Photo of the Week - #42 7/4/22

• Photo of the Week is a member-run feature.
  
• The photo is posted anonymously. If photographers wish, they may identify themselves in a comment.
  
• This is not my photo.
  
• Comment on and discuss the photo or any aspect of it in whatever way you choose.
  
• If you wish to submit a photo, please PM me with either an embedded photo or a link to one. Include a title if you want one to appear. It will go into the pool and eventually be posted as a Photo of the Week.
  

A very interesting collection of shapes, angles, and colors. However, I would crop off the dark area on the right, as it doesn't contribute to that and draws the eye away because it is so dark. I'd consider then cropping some from the top to restore balance and to focus more attention on the complex areas at the bottom.

I'd like to see it in B&W.

What a wonderful (thought-through) composition! I wouldn't change a thing! Yes, a 3x2 crop from the bottom 'strut'' would be possible but then the left lower building would be lost. And I like it! It adds to the 'scrunched up buildings'. I also like that this photo shows the context. Cropping would make it more abstract.

 

So to repeat: I wouldn't change a thing! It's a wonderful composition and my congrats to the photographer!

 

Mike

Cool and imaginative cityscape. Kinda surreal, just generally - but all that glass ceiling/overhang structure on the R side really seals its “otherness”.

 

Also, because of the subdued color palette here, I too think it would work well in B&W- that said I still like it as is.

 

Nicely seen and shot.

Brutal would be apropos if used architecturally. I thought it was a play on words. Brutalism has become one of my favorite architectural styles over the years and while none of the buildings pictured are particularly brutalist in style, the more abstract view of the photo as a whole does have some brutalist elements, particularly those spokes jutting out on the bottom right, which establish much of the abstractness. Obviously the disruption of the textured glass on the bottom right adds to that abstractness as well. I see the photo as an urban architectural jigsaw puzzle. The color here provides, for me, punctuation, most notably the red Physical Therapy at the bottom, well placed for a hint of bedazzlement.

I love photos like this where you don't instantly understand what you are looking at, and then when you do, the composition elements all fit together with a suitable amount of abstraction. I tried converting the photo to black and white, but prefer the color version as is.

I thought when I first saw it that I was seeing a grainy b&w image, takes a moment to figure it out but I like it. I wouldn’t call it brutal or corporate, maybe harsh.

 

Rick H.

An attack on the unsuspecting by shadow forces. Not a good day.

Good shot. It's fine as it is. The darkness on the right gives the eye a place to land and from there to explore the rest of the image, as well as providing context. Imaginative photographer!

I like the left half. A lot. And I like the right half. A lot.

 

Things I particularly like about the left half:

1. The way the yellowish building is nestled in like a 3D puzzle piece among the odd angles of the other buildings.
   
2. The stratigraphy of building ages, going from what looks like the 1800’s in the lowest brick building to late 1900’s at the top left corner.
   
3. The wide range of subtle colors, capped by the patina greens.
   
4. All those odd angles and strong vertical lines.
   

I’ve spent a lot of time pleasantly wandering though that half of the photo, enjoying how particular edges and corners interact with each other, appreciating the way that the subtle differences in tone and color make those edges visible, and admiring the photographer’s choice of positioning: a few steps forward or to the right and an important line would have been lost, a few steps backward or to the left and the intricacies of a building side and the context for the green pyramid would have been lost.

 

Things I particularly like about the right half:

1. The mostly rectilinear grid dominated by the strong black horizontals.
   
2. The flashes of orange and red that are dramatically set off by the black grid.
   
3. The texture of raindrops that disrupts the view beyond the glass ceiling.
   
4. The upside-down world reflected by the bottom of the glass ceiling.
   

I’ve also spent a lot of time wandering through this half of the photo, enjoying the patterns and shapes and trying to figure out what that skinny vertical background shape might be—could a building really be that narrow? Or maybe it’s a billboard? Or a spire?

 

Oddly, I’ve had a hard time seeing the photo as a whole; I keep inadvertently diving into one side or the other, kind of like one of those optical illusions where you can see only one interpretation at a time. In a way, this powerfully reinforces the contrast between the two halves: rectilinear vs. chaotic angles; subtle colors and low contrast vs. brighter colors and high contrast; higher key vs. lower key; historical vs. contemporary; horizontal vs. vertical. So as a statement of contrasts, the photo works nicely. But each half is strong enough on its own to fly solo, and for some reason it’s those two solo flights that keep me most engaged; this keeps me from fully appreciating the contrasts.

 

And if I wanted to engage with the image as a whole? Paddler4’s suggestion neatly solves the problem. The remaining right-half horizontals lead my eye to the left-half mid-distance cornice, which escorts me into the interior of the left half to explore the angles and colors; I land on the lower cornices, which lead me back to the right-half horizontals, then up the edge of the remaining sliver of dark, where I explore the upside-down street scene, and start back around. Most of the intriguing contrasts are still there, but the compelling element—at least to my eye—has become the interface rather than the two quasi-independent halves. The distracting intrigue of the green pyramid, the mysterious spire, and most of the dark building are gone, allowing the image to become a cohesive story of contrasts rather than a pair of independent contrasting cohesive stories.

 

But the bottom line is that I like the image as a whole; I like the two halves as images in their own right; and I like the central third of the bottom half as its own image. Altogether, it’s a very intriguing photo, with lots to explore.

I kinda like it. I like photo's that create a "manneristic" perspective and this one does that. The big white area is a little bit much, but overall interesting, at least to me.

A warm thank you to all who shared their thoughts and opinions on this image. I was taking some refuge from a light rain falling in Boston and enjoyed taking in the surrounding mix of architectural styles in this area of town. As for the picture, which was minimally post processed, it's the abstract interplay of shapes and textures (with a hint of color) that I also like. Edited July 10, 2022 by Jon Eckman

Jon, a terrific picture!