Photos

Pilot Takes Stunning Photos of the U.S. While Flying

Jassen Torodov began flying in 2002. He owns a four-seat 1976 Piper Warrior, which he flies twice a week. He photographs while he flies, through an open window, resting the camera on his hand to pad the vibrations.

Torodov's photos show the stunning view of the U.S. from a plane window. He has traveled throughout the country taking these photos, from California to Florida, and many places in between. The views seem alien—from the rainbow-colored Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone National Park to drought-stricken California and the eerie, oil fields of Texas.

The photos are so striking that it's hard to believe that photography is not Torodov's main gig. Torodov is actually an accomplished violinist and a professor of music at San Francisco State University.

"If I'm well organized – which often times I'm not – I can fly the plane, I can play my violin, I can teach, I can take pictures and I can take a second flight at sunset," the artist told KQED.

In 2015, Torodov won a first place International Photography Award, second place in the Sony World Photography Awards and was named Nature Photographer of the Year.

"We have a lot of patterns and repetition in music," Torodov said. "There's a lot of discipline, There are rules, but when you break them – that's when it gets exciting. When you apply all of that to a new art form, you can advance quite fast. Music and photography are very similar in many ways."

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