When there´s no horizon [Quando não há horizonte]

I must agree with Mary Ball: this one got better as I let me eye stay with it. It helped to look at the large version.

 

I grew up outside Chicago and have since moved to the country. Cities captivate my imagination, and I loved the mystical sense of the city that Mark Helprin shared in his novel, Winter'sTale. But as much as cities embody the best of humnan undertaking, our highest ideals, they also concentrate and amplify human despair and depravity. This cityscape contrasts so well with the recently popular gorgeous skylines that grace the walls of college dorms and offices.

 

I like the way the long lens has compressed everything, front to back.

 

It makes the buildings appear like cutouts, and adds tension...I reckon.

 

Here we see the true advantage of Digital media in Art;

 

'...the small file size sits quite clearly in reflection of the large and cluttered landscape of the City.

 

Wonderful Bouquet...(sniff)

 

A truly multidimensional critique, and one that I'm sure we can agree is rather clever.'

 

...withdraws whilst clapping.

If I hadn't go check the source folder, I hadn't found this image interesting enough to stand on it's own. But given the series, it's a nice one, would make a fine exhibition. But too bad it is so small here. Such an image must have it's impact from overwhelming someone. At this size it doesn't!

 

Thanks Flavio for the larger version.

 

Now I agree with others (I have to say that two days ago I watched the photo on a LCD laptop, and now I'm on a CRT screen), I like it.

The feelings that the author wants to convey is

"the impossibility of free sight" and the photo

accomplishes it very well, thanks to the telephoto

compression and to the placement of the buildings

that are stacked in adjacent layers (and ordered

with tallest buildings in the foreground). It was

a good idea to not include the sky, since it would

have given a sense of space (that is not compatible with the photographer's intents).

 

Is this landscape typical of San Paulo? I don't know because

I've never been there; probably many other towns around the world

are similar, IMHO this photo is a good abstraction of a typical

metropolis crowded landscape rather than a San Paulo portrait, and

so the relationship with San Paulo is not so important.

 

Finally, you understand better this photo in the context of the photographer's portfolio.

It's a good image with good lighting, and I agree with the POW gremlins about its symbolism for a larger body of work. Congrats on POW

However, I understand the proposal of Nelson Kon and IMHO the assignment is very interesting.

 

"Photographing the city of São Paulo is an intricate puzzle: poles, wires, walls and all kinds of obstacles block and prevent our sight all the time. What to do with this disturbing noise? Let it prevent us to record an image or accept it and merge it into what we intend to register? This was the assignment presented by photographer Nelson Kon during the "Foto São Paulo", an event that joined thousands of people in september 2001 to support the city´s downtown revitalization. An arduous, really demanding exercise, but a challenge to my eyes, so eager for perfection"

First of all, thank you for the larger version. Now I can really see this . . . and feel confident in addressing it. The comforting thing about the urban landscape, which this image obviously captures, is that, wherever you are in the world, it is largely unchanging. Cityscapes vary, of course - Calcutta, let's say, may be grimier than most, and Singapore more orderly; while, in New York the air seems to be alive with electricity - but urban fundamentals remain the same: that dense construct that says, "Ahhh, city!"

I've never been to Brasil, and I don't speak Portuguese, but in looking at this I feel right at home. So this is interesting to me for that reason, but also in purely graphical terms: the interplay of lights and darks, of different size squares and rectangles, and the sense of depth provided by the smaller buildings in the foreground, all work together here to create a certain dynamic tension in the seemingly static.

Like a few other people I was a little distracted by the convergence of the buildings due to the perspective. As an experiment I got rid of it PS. Somehow the result looks strange, what do you think?

If this image does evoke any emotion in me, it's anger! Perhaps I'm living for too long at a very open place and generally speaking: A very spacious country.

I like this very much. The subject matter is of course common and almost universal, but beyond the subject matter, I don't think I've ever seen a like shot. It looks almost like a stage or a broadway set. The back row of buildings are like a drapery or a wall and all the foreground buildings play off of it as they first step down then gradually turn to their right.

 

I like the way the composition resists the urge to go up and give us a more common skyline view and instead just suggests it up top. The focus is this neighborhood; you stop at that great wall of cement and glass and have to visually explore only the space you are given in terrific focus and detail. I would perhaps even like a little more foreground, I think....maybe.

 

There are no people or signs of life, which to me does not lend to the urban decay or terrible plight of city living mood, but instead makes it seem again to me as a set, or even as stacks of blocks. It isn't completely lifeless or apocalyptic because of what it is, and it isn't really a lifeless architectural study, so I think it retains it's human interest in how the buildings play against each other and blend together comparing rectangles and shades. You know there are peope there, but they are secondary in this study.

 

I like the divergence of the vertical lines as I think it lends to the composition, giving it just a little curiosity and more of a "basket" feel that keeps you in the scene. I like the DOF and the exposure.

