Scott Mead: Above the Clouds

An exhibition to support Great Ormond Street Hospital

9th – 19th January

Scott Mead, an American born photographer and philanthropist living in London, exhibits his most recent series of photographs, Above The Clouds, at Hamiltons to benefit Great Ormond Street Hospital. In his most recent body of work, Mead captures the physical, emotional and philosophical wonder of air travel with his images of the world above the clouds. All proceeds are donated to Great Ormond Street Children’s Charity in London, where one of his children was cured of a life-threatening illness many years ago. Since then Mead has been a deeply involved supporter of the hospital.

Above the Clouds is a portfolio of images taken from Mead’s extensive air travel on regularly scheduled flights over the last several years. During these journeys, Mead has been extremely inspired whilst gazing out of plane windows at the endless horizon, finding that the journey itself can be more meaningful than just a means to a destination. We colour graded each of Scott’s images for the book and exhibitions.

“I have come to find that above the clouds, while looking out the window and into oneself, these answers and insights, and a clearer view of past, present and future, may well await.”

– Scott Mead

Much time and research was necessary for Mead to learn how best to capture images that fully reflected the outer, and inner, journey. Analysing flight paths, the angle of the sun, the curvature of the earth, the windows and the speed of light, among other factors, Mead gradually began to develop an intuition as to what might come next throughout the journey.

“I have always found a sense of magic in travel. Anticipation, a feeling of liberation and boundless promises arise when journeying into the unfamiliar, making us acutely conscious of ourselves. But with travel above the clouds, there is something unique: we surrender control and immerse ourselves in the journey and the moment… And within those rarefied moments and that space above the clouds, we can often find our way back into an inner world that is otherwise difficult to access. Looking out can therefore allow us again to look within.”

– Scott Mead