French photographer Manolo Chrétien is holding an exhibition with MB&F M.A.D.Gallery Geneva this February. The exhibition showcases a series of aeronautical works captured with a powerful yet playful approach, suggesting each photo has a unique aviation story to tell. From a luxe Learjet to the supersonic Concorde airliner and military vessels like the Dassault Rafale, Chrétien’s work delivers a dynamic and unusual dead-on visual perspective.

“Nose Art is the natural outcome of ten years’ worth of trying to capture planes from a humanistic or animalistic angle, and it is the beginning of a new way of working,” says Chrétien. “It’s been in my head for years, since my father woke me up one morning through the window of my second floor bedroom with a helicopter he was testing. I remember it as if it were yesterday: the animal-like cockpit of the Alouette, my father with his Ray Bans smiling inside, motioning to say, ‘Time to get out of bed, kids!’”

The images were either taken with Chrétien’s own Canon EOS 5Ds R or Hasselblad H4D-60. As the noses of the planes were high off the ground, Chrétien had to shoot with a trusty tripod and a forklift to align his face-to-face perspective with the nose of the plane, so as to create the best possible angle to photograph these legendary flying machines.

Be sure to visit the exhibition if you are in town.

Nose Art by Manolo Chrétien
M.A.D.Gallery Geneva
Rue Verdaine 11, 1204 Geneva, Switzerland