, the ambient neon and natural evening light of Miami Beach's Ocean Drive are mixed together to give an atmospheric mood of vitality, bustle and excitement in this tropical city. The vertical-aligned name of the famous Colony Hotel is seen through the darkened window of an SUV (4x4). Glowing pinks and blues are vivid in this scene where beautiful people and expensive cars cruise along slowly, each parading bodywork and personality. Palm trees sway about in the coastal breeze, blurring during the exposure and making them ghostly against the fading sky of early evening. This is vibrant district of Miami, Florida. The place to hang-out and be noticed.
    miami_beach03-15-12-2007 .jpg
  • Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States sits on his throne watching over this nation's capital as a tourist is dwarfed in scale beneath. Strong but low orange light pours through the East-facing entrance. The Lincoln Memorial stands at the west end of the National Mall as a neoclassical monument to the 16th President. Designed by Henry Bacon, it stands almost 100 feet high, surrounded by 36 massive fluted columns, each 37 feet (10 m) high. The actual statue of Lincoln is 19 feet high and weighs 175 tons.
    lincoln_memorial01.jpg
  • Looking up to the Nokia information screen and 40m high roof of Heathrow airport's Terminal 5. Designed by architects Richard Rogers Partnership the controversial building opened with chaotic scenes on 27/3/08. British Airways passengers faced baggage disruption after a 6 year construction project that has seen the British public divided over the role of commercial aviation. At a cost of £4.3bn, the project was Britain's longest planning inquiry which lasted four years but finally employing a total of 60,000 workers. 30,000 square metres of glass in walls; 80,000 tonnes of steel were used - 17,000 in the roof alone; 5,000 doors, 800 toilets, 20,000 power sockets and 1,700 miles of cable; 60 new aircraft stands, including 14 for the Airbus A380; 13km of tunnels were bored for the state-of-the-art baggage handling to handle 12,000 bags per hour.
    heathrow_terminal_five-04-17-03-2008...jpg
  • A young African mother allows her sleeping baby some well-earned rest at Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5. In the departures concourse the mum and her child await their check-in zone to open in this international aviation hub in West London. The infant sleeps soundly, wrapped to its mother's back in the traditional manner for carrying children in the developing world. It is a simple scene of everyday care for one's child and airport operator spent £4.3 billion on Terminal 5 which has the capacity to serve around 30 million passengers a year. From writer Alain de Botton's book project "A Week at the Airport: A Heathrow Diary" (2009).
    heathrow_airport1068-11-08-2009_1 1.jpg
  • In a Brussels Flea Market, two curly-haired twin sisters wander about the cobbled square to play with a an empty push-chair at the Marché du Jeu de Balle, in the Marolles district of Belgium's capital city. In harsh sunlight the girls role-play at mothering, a gender conditioning that all children discover and these females are finding it natural to act as parents at such a young age. An antique doll sits looking in our direction, dressed in frilly clothes and all around is Chinese laquered furniture and other kids' toys like a hobby horse and a trike. At Place du Jeu de Balle Flea Market, you can find an extraordinary mix of household items, vintage clothes, crockery and furniture. This market is open daily from 6am to 2pm and is in the heart of the “Marolles” district, a working-class neighbourhood that was built in the 17th century.
    flea_market06-24-1992_1.jpg
  • The Carnival Cruise ship Fun Ship Ecstasy is anchored at night in Cancun, Mexico mid-way during a weeklong cruise around the Gulf of Mexico. With the green light from a quayside hotel and the orange light from a setting sun, the lights from the vessel make it look like a floating city. The Panamanian-registered MS Ecstasy is a 70,367 ton cruise ship carries 2,052 passengers and 920 crew whose routes are mainly around the Gulf and Caribbean Sea. Carnival's ships are known for their Las Vegas decor and entertainment, calling its vessels Fun Ships. The MS Ecstasy is a Fantasy class cruise ship featuring two pools, whirlpools, a variety of dining options, nightclubs, a casino, and duty-free shopping.
    cruise_ship01-07-05-1996_1.jpg
  • Looking down from above, we see one lone queuing traveller at Charles de Gaulle, gazes up towards the large Departures board. Fellow-passengers wait by baggage trolleys in a civilised line beneath the information. Charles de Gaulle/Roissy is a hub airport for Air France north of the French capital. The departures information has schedule times, destinations, flight, satellite and gate numbers plus   remarks. Air travellers experience such misery every day and shows of how global air travel has become a routine, mundane and stressful for the everyday airline passenger - a far cry from when commercial flight was purely for the elite. Picture from the 'Plane Pictures' project, a celebration of aviation aesthetics and flying culture, 100 years after the Wright brothers first 12 seconds/120 feet powered flight at Kitty Hawk,1903.
