AMAZING WINGED TRAILS MARK PLACES & TIME

As wings fly through the sky, their beauty is fleeting. We’ve gathered a collection of incredible photos that capture the evidence of their flight paths. Check out the art created by planes, rockets, moths, and fireflies as they leave their ghostly traces.

1. KEVIN COOLEY

These stunning photographs are part of Kevin Cooley's series “Nachtfluge,” showcasing the beauty of long exposure airplane light trails. Each image is shot near a major airport for the highest volume of traffic, resulting in the delicate patterns seen here.

Here’s Cooley’s artist statement for the project:

Photography is by nature an exploration of time. The blink of an eye may be frozen by the shutter. Or in the case of this series, many minutes or even hours add up to construct a single image punctuated by the paths of commercial airplanes traversing the night skies.

These white streaks, the only aspect of the planes visible in the photographs, are created by the landing and navigation lighting on every plane. Each line represents the amount of time it takes a commercial flight to pass through the frame.

2. JOEL DEVLIN

These lovely lines in the sky were all made by winged things over time. London photographer Joel Devlin has captured what appear to be otherworldly streaks of light in these 45 minute exposure shots, of planes coming into and leaving Heathrow Airport.

These flights represent just a few of the nearly 1300, on average, that leave Heathrow daily. Last year over 70 million passengers arrived and departed on silver wings through this airport.

These photos are part of Devlin’s Aviation Vectors project.

3. TERENCE CHANG

Terence Chang’s approach to capturing flight paths has its own quality that sets his photos apart from the others. This image of the San Francisco International Airport takes on an otherworldly feel. The lines rising gently from the ground as the planes lift off, appear to bend backwards on themselves as the planes fly away.

4. THE GUARDIAN

The Guardian has recently released an interactive webpage, called “In Flight,” to commemorate 100 years of passenger air travel.

Thousands of arcs rise and fall, showing each place wings take off and land across the globe, as live data from FlightStats appears to show every one of the thousands of commercial planes currently in the air.

5. BILL INGALLS

While rockets don't have proper wings, we wanted to include images of their light trails. More intense than planes, their paths burn more brightly and linger longer.

This photo of a Soyuz rocket in flight taken by Bill Ingalls this past March, 2014, shows a beautiful arc as it takes off and then heads toward its destination.

6. NASA

Take a look at this beautiful photo of the Milky Way over the Grand Canyon taken by NASA. The countless stars are interrupted by the flight paths of planes and satellites as they wing their way through the night sky.

7. SPACE MISSION FLIGHT PATHS

Here NASA/JPL shows us the paths that these many flights have taken, and where they will go as they continue their journey. You can see how many NASA/JPL past and present missions have flown around the universe.

8. MOTH TRAILS

Steve Irvine is not a photographer by trade, he’s a ceramicist. But he became so intrigued by the beauty of moths as they wing their way through the night sky, that he was inspired to take these gorgeous photos.

The trails of these moths, flitting about on fluttering wings create delicate spirals as they search the air for light and dinner.

All of these loops were made over a 20 second exposure.

9. FIREFLY LONG EXPOSURE TIME LAPSE

This is not paintball in action. The Firefly Long Exposure Time Lapse, by Vincent Brady, captures the wings of a mid-summer night, in a moment that calls up joy. Brady combines long exposure with time lapse and image stacking to show the dance between stars and the little winged lanterns as the evening progresses.

10. YUME CYAN

Photographer Yume Cyan focuses on the light of fireflies as they fly. Here you can see their winding paths of dotted lines in this forest near Nagoya, Japan.

To see more of Cyan’s photos, check out his 500px gallery.

Read more about Beautiful Wings, as it relates to Arts/Design, Nature/Science, Food/Drink, Place/Time, Mind/Body, and Soul/Impact including See the Invisible Beauty of Little Wings, These Wings Can Make Life More Beautiful!,  10 Divine Angel Food Cake Flights and, The Incredible Art of Wings.

Enter your own images and ideas about Beautiful Wings in this week’s creative Photo Competition. Open for entries now until 11:59 p.m. PT on 06.15.14. If you are reading this after that date, check out the current BN Creative Competition, and enter!

PHOTO CREDITS:

1. Photo: by Kevin Cooley. “Nachtfluge.”
2. Photo: by Kevin Cooley. “Nachtfluge.”
3. Photo: by Kevin Cooley. “Nachtfluge.”
4. Photo: by Joel Devlin. Long Exposure Planes.
5. Photo: by Joel Devlin. Long Exposure Planes.
6. Photo: by Terence Chang. Long exposure of San Francisco International Airport flights.
7. Image: Courtesy of The Guardian. Daily Flights.
8. Image: Courtesy of The Guardian. Daily Flight Paths.
9. Image: Courtesy of The Guardian. Interactive Historical Passenger Graph.
10. Photo: by Bill Ingalls. Soyuz rocket in flight.
11. Photo: Courtesy of NASA. Milky Way Galaxy.
12. Image: Courtesy of NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Flight Paths of Space Missions.
13. Photo: by Steve Irvine. Moth Trails.
14. Photo: by Vincent Brady. Firefly Long Exposure Time Lapse.
15. Photo: by Yume Cyan. Firefly flight.