This year, for many of us, summer truly arrived. It waltzed confidently into the gaping space we’d made for it on our picnic blankets, rested its head on our shoulders and lifted our hearts. A long-lost love, stolen from us by two years of closed pubs and restricted travel. Now, as we fold away beach towels and bring out umbrellas, Brad Walls releases Pools From Above, a luxurious reflection on summer pleasures.
Walls started his aerial-view photo series with only 20 images, intending it to be a small project, but when he published them, the tranquil depictions gained unexpected traction. The series grew and, in time, a book seemed inevitable.
One Lap Only, taken in Malibu, California. From Pools From Above by Brad Walls, Smith Street Books.
Walls began a four-year journey in which he photographed around 1,000 pools, refined to around 100 images in the book, in which swathes of blue are punctuated with pink, yellow and red poolside elements; jutting angles and irregular shapes dominate the page; leaves dust a frame’s outskirts and a pool cleaner's shadow twists, interrupting ripples on a blue floor.
Walls’ mantra for the book lay in its inclusivity. The images range easily through artistic, architectural and playful. ‘I wanted anyone to pick up the book and feel something,’ he explains. He has ensured, in the variation of shapes and inclusion of a range of sports, paddling and architectural pools, that Pools From Above is a comprehensive artistic project, and takes its place among photography books to covet. It simultaneously offers insight into an exclusive world where a carefully designed backyard oasis is commonplace, while giving the organised lanes of a public pool just as much prestige.
Patchwork, taken in Palm Springs. From Pools From Above by Brad Walls, Smith Street Books.
The book sits comfortably amid Wall’s other projects; his work is distinctive – perhaps because of the slightly displaced viewpoint that it takes in using drones, or the organic repetition in his photographs. He pinpoints symmetry and leaves it alongside its opposing counterpart, documenting dancers and synchronised swimmers in their element.
Providing harmony and balance, Walls’ book is a delightful conclusion to summer, and a comforting flick-through that leaves you feeling nostalgic, perhaps inspiring a blissful poolside trip.
Swan, taken in Malibu, California. From Pools From Above by Brad Walls, Smith Street Books.
Retro, taken in Tulum, Quinta Roo, Mexico. From Pools From Above by Brad Walls, Smith Street Books.
INFORMATION
Pools From Above by Brad Walls, £28, Smith Street Books, released on 4 October 2022. Available to pre-order.
-
This café-restaurant in Mumbai feels like a warm hug in design formConceived by Studio RCI, Bomdia Brasserie is a comforting two-storey venue in the Matunga neighbourhood, where every detail invites you to linger
-
Sip in style at 30,000 feet with Air France’s new premier cocktail collectionThe airline partners with mixologist Matthias Giroud on three new signature cocktails for its La Première customers – here’s to a modern negroni, or a spicy non-alcoholic tipple
-
Steve Martin wants you to visit The Frick CollectionThe actor has appeared in a video promoting New York’s newly renovated art museum
-
Booker Prize 2025: Kiran Desai returns with long-awaited follow-up as longlist is revealedThis year’s Booker Prize longlist captures the emotional complexity of our times, with stories of fractured families, shifting identities and the search for meaning in unfamiliar places
-
How to be butch: Clark Henley’s sharp, satirical and playful manual is back in printThe 1982 classic, ‘The Butch Manual: The Current Drag and How to Do It’, full of tongue-in-cheek advice, is available once again
-
We are all fetishists, says Anastasiia Fedorova in her new book, which takes a deep dive into kinkIn ‘Second Skin’, writer and curator Fedorova takes a tour through the materials, objects and power dynamics we have fetishised
-
The gayest love story ever told: Jeremy Atherton Lin's memoir is a tribute to homeIn 'Deep House: The Gayest Love Story Ever Told', Jeremy Atherton Lin mixes memoir with a historical deep-dive into marriage equlaity
-
The glory years of the Cannes Film Festival are captured in a new photo book‘Cannes’ by Derek Ridgers looks back on the photographer's time at the Cannes Film Festival between 1984 and 1996
-
Taschen’s sexy record covers are hitting all the right notesTaschen has been through 50 years of album art for its latest tome, ‘Sexy Record Covers’
-
‘Dressed to Impress’ captures the vivid world of everyday fashion in the 1950s and 1960sA new photography book from The Anonymous Project showcases its subjects when they’re dressed for best, posing for events and celebrations unknown
-
Daniel Arsham’s new monograph collates the works of the auto-obsessed American artist‘Arsham Motorsport’ is two volumes of inspiration, process and work, charting artist Daniel Arsham’s oeuvre inspired by the icons and forms of the automotive industry
