Thanks to the development of satellite photos, drones and Google Earth, aerial photography appears to have become quite commonplace. Precisely now that we are becoming used to the view from above - which we can evoke on our screens with the click of our mouse - and that we are photographing our immediate surroundings on a daily basis, a meticulously accumulted series of photographs such as those by Karel Tomei is so valuable. It is a continuation of centuries-old tradition, that can be led back to the 17th century prints of Dutch cities while it also meets our desire to enjoy the beauty of the landscapes around us that are recorded by photographers time and again. This book unites these systematic and esthetic approaches. Tomei took his first pictures at age five and specialized in aerial photography in 1973. His shots are a silent compilation of endless flights over our land, influenced by the elements, wind gusts, changing cloudscapes and reflections on the ground. Tome shows us the Netherlands as we know it, but have never actually seen it.
