Alex S. MacLean (b. 1947) is an American photographic artist who's best known for his spectacular aerial photographs. MacLean has flown his plane over much of the United States documenting the landscape. MacLean graduated as a BA in 1969 from Harvard. He continued his studies to become an architect in 1973. He became interested in aerial scenery while he studied community planning and got a flight permit in 1975. Since then he has flown around America and the world in his Cessna 182 taking pictures and he has become a renowned aerial photographer.

His pictures that portray both natural and man-made landscapes have been on display in numerous exhibitions and books. Trained as an architect, he has portrayed the history and evolution of the land from vast agricultural patterns to city grids, recording changes brought about by human intervention and natural processes. His powerful and descriptive images provide clues to understanding the relationship between the natural and constructed environments. MacLean's photographs have been exhibited widely in the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia and are found in private, public and university collections.