This image depicts the Formula 1 racetrack in Bahrain as seen from a helicopter. Andreas Gursky works with a medium-format camera, taking pictures which he then scans into a computer where he can manipulate them. His aim in using digital technology is not to create fictions, but rather to heighten the image of something that exists in the world. Unlike some of Gursky’s more elaborately composed images, this photograph is a minimally manipulated shot of the racetrack spiralling through the desert. The human figure, represented by the race cars visible on the track, is dwarfed by the man-made landscape. The image draws attention to the speed of process and the might of technology. Bahrain I also represents a tendency in Gursky’s work towards abstraction; the sinuous lines of the racetrack in this image evoke gestural abstract painting.