Where Oil Becomes Landscape: Aerial Images by Kevin Krautgartner

Kevin Krautgartner is no stranger to Inspiration Grid, and his latest series, Where Oil Becomes Landscape, gives us a bird’s-eye view of Alberta’s oil sands, where resource extraction has transformed huge stretches of land into an industrial terrain of pits, ponds, roads and machinery. Kevin photographed the region over several flights in small aircraft and helicopters, revealing a scale of transformation that is difficult to grasp from the ground.

From above, these industrial surfaces become incredibly abstract. Inky blacks, silvery grays and rusty oranges swirl together like marbled paint, while conveyors, roads and machinery cut sharp geometric lines through the fluid patterns. Some of the images look like enormous abstract paintings.

The series examines the tension between the resources modern life depends on and the landscapes altered to provide them, inviting viewers to consider what happens to these places once extraction ends. The project will also form part of an upcoming book Kevin is working on.

More photography inspiration Kevin Krautgartner’s website