By
Maggie Burnett
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Local author/photographer publishes first book based on Arizona landscape
Though the beauty of Arizona's desert landscape has many times been photographed and published, Adriel Heisey's images of the desert are different in one profound way - all his photographs are taken from the air.
Heisey, a local author/photographer, will appear at the University of Arizona Bookstore tomorrow to sign and talk about his latest publication, "Under the Sun: A Sonoran Desert Odyssey."
Not only has Heisey toured the nation exhibiting his photography, but he was also featured in a National Geographic cover story for a portion of his work, taken while he lived in the Four Corners area.
"Under the Sun," displaying close to 70 color photographs of the Arizona/Sonora landscape collected over the past four years, came about as a result of Heisey's love for aviation. All the photographs published in the book were taken from Heisey's seat high in the sky.
Though Heisey's first aspiration was to be a teacher, he said that he eventually realized his love of flying was greater.
"Instead of teaching English, I decided I wanted to do full-time, pro aviation," he said. "The choice was very simple - just to give me as much time in the sky as possible."
Heisey said he felt that the conventional aircrafts he had been flying did not allow him to properly photograph Arizona's landscape.
Therefore, 10 years ago, he decided to construct his own aircraft.
Heisey made sure his aircraft was constructed in a manner that suited his desire to photograph Arizona and Sonora's rolling landscapes. He fashioned his plane so that it holds only the minimal equipment needed to fly and photograph.
Due to its light-weight frame, Heisey's aircraft operates relatively inexpensively and is ideal for photographing the land in that it can fly at a very low altitude
"Flying is a way of capturing the landscape that is visceral," he said. "I became intrigued with what I saw and what I didn't understand. I began researching, reading and talking to people in order to understand."
Heisey added that the construction of his aircraft took about 15 months, building 20 hours a week while still working full time as a pilot. Heisey logged close to 1100 hours of working time on the craft.
In addition to the abundance of photographs in the book, Heisey included writings that he said illustrated the process he underwent to complete the photography.
"The writings were like the re-emergence of an old love," he said. "I realized there are a lot of people who share a dream of flight. Writing enables me to take people behind the scenes and give them a chance to explore the intimacy of flying."
Heisey said that he will publish another book this time next year, based on his earlier work on Najavo land in the Four Corners area.
"This is my work - I'm a freelance photographer. Producing books is part of the spectrum of what I do," he said. "I'll probably be producing books like this into the forseeable future."
