A different view from above

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Shadows of clouds can be seen along the coastline of the Gulf of Carpentaria. All Photos David Gray / Reuters

Creeks and small rivers can be seen in the Tanami Desert.

A river can be seen flowing among sand dunes in the Tanami Desert.

A small lake can be seen among sand dunes.

A small river flows amid sand dunes.

A dirt road and river intersect.

A beach can be seen along the coastline of Arnhem Land, east of Darwin.

Mining operations are seen at the Rio Tinto alumina refinery and bauxite mine in Gove, also known as Nhulunbuy, located 650 kilometres east of Darwin.

A Boeing 767 plane casts a shadow above a bay near Arnhem Land.

Aerial photography is a blessing and a curse for most photo editors.

Need to illustrate a story about rent increases or decreases? Use an aerial shot of Dubai Marina or Reem Island. Traffic deaths in the Western Region have fallen? Use an aerial shot of the UAE's rural roads. Want to show how much Dubai has developed over the past ten years? Aerial photography again, or, even better, get a series of satellite shots from Nasa!

In short, the use of aerial photography can become a cliché, a popular one with readers, but an easy get-out-of-jail card for journalists nonetheless.

Then there is the other, more creative, use of aerial photography...

These images, shot by David Gray for news agency Reuters in the Australia Outback, are beautiful because they remove any sort of scale or normal point of reference; your eye is left to wander the patterns unconcerned by scale or context.

True, they won’t help a photo editor out with requests from a newsdesk, but they are wonderful in their own right.

* Mark Asquith