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Warped photos turn Istanbul into stomach-churning roller coaster ride
Hold on tight. This is Turkey as you've never seen it.
Photographer Aydin Buyuktas' dizzying images of Istanbul were taken with a drone -- that is, when the weather and local wildlife permitted.
"So many times I had to turn back without a picture because of bad weather, technical problems, or birds attacking the drone," explained Buyuktas, whose background is in visual effects, animation, and video.
The result is a fantastically curved world, where roads and bridges dip away from the viewer much like roller coaster tracks.
Cities fold in on themselves, in "Inception." Credit: Courtesy IMDb/Warner Bros.
First though, Buyuktas had to learn to fly a drone.
"I trained for one month in an empty field," said the 43-year-old, originally from Ankara.
"I'm not flying around like video guys. I'm just taking photos, so the drone has to stand in the air in the exact position I planned."
Buyuktas then used Photoshop to morph together his vertigo-inducing collages -- similar to the mind-bending worlds depicted in Leonardo DiCaprio's 2010 film "Inception."
The photography series -- called "Flatland" -- was inspired by Edwin Abbat's 19th century mathematical novel "Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions."
"We live in places that most of the time don't draw our attention," explained Buyuktas.
"But these works aim to leave the viewer with a surprising ironic visual -- a multidimensional romantic point of view."