Brad Walls: Pools From Above
Aerial photographer Brad Walls explores minimalism + geometric shapes in his latest series ‘Pools From Above’, which is fulfilling all of our quarantining-in-an-LA-heat-wave daydreams. Walls flawlessly captures vibrant blues + strikingly beautiful patterns within public + private pools around the world, and we can’t help but be transported to a blissful utopia through his images. We caught up with Brad all about the pools he shot, his aerial photography process + what’s next.
Asymmetric Magazine: Tell us about your ‘Pools From Above’ series.
Brad Walls: I started taking images of pools two years ago on my travels around south-east Asia for the sole purpose of collecting memories. It wasn’t until the end of 2019 that I picked up the bestselling Annie Kelly coffee table book Splash: The Art of the Swimming Pool that began to refine the series aesthetic to really focus on exposing the architectural features of each pool—like their own personality.
AM: Do you have a favorite pool/location you shot?
BW: Great question and obviously a very hard one to answer, as each pool has their own identity. However, the pool that particularly stood out as memorable for me was taken during my time in Byron Bay ‘A Palm Springs Ting’ on my Instagram in early 2019. I was taking aerial imagery of the surrounding architecture and happened to capture a few pool images, too. Initially when sorting through the collection, the image was disregarded and not edited for the shoot. It wasn’t until the start of COVID lockdown in Australia where I was re-editing old shots, that I discovered the ‘hidden’ gem, now know as ‘A Palm Springs Ting’. This image was one of the first to form the pool series and is still a favorite of mine because of the discovery of my style. It must have taken me 50 edits to get that image to sing, but that learning process was the foundation of the entire series. I cannot stress the importance of failing time after time to find a winning formula.
I cannot stress the importance of failing time after time to find a winning formula.
AM: What was the biggest challenge when capturing these pools?
BW: From a technical point of view, there has been a lot of learnings surrounding proper lighting. Lighting is and always will be either a photographers worst enemy or their secret weapon. It’s all about shadow management to capture those sweet crystal blue waters. Stylistically, it took patience and resilience to develop the aesthetic for the series. Without the necessary time and natural flow of artistic discovery, I wouldn’t have had the chance to develop the ‘special sauce’ for creating ‘Pools From Above’.
AM: How did you get into aerial photography? What’s the first thing you shot from that perspective?
BW: I bought one of the first semi-professional drones back when they first came out (2018) and actually started taking landscape shots, and one of my shots went viral on Reddit of a national park in Canada. However, as time went on, I just felt aerial photography was missing something. The scene was dominated by landscape compositions, and I thought there was something to be explored in a more abstract way.
AM: Are there any consistent themes you pursue through your photography?
BW: My style is ever-evolving. Currently, my aesthetic focuses on minimal elements, clean lines, geometric patterns forming, at times abstract compositions. I also enjoy experimenting with people as subject matter. I feel people—as subjects—are underutilized in aerial compositions. You can read about that here. Both styles of architecture and people are still very new within the aerial discipline, as landscape photography is still very much the focus. I think that is why I was drawn to these subject matters. It was exciting pushing the boundaries and innovating within photography.
AM: What’s been keeping you grounded in the current climate/pandemic?
BW: I suppose just looking forward and drawing positives from the ‘reset’. It’s very easy to be consumed by it all, so where I can just turn off and focus my energy that brings me happiness and a majority of that was working on this series. Also, I have been shooting a bunch and just photographed an Australian Ballerina for an upcoming series—really excited to release that in the next month or two.
AM: We love to ask visual artists: What music are you listening to right now?
BW: I’ve been vibing out to Jan Blomqvist and Zimmer quite heavily. I was listening to Recto Verso by Paradis album whilst finishing the ‘Pools From Above’ series, the French house pop duo was the perfect jam to create those perfect crystal blues transporting me to an oasis bliss.
AM: What can we expect to see from you next?
BW: As aforementioned, I am close to releasing a series with an Australian Ballerina—look out for that. In the short-medium term, I am looking to focus on architecture. I think there is an opportunity from above that I want to seek out, and it’s rarely been tapped into. Longer term, expect to see a coffee table book within the next three years once I have collated more pools from above.
View more of Brad Walls’ work at bradscanvas.com + Instagram.
