Mission
Landslides specializes in illustrative aerial photography and works throughout the United States for clients in the fields of advertising and editorial design, land-use planning and architecture, environmental protection, and historic preservation, among others. Our mission is to create and distribute artistic and meaningful images that help our clients bring understanding and beneficial results to our natural and built environments.
During the last 25 years we have developed a library of over 250,000 aerial
photographs. Our images not only provide representations of specific places,
but also clearly illustrate complex ideas and concepts. We distribute these
images from our office in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and insure their lasting
value and proper use by way of licensing agreements that are customized
to our clients' needs.
Alex S. MacLean, Founder (click here for resume)
MacLean’s fascination with landscape began with annual family visits to the Thousand Islands at the head of the St. Lawrence River in upstate New York. His interests continued through college, and after graduating from Harvard College in 1969 and earning a Master of Architecture degree from Harvard Graduate School of Design in 1973, MacLean received his commercial pilot license in 1975. During an economic downturn, which made jobs in the design field hard to find, MacLean established his own company, Landslides Aerial Photography.
Although MacLean began to shoot aerial photographs for university libraries, he eventually acquired municipal, institutional, corporate, and private clients. His first plane was a Cessna 172, which he bought in 1980; today he flies his Cessna 182, based at Hanscom Field in Bedford, Massachusetts.
MacLean has flown over most of the United States and parts of Europe. His
photographs have been exhibited in the United States, Canada, Europe, and
Asia and have been the subject of four books. His work has been recognized
with grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Graham Foundation,
the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, and the American Academy in Rome,
which awarded him the 2003–2004 Prix de Rome in Landscape Architecture.
MacLean maintains a studio in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and lives in Lincoln.
