A FEW weeks ago, during the York Balloon Fiesta, Press photographer Frank Dwyer was lucky enough to hitch a ride in a hot air balloon that drifted across York.

We carried some of his resulting aerial photographs in a spread in The Press three weeks ago.

But you can never have too much of a good thing. And aerial photographs - which give such a surprisingly different perspective on the otherwise familiar - are definitely a good thing.

So today, we reproduce a few more of Frank's aerial photographs taken on his recent balloon flight over York - along with a few older aerial photographs for good measure.

York Press:

Clifford's Tower from the air, 2017. Photo: Frank Dwyer

First up are a couple of Frank's photographs of the Eye of York. The elegance of the castle mound and of the Eye itself, with its fringe of honey-stoned court and museum buildings, are in stark contrast to the mess of the Castle Car Park (above). 

A wider perspective photograph of the same scene (below) shows the red roofs of the Coppergate Centre, plus Ryedale House on one side and Tower Gardens and a glimpse of the River Ouse on the other.

York Press:

Clifford's Tower from the air, 2017. Photo: Frank Dwyer

To contrast with Frank's two Eye of York photographs, we include a much older photograph of the same location, taken from the archives of the Yorkshire Archaeological and York Architectural Society (YAYAS) (below). This photograph was taken before the prison and the prison governor's house were demolished in the 1930s. The spokes of the prison buildings stood where the car park is now.

York Press:

Historical aerial view of Cliffiord's Tower and York Prison. Photo: YAYAS

Frank also drifted over the Minster, enabling him to get shots of the great cathedral from different angles. One close-up shot shows the Minster from the North East, with the chapter house in the foreground and Dean's Park to the left. Duncombe Place arrows straight up from the cathedral's two towers to the top of the photograph (below).

York Press:

York Minster from the air, 2017. Photo: Frank Dwyer

A wider angle view of the minster taken from the South West, meanwhile, (see gallery) shows St Helen's Square in the foreground, and the deep canyon of Stonegate running between the red roofs of the city to the cathedral's south entrance, with the Rose Window above.

And finally we have two older aerial views of the River Ouse. One, take in 1996 from the south west side of the river, shows Station Road running across Lendal Bridge and past Museum Gardens on the left. Dominating the centre of the picture, on the river's far bank, is the Guildhall.

York Press:

River Ouse from the air in 1996

A black and white photograph taken in 1988 by former Press picture editor Martin Oates, meanwhile (below), looks southwards down the River Ouse. The perspective has foreshortened the apparent distance between Ouse and Skeldergate bridges. The wake generated by the boat passing the Viking Hotel makes it look as though it is being rowed along by giant oars. This is a lovely, tranquil photograph, softened somehow by being in black and white, in which York is beautiful enough to bring a lump to the throat.

York Press:

Martin Oates' 1988 view of the Ouse from the air