Cityscape #2

Impressive and powerful modern work of art. I really like this series, very dramatic.

Nice and original!

I would hate to have to work amongst these behemoths! I tried it once and I felt like a rat in a maze. You have made it seem even more so like that with the black black sky. What an amazing capture and a great perspective.

Second of a series.

As I lowered my gaze into the camera to compare the vision in my head with the reality on the film plane, I felt, rather than saw, a pair of eyes gazing intently at me. So, instinctively, I turned that way, and beheld a gentleman looking at me in quiet curiousity. His outward counternance suggested a career beaurocrat, not unlike the protagonist in Nikolai Gogol's "The Overcoat", except that where Akakii Akakievich was a mousy little man, this gentleman had about him that very robust look that is the stereotype of the American overseas, but which blends into the landscape here in America, so that while you might describe him as a "big fella", you would hardly consider his proportions out of the ordinary, certainly not Broadignagian, to borrow liberally from the English writer Jonathan Swift.

 

However, in his dressing he shared much in common with Akali. He had on a blue Ralph Lauren polo dress shirt, buttoned down collars, and a tie festooned with a very sloppy double windsor knot that immediately identified him as what he was, a petty officer, sincere in his attempts to present an outward appearance that suggested an upward mobility, but stuck in his station in life through a combination of everyday realities and his unfortunate lack of imagination. His shoulders were wide and, like I said, robust, his chest ample, but any pretensions he had to an Adonis was marred by the rather pronounced paunch he carried. His countenance represented reproachment, yet no hint of hostility, like a man who caught his child in an act of truancy that was neither malevolent nor particularly dangerous, yet forebode ill if it was not immediately arrested.

 

"What are you doing", he asked me when my eyes finally concluded its journey on his face.

 

"Oh, I'm taking pictures".

 

"Be careful", he said with no trace of irony at all.

 

"But, I'm not shooting pictures of people. I'm only shooting the buildings."

 

"I meant, be careful about that."

 

I affected amazement, and asked him why I should fear taking pictures of buildings.

 

"Well, I'm warning you. People get uncomfortable when they see someone taking pictutres of buildings. They call police."

 

This I found amusing, especially in an international city like San Francisco, where people shoot pictures everyday. So, I laughed, which was the stupidest thing I could have done, for the man's countenance immediately changed; like a calm stream when a foot steps in it, all the muck that had settled at the bottom came to the surface, for his expression took on an angry vengeful mien, and his voice rose an octave.

 

"One of the people arrested by police, he turned out to be al Qaeda", he pronounced with all the severity of a priest performing the last rites for a condemned man.

 

But, rather than impress me, I was even more amused, and wondered quietly to myself how many electric shocks to the private parts it takes for a man to confess to be "al qaeda", but this I did not share with my suddenly belligerent adversary. But, I took another picture. Then, because I, too, was begining to lose my temper, I told him, with just a hint of a sardonic smile:

 

"Well, if the police want to arrest me, let them come to my office down the street. Here's my card. I have had the same law office on this street for two years. I have been a member of the California State Bar for seven years, and I have a pass that allows me to enter the courtrooms and offices of the Department of Homeland Security, so they have no trouble finding me."

 

Then, finally, because it suddenly occurred to me, I added the following: "Speaking of al qaeda, these images ARE going to 'al qaeda', but that qaeda is 'al qaeda' called photo.net, where co-conspirators like myself from all over the world engage in the subversive action of uploading and sharing photos."

 

The man stared back blankly at me, for to him this was all Latin, for he had no idea that 'al qaeda' in Arabic ONLY means 'the base' or 'the center', and pnet is the base where we photographers gather and critique images, where a certain photograph may explode in popularity while another simply crashes and burns.

Excellent narrative, I can only tell you, my friend, that the power of racism against all targets never cease to amaze me. I am surprised that your witticism did not cause you worse since words spoken in another language are to those kind of people witchcraft anyway.This crussade and holy inquisition aftertaste to which one is subject by fate of pigmentation or tradition and its effects on ignorance. The wounds that leaves are many hundrend years old. Knowing it has happen to anyone fills me with anger and sadness, knowing that the eye of an artist has been mistaken with the eye of a violent man is a terribly blow, one sadly faimiliar.

Perfect composition and light, best regards.

this is bold, stark, graphic, and a bit jarring. a powerful image that grabs and holds me.

An interesting account and visual representation of a paranoid, claustrophic world looming down.

Write that book!

Jeff, yes, I see your connection, though of course, not at the time I took the picture!

 

Jan, you flatter me too much. For your benefit, I have written two book length manuscrips. The first is a collection of short stories built around a 40 year period in the history of my small village in Nigeria. The other is an account of my season playing college basketball in the United States. I've been too lazy to edit either, but you tempt me to go back. I've published bits and pieces of the former in short story anthologies, but I have to go back and edit it to make it flow the way I intended. I will request your email and send you a copy of a short story of mine. As always, your opinion means so much!

Interesting narrative, Emmanuel. Despite all of our technological advances we still live in the "dark ages". You have a very captivating shot here. The buildings seem menacing like giants looking down at you and the black sky further reinforces the feeling of intimidation. I find this angle a bit dizzling and claustrophobic, perhaps to heighten the feeling of entrapment?

I like this! Nice angle to show the scene. (rated anonymously as 5/6)

A great b/w shot. Good contrast lightning, details, and angle. Like it very much. Best regards, Torfinn.

Excellent angle and composition, beautiful lighting and geometry.

 

Regards

I quite like, love, the graphic quality of this and many other of your architectual images. The black sky and the bright surfaces of the structure(s) is stunning... Bravo! A most intriguing tale about your observer... Sad that we seemingly must take care about what we shoot these days. I no longer shoot images of banks, hospitals, public services buildings, etc. I would love to stop on the freeway and shoot the nuclear facility at San Onofre up the coast, known locally as Dolly Parton because of the shape of the twin reactors but I dare not... I've heard tales of people getting hasseled for shooting bridges. It seems that big brother is watching us all regardless of race, though I am sure that some are watched more than others... Ah, profiling... Sad Indeed... May life bring you joy and may you continue to laugh in the face of ignorance! Raymond

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Hahahaha!! I certainly think the real things are nuclear, too, and one of these days, they are going to explode onstage or on National TV, and trigger a real fallout that not all the Kings' men or horses can put back into the bottle. But, ah, I can see the line of men around the blook, looking to put Humpty Dumpty back together again.