Extraordinary pictures show just how many planes already take off from Heathrow as protests mount against third runway
LA-based photographer Mike Kelley has been working on his amazing ‘Airportaits’ for two years
THESE extraordinary pictures show just how many planes already take off from Heathrow as protests mount against the newly-approved third runway.
An LA-based photographer has been working on his amazing composite ‘Airportraits’ for two years highlighting the astonishing volume of planes leaving the airport.
Mike Kelley has taken pictures planes taking off from runways and compiling them into impressive combined shots.
Each picture shows dozens of planes either taking off or flying overhead all in one image - showcasing how busy the skies are.
The architectural photographer was plane spotting at Los Angeles' LAX airport in America in 2014 when he landed the idea.
He said: "I've always been fascinated by aviation and one day while out at LAX plane spotting, decided that I wanted to try capturing multiple takeoffs and putting them together into a single image to show their flight paths and the sheer volume of traffic departing LAX.
"The crazy thing is that the first image was originally supposed to just be a proof-of-concept to see if the idea had any legs.
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"I put it on the internet as kind of a ‘hey, check this little thing out that I did, it's kind of cool’ and it just went crazy viral."
Following the success of his first picture, he set out to visit a number of famous airports to build up a library of photographs to work on.
The artist, who racked up more than 74,000 air miles on 25 flights to complete the series, said: "I mostly chose airports based on their setting or how iconic they are on a global scale.
"Heathrow is obviously one of the most well-known, for better or worse, airports in the world, set in the middle of what is probably the most famous city on earth.
"Haneda is the busiest airport in the world, and you can see the iconic Mount Fuji on a perfect day - I wanted to tie these amazing locations together with their air traffic in a way that hadn't been seen before."
Mike created the amazing composite pictures, some of which took weeks or even months to create, as he had to contend with the weather and position of the sun.
He said: "Sometimes it can take a day of shooting and a day in Photoshop, and in some cases it took weeks of waiting and then months of tweaking in Photoshop to get everything just perfect."
According to Mike, the easiest place to get pictures was LAX where the weather was consistent, but other airports proved more problematic.
He added: "It actually took three trips to London to get images I was happy with because the constantly shifting weather and winds.
"Same with Tokyo. Turns out they're not lying when they say Mt Fuji is a fickle, fickle beast. It's only visible on the clearest of days, so I had to take two trips to Japan to get the image I wanted."
The pictures were released after the Government approved a third runway at the west London hub.
The Department for Transport said the £17.6billion project would bring economic benefits to passengers and the wider economy, but it has already caused problems for Theresa May.
Tory MP Zac Goldsmith has resigned over the Heathrow expansion plan, and Boris Johnson said the project was “undeliverable” and would never be completed.
The Foreign Secretary’s fellow Cabinet colleague Justine Greening has also voiced her concerns, saying she was “extremely disappointed with the decision,”