Best of 2003: Best Aerial Photography

Lenska's Imageland
4250 Camino Santa Fe
858-453-1585

When Lenska Gaebel left Berlin for America, she wanted to take pictures, just like her grandfather, who had snapped Adolf Hitler and Marlene Dietrich. But Lenska wanted to take pictures from the air, so she bought a helicopter and created a photographic bird's-eye record of all Southern California. Thomas Brothers publishes an annual Lenska's Aerial Atlas edition. You can purchase a picture of your home or business from above. Plane shots cost around $375; helicopter shots approximately $445. The difference? A plane's lowest-allowed altitude is 1200 feet; a helicopter's is 200 feet. For a 40" x 60" color aerial print, add $385 (mounting, laminating, and framing extra).