Yann Arthus-Bertrand got the idea back in 1994 to carry out a photographic survey of the earth. The end result of the project turned out to be thousands of aerial photos of sites in more than 150 countries.

An Earth from Above exhibition of some of the photos was put together, which was first shown in Paris in 2000 and has since been seen by about 100 million people worldwide.

So I was sitting here feeling rather miffed that I hadn’t seen the exhibition, and with no future UK dates in sight, it didn’t look like I would any time soon.

But then one of Yann Arthus-Bertrand’s websites came to the rescue. His Earth from Above website shows thousands of superb aerial photos from 95 (at time of writing) different locations. The photos are displayed with descriptions in English, French and Spanish and as if that wasn’t enough they can all be downloaded as wallpaper.

I have spent a good half an hour on the site already, and I’m ready to go visit all of these fantastic places! If you think, you’ve seen it all, been to every destination worth visiting, the Earth from Above website will make you think again. Word of warning, though, make sure you have plenty of time before you visit the website, because you won’t want to leave!

Get the Earth from Above books

Some of the Earth from Above photos are also available in these two books (aff. links):

• Earth from Above, Third Edition
• Earth From Above for Young Readers