Looking Down (live link) catalogs aerial images taken at a set of points in Prospect Park. The images are positioned relative to these points. On hover, an aerial image flips to an image of the sky taken at the same point.
“Looking Down (015)” is coupled with “Looking Up (012)”. In juxtaposing photographs of the sky with GPS accuracy readings, “Looking Up” described the relationship between tree canopy, open space, and accuracy. By exchanging one half of the pair, accuracy readings, for aerial images of the same location, “Looking Down” asks: does the sky match the ground? Does the ground provide context for the sky or vice versa? Does the human-scale of the sky-facing image alienate the otherwise familiar, but detached aerial perspective? Does the sky or ground seem more continuous than the other?
Field documentation methods are detailed in the post, “Field Data Collection (001): Prospect Park Walk“.
Next Steps:
– Pixelate images according to the accuracy reading on hover.
– Layout images according to recorded GPS coordinates at each point rather than the idealized grid. Some images will overlap and some will misalign.
– On hover, randomly flip half of all tiles, so that you never see all of the ground or the sky.
– On refresh, start with the aerial; refresh again, start with the sky.
Compare to:
– Looking Up (012)