Dezeen is giving away five copies of LA NY: Aerial Photographs of Los Angeles and New York – a book brimming with aerial images that architect Jeffrey Milstein took while leaning out of helicopters and small aeroplanes.

This competition is now closed. Congratulations to the winners, which are Billy Dickinson from London, UK, Donna Bridgeman from Vancouver, Canada, Jonas von Haffner from Hellerup, Denmark, Danny Needham from London, UK, and Rebecca Lou from Chicago, US.

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On his exploit, architect-turned-photographer Milstein toured the two US cities using a camera mounted on a stabilising gyro, capturing some of their most recognisable landmarks – from Rafael Viñoly's 432 Park Avenue skyscraper in Manhattan to Universal Studios in Hollywood.

New York's Empire State building, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Grand Central Station, and 9/11 Memorial and Freedom Tower also feature in the series.

Now published in LA NY: Aerial Photographs of Los Angeles and New York, the series of bird's eye images is intended to offer a new glimpse of the metropoles.

Captured from above, LA's sprawling apartment community Park La Brea is shown with a gridded layout and an abundance of greenery, while New York's Stuyvesant Town layout of cross-shaped housing blocks can be seen nestled within trees.

Other photographs show the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade through Manhattan, Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), and major roads. There are also shots of places outside of LA, including the Disneyland theme park in Anaheim and boats docked along the Shoreline Beach in Santa Barbara.

Milstein was born and raised in Los Angeles, then moved to New York in the 1960s to train as an architect. Now focused on photography, he undertook this project to offer a new glimpse of his two home cities.

In the LA NY: Aerial Photographs of Los Angeles and New York book, an introductory essay by architectural writer, historian and curator Owen Hopkins credits the success of Milstein's photography to his understanding of the built environment.

"Milstein's other identity, as an architect, is also highly visible in his work," said Hopkins, who is also a regular Opinion columnist for Dezeen. "His is both a photographer's and an architect's eye."

"We see this dualism play out in the consistency of his photographs, which are always composed close to a 90-degree angle to what is immediately below," Hopkins added.

Aerial photography is proving an increasingly popular way for photographers to document cities. However others have employed a less daring technique than Milstein, using drones to capture places like Hong Kong, Bogotá and Chicago.

Five winners will each win one copy of LA NY: Aerial Photographs of Los Angeles and New York, which is published by Thames & Hudson. It is also available to purchase for $29.95 (£21.45).

Competition closes 23 March 2018. Five winners will be selected at random and notified by email, and their names will be published at the top of this page.