When Georg Gerster first flew over Iran on a business trip, he decided that he should somehow photograph the contours and colours that he saw passing beneath him. The Swiss aerial photographer bypassed officialdom by hand-delivering a request, in October 1975, to the Imperial Court in Tehran. Within weeks, Gerster was meeting an Iranian official anxious to know what kind of aircraft should be purchased. The Empress Farah, it seemed, had taken a liking to the project.
The resulting photographs – of landscapes agrarian and industrial, mountainous and arid – are this month belatedly published as Paradise Lost: Persia from Above. Many of the compositions have the texture of art works – of watercolours or textiles, of geometric repeating patterns or free-flowing abstracts. The last photograph was taken on May 30 1978. Soon after, revolution thrust the country’s political landscape before the lens.
1. Anguran, January 11 1977
The strange, almost futuristic capsules that puncture the stubborn aridity of Anguran in Baluchestan are dwellings fashioned from palm matting
2. Hormozgan province, January 9 1977
Date palms grow in rare rain-fed ponds in a plantation at Minab, near the southern coast of Iran. Gerster was accompanied on his photography trips by an archaeologist – but often the only way they could hear each other talk was by having the pilot briefly turn off the engine midair
3. Fars, October 29 1976
Irrigation is all in a country where water is often at a premium. Here, rice – a water-guzzling crop – is grown in small irrigated plots between Meymand and Jahrom, inland from the Persian Gulf
4. Tabriz, June 13 1976
Tiered croplands in the highlands near Tabriz, the earthquake-prone home of the Blue Mosque
5. Sanandaj, June 17 1976
These oval fields take on the texture of brushstrokes from above. Near Sanandaj, capital of Kordestan, their shapes delineate the most harvestable areas of this arid zone. Gerster photographed through a hole in the tail of the aircraft where the cargo door would normally be
6. Khuzestan, April 13 1976
Spring snow melt tops up water tables and helps sustain agriculture through the summer. Here the Khuzestan plain is flooded by the Karun river, fed by runoff from the Zagros mountains
7. Hendijan, April 14 1976
A law in force during this time allowed Iranians to lay claim to land not currently being used for agriculture by planting on it. These squiggles and squirls, made by tractors and ploughs, were deemed enough to support one of these stakes
‘Paradise Lost: Persia from Above’ by Georg Gerster (Phaidon, £35) is published on March 21. FT bookshop price: £28. To order, call 0870 429 5884 or go to www.ft.com/bookshop