 

I would feel extremely pleased with this shot were it mine. Congratulations.

Yes it's too small,really.I like the effect.It feels like an acient newsreel image.I think i'd prefer it a touch lighter too.Well done

An exceptionally ill-composed, dull, subjectless photo that completely fails to convey any sense of humanity, uniqueness or anything else for that matter. With so much one could say about this metropolis, why say so little?

Some inflammatory content edited by moderators as off topic and inappropriate. Opinions are invited of a positive or negative nature, and you are very welcome to state them. Controversy and debate and diversity of taste is important. However, the subject is the photograph. Personal attacks will be removed courtesy of the site administrators.

The only "attacks" were on the continued lack of a discernment on the part of the editors, who must resort to censorship when THEIR work is critiqued.

If a city is a living organism - and how can it be otherwise? - its buildings and streets are its exoskeleton. This exoskeleton and its people exist in symbiosis, each providing character to the other. While the degree of influence that people have on buildings is obvious, not so apparent perhaps is the reverse: the influence of the living space (buildings and so on) on the people.

Photography is rife with studies of people, urban and otherwise; people as subject matter is the first front of photography and rightly so, because they are so interesting. But this thing that so influences its inhabitants - this exoskeleton (or hive, maybe) - devoid of people and sitting there in all its squallor, serene, majestic, imperturbable: those kinds of studies are much more rare, and all the more fascinating for it. And that, obviously, is what we have at hand.

Imagine this is blown up really big and on your wall. Look at the detail here. You could get lost in this detail for hours. All you have to do first is really look for a moment. Or, you could thumb through Pop Photo and Shutterbug. Again. Your call. It is incontestible that some pictures - very many, let's say - are dull. It is equally incontestible that some pictures only appear dull because we have such a thick skin over our eyes.

i'm in the boat that isn't too crazy about this image. i don't find the image quality particularly attractive, nor is the composition all that interesting. it may be different if i saw it in person. also, i'm not a fan of the white border. I think it just makes the images look smaller.

 

that being said, i think the folder of images is much stronger than any of the single images. i think the rating of single images tends to encourage one hit wonders. more dedicated and detailed projects get ignored. its good to see someone that is dedicating themself.

 

finally, its my belief that the photographer should say the bare minimum necessary about their own work. that is, they should say only what is required for the images to make sense. whenever you state directly what your photograph is about, you close off personal reactions that others may have. while this image may be about the impossiblity of free sight to you, it may be about a million other things to other people.

I really love this photo. Deliberate low fidelity, used very well. Finding an angle this open and balanced in a city like that wasn't easy, and it shows. I don't think it works any better if it's larger, but cuts like a knife as it is. As a newbie photographer, this is really inspiring.

Those buildings don't look safe.

"..use of high grain and contrast add to the feeling of alienation"

 

I disagree. Looks like poor scanner/technique to me.

This is an honest image with subdued utterance of its significance, which emerges out of its own accord more than being imposed by the photographer. There is a classic feeling to it.

 

As for its missing of focal point in composition or subject matter, think of Andreas Gursky, you get everything in detail yet still lost. A different approach, quite appropriate and effectively employed in this image.

I like the fact that the structures start small on the bottom frame and sweep up, and as near as I can tell the exposure (and subsequient print) make for a exquisite artful display. The only thing is as an original image, the subject matter is a cliche.

I normally follow the nature trails, but this image has drawn me in to comment. Although I"m a newbie at photographic technique, I'm not new at appreciation.

 

This has all the hallmarks of an early metal etching as used in original newspapers. Clever use of medium, subject, B&W and DOF. I actually prefer the smallish version - more mystique - and the white border treatment.

 

The photographer couldn't place the buildings, but certainly found a v. interesting aspect - and to me it is artistically and geometrically fascinating!

I think the abstract nature of this photo is interesting and to me it conveys a sense of clostrophobia. I don't know if I would want it hanging on my wall. Maybe. But I would like to see it in a gallery so that I could better appreciate and come to terms with it. On a PC screen it is very difficult to appreciate "challenging" photos (or any art media) such as this, and that is not just a factor of the size. We should all keep this in mind.

Sorry, I just don't see it!

 

Barry Needle.

This is the POTW? I may be a bit harsh in my ratings but the cumulative ratings say it all = Aesthetics 6.02/10 Originality 5.65/10. Middle of the road.

 

I think this one slipped through.

The light and composition remind me a little

bit of Woody Allen's "Manhattan", lensed by Gordon Willis.

I do appreciate the contrast used in this photograph has really lifted up the mood. However, I found it lacks the "content". This is just one overcrowding urban landscape which can be found in almost every part of urban Hong Kong. The "content" of this photo can be made more meaningful if there's some kind of contrast presented other than just the color. IMHO