This is the moment an American photographer flies over the Colorado River Delta in Mexico in his powered paraglider as part of a mission to tell stories from the air where he is personally involved, instead of using an “impersonal” drone.

The images he captured on the trip are just a selection of the amazing portfolio he has amassed while documenting some of the most spectacular places in the world from above.

Aerial photographer Joe Orsi, 30, originally from Kansas in the US and now living in Mexico, said that his goal with the paramotor, also known as a powered paraglider, is to “create storytelling aerial photography that promotes sustainable tourism in the developing world”.

Orsi, who also works remotely as a financial consultant for start ups on a part-time basis, told Newsflash: “Relative to drone photography, where the photographer is separated from its subject by hundreds of feet of air and never personally sees what their camera sees, paramotor photography is highly personal and tells a story about the great lengths the photographer goes to just to stare at their subject with their own eyes.

“My favourite country in the world is Papua New Guinea. As far as I’m aware, there is nowhere as untouched. It’s hard to travel there, but it is very rewarding. I also love Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula, which is where I learned to fly my paramotor. Baja’s marine life and landscapes never cease to amaze me.

“The Colorado River Delta is one of the most amazing places I’ve flown over. I’m not sure about the geology of the formations, but I think they are probably formed by a relatively small amount of water flowing across a nearly flat salt plane that gets almost no rain. Over time, erosion carved out the weird tree patterns, which barely changes from year to year.

The American aerial photographer told Newsflash: “I quit my job and started travelling the world five years ago. As I travelled, I became interested in landscape photography, which eventually led to me buying a drone.

“The drone was small enough to fit in my backpack and I became obsessed with travelling to and flying it in remote places that had never been seen from the perspective of a drone.”

He added: “This led to me spending a lot of time in Papua New Guinea and Africa. After years of shooting with my drone, it started to feel formulaic and impersonal so I began searching for a way to get in the air myself.

Orsi told Newsflash: “I started flying my paramotor a year and a half ago and have fallen in love with the sport. I’m hoping to continue travelling with my paramotor and maybe continue south into Central and South America once the borders open up.”