George Steinmetz

In 2003, George was given permission to take aerial photos in Iran with his motorized paraglider, the first foreigner to be given such permission to take aerial photos since the Islamic Revolution. He went there on assignment for the French and German editions of GEO Magazine to document the little-known salt deserts in the southern part of the country. Iran has some of the most spectacular desert geology, with folding mountain ranges separating large valleys of salt flats. On the valley slopes are ancient cities that get their drinking and agricultural water from qanats, the underground aqueducts that are thousands of years old. George stayed in Iran for five weeks and was able to take very rare photos of some of the strangest geological patterns on Earth, like the wind-eroded yardangs and massive dunes of the Dasht-e Lut and the swirling patterns of salt domes in the Dasht-e Kavir.