The Alberta oil/tar sands are a place of superlatives, of awesome beauty and equally awesome destruction. They are a kaleidoscope of contrasts, colours and patterns keeping time with the seemingly unstoppable movement of machinery, smoke and effluent set in an immense boreal landscape with its own immutable patterns, cadence and cycles.

Beautiful Destruction is a large-format, high-quality photography book that uses over 230 stunning, full-colour aerial photographs to transcend the polarities that dominate public discourse of the largest industrial project in North America: the Alberta oil/tar sands.

With short essays by renowned personalities Bill McKibben, Charles Wilkinson, Duff Connacher, Elizabeth May, Eric Reguly, Ezra Levant, Jennifer Grant, Rick George, Gil McGowan, Allan Adam, Megan Leslie and Francis Scarpaleggia from both sides of the oil/tar sands debate discussing the artistic, industrial and environmental perceptions of northern Alberta’s petroleum-based mega-project, Beautiful Destruction is one of the most ambitious, provocative and unique photography projects to be published in years.

Louis Helbig is a Canadian aerial art photographer. He brings his unique perspective - as pilot, as artist, as citizen - to his projects. Helbig uses the evocative power of art to create space for viewers to reflect, imagine and think for themselves, a philosophy evidenced in this book and such ongoing projects as "Sunken Villages" about the flooded communities in the St Lawrence Seaway. Helbig's work appears in mainstream, academic and art criticism publications. He gives presentations and mounts exhibitions at public and private institutions, and his work is held in public and private collections worldwide. Raised in Williams Lake, BC, Helbig makes art that is influenced by a range of experience including as a World Cup cross-country ski racer, bush pilot, economic historian, cabinet minister's adviser and university instructor. His holds a BA from McGill University in Montreal and an MSc from the London School of Economics. He left Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs in 2006 to become a full-time artist. Louis lives in Ottawa, Ontario.

Louis Helbig's profile page

Louis Helbig captures some of our most barren and desolate landscapes and turns them into bold, geometric art.—Maclean's

Helbig's photos are not riddles; they are literal representations of the landscape, but in them he finds patterns, both natural and man-made, that toy with the eye of the viewer.—Ottawa Citizen

There is no disputing that Beautiful Destruction by aerial art photographer and Glebe resident Louis Helbig is a weighty tome. The result of some seven years of research, writing and editing, its subject – the oil/tar sands extraction project in northern Alberta – is immediately recognizable as a matter of importance by anyone interested in the environment and the economy in Canada. And to get literal about it, at 300 oversized pages, the book demands serious attention and commitment on the part of the reader, not to mention a table or floor space on which to appreciate a full spread of the beautiful images. Offset by ample white space, these photos encourage the reader to sit with the experience and the book. Seen again and again, these images grow on you.—Julie Houle Cezer, The Glebe Report

A new book of aerial photographs, Beautiful Destruction, captures the awesome scale and devastating impact of Alberta’s oil sands with stunning colours, contrasts and patterns. The book also includes 15 essays by prominent individuals from environment and industry, sharing their insights, ideas and opinions.—The Guardian UK

The images Helbig presents in his photographs are well worth our attention. They are carefully, elegantly controlled compositions, each pattern animating the surface of the page, their saturated colours prompting our eye to linger over the imagery, then discover the subject matter. That is Helbig’s intention.—Maureen Korp, Epoch Times

The valuable contribution that Beautiful Destruction serves goes beyond the tendency to reduce what one sees to easy explanation. Rocky Mountain Books, the publisher, continues to produce the highest quality photography books in Canada, this one is provocative, timely, and worthwhile.—John Veldhoen, The Camera Store