Photo by Alex Jodoin on Unsplash
Scraping skies in downtown
@wordscapesWordscapes: "Cloudy evening in Montreal"
This photograph of Montreal, home to Unsplash, has been liked over 2000 times. Its Montreal-based creator, Alex Jodoin, has more enjoyably edgy urban photos on his website and social media.
The urban landscape's foreboding; a monster storm's about to break. The moment I saw this photo, I was reminded of the Doom games, from Level 2's tense outer cityscapes to Level 3's foundry colour schemes - hence the name of the poem.
Alex's skilful exposure techniques, using low shutter speeds, illuminate the freeway with a sweeping curve of headlights. Light and dark contrasts brings to mind another contrast: the coziness of a dry car as the first heavy drops of a storm plop onto the windscreen. Hear the wipers: Riders on the Storm by the Doors:
The photo also conjured up Metropolis, the fictional city in which Superman is set. Metropolis was based on the Toronto skyline just 300 miles (500km) away - just down the road in terms of Canada's vast distances:
Metropolis is a fictional city appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, best known as the home of Superman. First appearing by name in Action Comics #16 (Sept. 1939), Metropolis is depicted as a prosperous and massive city in the Northeastern United States, within close proximity to Gotham City.
The co-creator and original artist of Superman, Joe Shuster, modeled the Metropolis skyline after Toronto, where he was born and lived until he was ten.
Superman's Met Skyline
The atmospheric photograph was also reminiscent of Fritz Lang's 1927 classic movie Metropolis:
Scene from the movie Metropolis
It's haunting to see a cityscape like this empty of people, including residences. Sure, there will be apartment blocks and houses out there but they're not prominent: this vista is almost entirely industrial. And what is that mammoth, awe-inspiring block behind the freeway? A power station? