Since 2003, photographer Sergey Fomin has been photographing natural, historical, and architectural sites across Russia from small aircraft. This has taken him to over 30 regions and had some dangerous moments, like landing a balloon in a swamp. Despite risks, Fomin finds the aerial views beautiful and says the flights are always enjoyable, no matter what he photographs from the air that day.

1. Since 2003, photographer Sergey Fomin has been shooting Russia’s most
attractive natural, historical, and architectural objects from different aircrafts.
This passion project has taken him to over 30 regions of Russia and had its
share of dangers, including one incident in a balloon that landed in a swamp
“with a great acceleration”, says Fomin. By a miracle, his lenses survived.
Fomin says his work never loses its allure: “It doesn’t matter what I managed
to photograph on that day – a strict geometric pattern of the St. Peter and St.
Paul Fortress, goose flock spilled over the Ob river, or the lake in the crater of
the volcano in Kamchatka – while landing on the ground I catch myself on the
same thought: ‘How beautiful the flight was!’”

2. “Lake Effect”
A view of a salt lake in Volgograd Oblast,
Russia, near the border of Kazakhstan.

3. “Snow-Covered Monastery”
The Khutyn Monastery of Saviour's Transfiguration and of St.
Varlaam, on the right bank of the Volkhov River near Novgorod.

4. “An Explosive Scene”
The 1,486-meter-high Karymskii
Volcano in Kamchatka.

5. “By the River”
Lena Pillars National Park, located on the
Sinyaya river in the Yakutia (Sakha) Republic.

8. “The Forest”
Far east Russia.

9. “These Hills are Alive”
In the Magadan region of far east Russia.

10. “Ice, Ice Baby”
Ice fishing in Tatarstan Republic.

11. “Delta Queen”
Along the Delta of the Volga River in the Astrakhan region.

12. “A Russian Sunrise”
Day breaks near Suzdal, in Vladimir Oblast.

13. “The Red Fortress”
An aerial look at the Kremlin in Moscow.

14. “A Crowded Sochi Beach”
Looking down at the Adler resort on the Black Sea
coast, located at the mouth of the Mzymta river.

21. “A Siberian Plateau”
The Putorana plateau on the Taymyr Peninsula in northern Siberia.

25. “The Other Fortress”
The Kazan Kremlin in the Republic of Tatarstan .

27. “Crater Lake”
Acid lake in the crater of Malyi Semyachik
Volcano in Kamchatka.

29. “Brown Bear, What Do You See?”
A brown bear swimming in Kamchatka.

30. “A Meadow in Kamchatka”

32. “A Moose in Siberia”

35. “Forest in Siberia”

38. “Under a Cover of Clouds”
The hills of taiga in the Beryozovsky district
of the Khanty-Mansi autonomous area.