urban city research

As i wanted to devlop my theme of old and new, i began looking at the city landscape of Chicago depicting the presence between the old and new buildings compressed into strips of sprawled urban land. You notice the buildings on either side of the frame draw the eye to the horizon dividing up the composition into two parts.  Whereas when looking at the persepctive in the photographers, Luxemburg’s work he positions the camera higher than eye level in order to create a wide angle view of the landscape, relating the reference points to one another to emphasize the grandeur nature of it. I thik the long exposure times outlines the buildings, creating a ghost like form. This allows the objects to be seen in motion, moveing in and out of the frame. 

 I think the use of verticla lines  in the road and the repeated rectangles in the architecture create an abstract design, allowing the buildings to be cropped out of the picture, createing an impression of the landscape spilling out from the composition. The varied heights of the buildings also create varied focal points, emphasizeing the rapid and evolving landscapes of the cities.

I found these images really interesting as i was fasinated by the date of the photograph,  September 11th attacks of 2001 are a poignant event in history. You begin to notice that the ghostly horizon represents the absence of not only the structure of architecture, but the many lives lost . ‘Studies of Ground Zero’ highlight the destruction of the World Trade Centre. And the pale light created by the camera obscura contrasts the dark background, creating an eerie effect. This lonely area of the city i think highlights the absence of the building. 

Whilst keeping with the theme `old and new` i was drawn to these dream-like cities, all of which illustrate a future city, they all fall into the Sci-Fi genre, but as I contemplated about these extreme, intense and potential cities, I began to realise, that in today, these cities are very much in reality, there is no difference between each city, all cities look the same as all are becoming modernized.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As I have researched for a clear idea of what I might be capturing of the city, I have gradually came to the understanding that not a lot has changed within city's, except modernization. Looking at the work of Alfred Stieglitz in the 1930's, particularly the photo "Looking Northwest from the Shelton" , cities have not changed for a long period of time. all building contain a taller design, that alone may look astounding, but with a number of them could lose all value and meaning. This is an area that would end up touching on post-modernism a topic that I could explore further.