Who are we, and how do we do what we do?

Bruno R. Schreck created Aerial Aesthetics in order to illustrate the inspiring beauty of our environment, and the detailed effects of nature and humanity which can be viewed from the sky.

Bruno is a commercial and advertising photographer with over 35 years experience, having delivered award winning stock and assignment photography to hundreds of major international clients. He is an instrument rated pilot and has flown his aircraft in 45 states and 5 countries for over 25 years.

After majoring in engineering at Manhattan College he became an officer in the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, stationed in Germany for 2 years. Next he toured Europe, Morocco and Turkey, living in a VW bus, and photographing in an editorial style. Returning to the USA, he headed west criss-crossing the American back roads in another VW bus, photographing along the way.

Settling in Hollywood, he shot for clients in advertising and the motion picture and music business for 9 years. Relocating to New York, he specialized in product and portrait photography for nearly every major cosmetics company, over a 20-year period.

Investing in machine tools (milling machines, turret lathes, vibratory de-burring machines, glass bead blasters, etc.), Bruno became a self-taught machinist (he was always an inventor). He designed and manufactured a patentable mini-grip system which enables uniquely complex and sophisticated lighting effects. He also created unique props, and motion and water effects devices, some of which are rented for motion pictures.

During that time he returned to his childhood fascination with aviation, earned his pilot's license and bought a plane. Using his machine shop, he modified cameras to simplify the process of oblique aerial photography, such that higher quality photos could be produced safely by a pilot/photographer. Having traveled in over 27 countries, he has created an extensive record of aerial, studio, location and editorial images.

Real estate photos are shot from helicopter and fixed wing aircraft, for medium and higher altitudes. Boom trucks and elevating platforms are used for closer perspectives.

Bruno's sky images are shot through the open window of his Cessna aircraft. Most sky images are taken from altitudes of 5,000 to 18,000 feet. Missions are planned with a keen eye towards the weather as well as consultation with air traffic control. Supplementary oxygen is often necessary for high altitudes.

The photos are shot with customized large format and roll film cameras and high-resolution digital cameras. Wide-angle lenses are used to render a feeling of presence. Considerable computer work is employed to compress the wide tonal range of the sky into the final images.

Our facilities in New York and Long Island include extensive lighting equipment, wood and metalworking shops, multiple computer stations, high-resolution scanners, wide format printers and mounting, framing and laminating machines.

Click for a partial list of our clients (as a PDF).

Bruno's Statement on the Sky and Our Ability to Fly:

The sky is earth's largest and yet often most under appreciated gift. It encompasses more than 180 degrees of our physical sphere; we stand surrounded by it. It is an infinitely variable abstraction. When we think we’ve seen it, wait... it shows us something new.
The sky is a symbol and the shorthand for all of nature. It speaks to us in a universal language. Is there a religion or culture which has not seen God’s place as in the sky?
Since Man does not know, with certainty, His purpose within nature; therefore nature must be preserved, as if the mystery will someday be disclosed. That is the basis for the need for balance: technology will not reveal all the answers. Nature’s secrets, when discovered, have only led us to more questions.
Nature itself is a balance of influences. But now mankind is adding powerful effects at such a rate that nature is stressed to adapt. To assess the tipping of this balance, one needs only to ask an experienced pilot. He or she sees indiscriminate development, soil mismanagement, mysterious algae plumes and industrial waste. The pilot can recount the changes, as seen from the objectivity of altitude, and the recall of time. From the air, the changes cannot be hidden by a line of trees or even the isolation of the wilderness. They cannot be edited from the map of reality.
By turning his head only a quadrant upward, the pilot sees the sky; wild, not yet despoiled and infinitely varied. The freedom and beauty of this thin layer must be protected from all that endangers it from below. To explore the sky is not simply to witness beauty. It is to witness Life; to hold in awe it’s beginnings, to respect its power, to puzzle at its mystery; even to wonder of our own purpose.