    aviation_corbis29-27-07-2000_1.jpg
  • An aerial view of an unidentified island community seen from a regional aircraft passing overhead atolls and islands, a few miles to the north Malé, capital of the Indian Ocean Republic of the Maldives. We see the perfectly clear blue sea surrounding an island of white coral beach sand, a harbour, holiday apartments and importantly coastal defence barriers that may defend against rising sea levels as global warming makes sea level locations like this vulnerable to flooding. The Maldives comprise of twenty-six atolls, featuring 1,192 coral islands of which 80 are holiday resorts with 200 inhabited by indigenous communities. This Islamic nation of 298 sq km (115 sq miles), lie seven hundred kilometres (435 miles) south-west of Sri Lanka.
    maldives167-13-11-2007.jpg
  • Two elderly passengers have stopped by in a retail space called World of Duty Free to taste Scottish Malt Whiskey in Terminal 5 at heathrow Airport. The two South-Africans travel widely across the world to visit their extended family and like to stop by this shop to try the various blends of Scotch with the help of a sales person who helps them decide which bottles to buy. Together they swallow the fine alcohol and taste its delicate and subtle differences. From writer Alain de Botton's book project "A Week at the Airport: A Heathrow Diary" (2009).
    heathrow_airport132-13-07-2009_1.jpg
  • The pretty coastal town of Menton on the French Cote d'Azur is seen beneath a cloudless blue sky in later afternoon spring sunshine. Looking across the water, in the foreground is the marina populated with assorted yachts, launches and other boats safely moored to jetties and pontoons. The bell-tower of baroque basilica Saint-Michel-Archange, houses and buildings of Menton rise up along hillsides and the mountains of the Ligurian Alps rise up in the distance, all bathed in orange light. Mediterranean Menton - near the Italian border - is known as Le perle de la France ("The Pearl of France") for its famous beauty. It is also known for La Musée Jean Cocteau which is located in the town.
    cote_dazur02-15-12-2007 _1.jpg
  • A lone passenger gazes out from the departure lounge at Charles de Gaulle/Roissy airport terminal to where airliners are parked. It is late evening and blue light outside makes the orange interior look warm. Designed by Paul Andreu, Charles de Gaulle became a symbol for airport modernity - a Le Corbusier concept of rail stations and ‘autodromes.’ Charles de Gaulle’s role as airport and rail station fuses into one, thus becoming an ‘Aérogare’ where trains and planes whisk the new world traveller of the late ‘60s, away beyond an ever-extending horizon. From here, the Air France Concorde crashed on the aviation employment town of Gonesse on July 25th 2000. Picture from the 'Plane Pictures' project, a celebration of aviation aesthetics and flying culture, 100 years after the Wright brothers first 12 seconds/120 feet powered flight at Kitty Hawk,1903.
    aviation_corbis30-27-07-2000_1.jpg
  • Like a huge caged animal in a zoo, the cockpit section of a Boeing 747 'jumbo' jet is perceived peering over the barbed-wire perimeter fence at London's Heathrow airport between engineering schedules and more transcontinental flights. Two fluffy cumulus clouds are stacked vertically above the hump of the airliner's nose to form three white blotches of the same tone. This major hub is mainly for British Airways operations, one of the three busiest airports in the world. When asked what is his favourite building of the Century, architect Sir Norman Foster offered the 747 the Jumbo has since carried 2.2 billion people: 40% of the world’s population. Picture from the 'Plane Pictures' project, a celebration of aviation aesthetics and flying culture, 100 years after the Wright brothers first 12 seconds/120 feet powered flight at Kitty Hawk,1903.
    aviation_corbis14-17-08-1997_1.jpg
  • A United Airlines ramp agent stands in the terminal building of Chicago O'Hare airport before continuing his airside shift, dispatching and communicating with his operational airline colleagues. The man stands with hands in pockets wearing his company issue fluorescent safety jacket with reflective materials important on the ramp, in the company of dangerous vehicles and running aircraft engines. Ensuring the smooth arrival and departures of flights across America and the rest of the world, he is a key member of the airline at its O'Hare hub. Picture from the 'Plane Pictures' project, a celebration of aviation aesthetics and flying culture, 100 years after the Wright brothers first 12 seconds/120 feet powered flight at Kitty Hawk,1903.
    aviation_corbis55-10-11-2000_1.jpg
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