Mind-bending digital artist Aydın Büyüktaş is back with a series of warped photos that will leave you scratching your head. As a follow up to his Flatland series, which was shot in his native Turkey, Büyüktaş shot and composited a new set of images following a trip to the United States.
With Flatland II, the Turkish photographer takes us on a journey across America, picking out the mundane and beautiful spaces that litter the country. But Flatland II is no ordinary set of travel photos. Inspired by Edwin Abbat's 1884 avant-garde novel, Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions, Büyüktaş presents these spaces as sweeping, flattened landscapes.
“We live in places that most of the times don’t draw our attention, places that transform our memories, places that the artist gives another dimension,” Büyüktaş shares via email, “where the perceptions that generally cross our mind will be demolished and new ones will arise.”
The digitally manipulated images call attention to the symmetry and color of spaces often left for granted. Two months of careful location scouting were needed for the photographer to select the perfect environments, while one month—and 10,000 miles—were necessary to take the aerial shots. The final images are digital collages using between 18 to 20 photographs.
What we're left with is a series of digital composites that make the United States seem like a scene from Inception. Curling upwards, a central line hurtles toward us, sucking us into this alternate, third dimension.
Flatland II takes us through Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and California via a warped lens.
A total of 5 months was needed—from location scouting to post-production—in order to complete this warped photography project.
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