Bernhard Edmaier: EarthArt: Colours of the Earth

EarthART: Colours of the Earth is a spectacular collection of breathtaking images by world-renowned aerial photographer Bernhard Edmaier (Earthsong, 2004, Patterns of the Earth, 2007 and Earth on Fire, 2009).

Divided into colour-coded chapters (blue, green, yellow, orange, red, violet, brown, grey/black and white), EarthART offers an astounding and little-seen view of the world’s surface. The images are presented on a black background for maximum effect: in the jewel-bright pages of this book, the colour wheel comes to life.

The selection includes some of Edmaier’s most celebrated aerial photographs as well as brand new, never-before-published images from the photographer’s most recent photographic flights, undertaken in Chile and Bolivia in November 2012 to complete his image selection for this new book. The book also includes some close-up shots of particularly striking natural phenomena.

The images in EarthART cover the entire colour spectrum as found in nature, and each photograph is accompanied by a short caption explaining how, where and why these spectacular colours occur: from tropical turquoise seas to icy blue glaciers; from lush green forests to rivers turned green by microscopically small algae. Yellow is the colour of desert sands as well as of sulphur crystals found near active volcanoes, while orange is the colour both of autumn leaves and of weathered rock: iron elements in the earth’s crust react with the oxygen and humidity in the air, producing shades from gold and rust right through to blood red. Red can also be a sign of intense heat, in the form of magma emerging from the earth’s core. Violet-coloured rock is very rare, requiring the presence of sunlight as well as several different minerals.