From Above: Brad Walls’ on his craft and conception

You don’t need to understand aerial photography to understand Brad Walls’ work. You just need to look closely. 

From a top-down perspective, his work invites you to “stare awhile.” Dancers curl into sculptural forms. Swimmers align in quiet repetition. Space is treated with the same care as the bodies within. What you are looking at feels both soft and precise, like something carefully built and gently held. 

Walls works from above for clarity. Shooting straight down using drones, cranes, and carefully rigged cameras, he removes excess and distraction. The height allows him to simplify the scene, turning movement into form and choreography into composition. The result is an aerial style that feels intimate rather than distant. 

“I don’t leave anything to chance. Everything is planned.”

Walls talks about control in the same way people talk about comfort. Not as something restrictive or rigid, but as something grounding. He has a way of knowing exactly what he is building before he begins. In his work, nothing is accidental. Bodies are placed with intention, color is chosen deliberately, and every detail is considered long before the camera goes up. What might read as effortless is the result of true rigorous planning. 

In his 20s, Walls worked in tech as a product designer, immersed in structures, systems, and problem-solving. That way of thinking still shapes how he approaches photography. Before the camera is ever in the air, he is already visualizing the frame, anticipating the movement, and thinking through how each element will relate to the next. That discipline becomes especially apparent when people enter the frame. Walls is drawn to performers whose bodies already understand control, like swimmers, dancers, and gymnasts. Their movements are precise and practiced. From above, those movements read differently. Patterns blend. Lines form. And the choreography reveals itself. 

“The human brain is drawn to things that make sense,” Walls says. “There’s a calmness in symmetry.”

Architecture informs much of his visual language. Alignment and negative space guide the eye and create balance within the frame. The space surrounding the subject becomes just as important as the subject itself, giving the image room to breathe. 

Sport, for Walls, offered an opportunity to see something familiar in a new way. Athletic photography has long focused on action and immediacy. His approach definitely slows it down. When viewed from above, intensity softens. Effort becomes elegance. Movement settles, and there’s stillness within the frame.

Color plays an equally deliberate role. Walls has long been fascinated by how colors interact, not in isolation but in relationship. Bold tones sit beside calmer ones, and together they create emotion. His recent series, PASSÉ, pushed that exploration further, leaning heavily into saturated red. The choice was intentional and surprisingly challenging.

“It’s very bold,” he says. “Sometimes, bold is uncomfortable, but you have to take risks.”

PASSÉ also marked a shift in scale. The project required complex technical execution, including cranes, rigging, and lighting. While the concept came naturally, bringing it to life required persistence and problem-solving. It was demanding, both creatively and logistically.

As his projects have grown, so has his role within them. Walls steps back from the camera, acting as creative director and producer rather than solely as a photographer. He guides the vision while collaborating with others to execute it, focusing on the work as a whole rather than a single moment.

Despite the aerial distance, his images are truly intimate. Working within tight parameters and shooting directly overhead has become a grounding force.

After the intensity of PASSÉ, Walls has slowed his pace. Not out of hesitation, but intention. He is sketching again, mapping ideas before they take form, letting concepts develop without a tempting urgency. The sports work continues, and new series are quietly taking shape.

Nothing about the process has changed. It is still deliberate. Still precise. And certainly is shaped long before the camera goes up. Brad Walls’ work ahead will arrive the same way his images always do. Thoughtfully constructed, seen from above.

As seen in VUE Atlanta’s Spring 26’ print issue, discover more at atlantavue.com.