the website of Mark S Bailen. . . writer, illustrator, and fake-nature photographer
We took a little trip to Oaxaca to visit family and had a long layover in LAX. So I had fun doing a montage of wildvertising. Why do airports love wildvertising? Perhaps because they are such sterile and well-controlled places, antithetical to nature? Do these ads promise escape?
the original influencer. . .
a bear with a backpack. . .
ecosystems. . .
how long can you go?
wildest day ever. . .
views for days. . .
maybe I’m weird, but sometimes I enjoy the airports just as much as the destinations. . .
Even a fake-nature photographer knows that it’s fun to shoot tall skinny trees from a worm’s eye view. The tree on the left is a real ponderosa pine that I shot a few months back at Mt. Lemmon. And the one on the right is a fake pine tree in the Seoul airport. Pretty awesome, Korea!
the canyon. . .
In the basement of the Salt Lake City airport are these oversized eco quotes. Everybody rushes past without glancing at them. Because I’m a dork, I stopped and read each one and pondered the universe. After the HDT quote, I felt like I won the lottery. . .
More Epic. . . More Journeys. . . More Joy. . . The great outdoors, brought to you by Mastercard.
Slogan battle at the airport. . . The vending machine said, “Fueling people to be their BEST!”, getting you ready to battle fellow humans. The free water station said, “No water, no life.”, getting you ready to battle nature. The slogans stressed me so out, that I went thirsty.
evolve. . .
home, home on the range. . . where they take cash, credit and apple pay
trail marker inside sky harbor airport . . .