LOOK: Photographer’s shots of American Southwest gives rollercoaster feels

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Image: Aydın Büyüktaş
Image: Aydın Büyüktaş

Some say that a fresh perspective on things can sometimes lead to sparks of inspiration. One photographer took this literally to show a different point of view of everyday sights.

Image: Aydın Büyüktaş

Aydın Büyüktaş is a Turkish photographer who flew to the American Southwest from Istanbul to create his “Flatlands II” series of photographs, reports Wired.

“The area is like heaven for a photographer,” Büyüktaş said in the report.

Image: Aydın Büyüktaş
Image: Aydın Büyüktaş

To achieve his “Inception”-esque photos, he makes use of a couple of drones, 3-D rendering software and Photoshop. But before arriving at the shoot locations, Büyüktaş spent two months exploring the American Southwest through Google Maps, planning his shots.

Image: Aydın Büyüktaş
Image: Aydın Büyüktaş

By November, Büyüktaş arrived in Houston, rented a jeep, then went on a road trip to various spots that he had plotted out. He kept to deserted two-lane roads that lead to Arizona, California, New Mexico, Texas and Southern California.

“I’ve driven over 300,000 miles around Turkey and never seen that much roadkill,” he said.

Image: Aydın Büyüktaş
Image: Aydın Büyüktaş

“Flatlands” was his first project of this sort. It featured various locales in Istanbul twisted and warped.

According to the artist’s online profile, Büyüktaş, who was born in Ankara in 1972, dropped out from Bilkent University and moved to Istanbul in the 2000s. He eventually ventured into film work, advertising, visual effects, 3D, animation and video, and started to gain international attention for his work in 2008.

Check out his personal site for more mind-bending photos. Alfred Bayle/JB

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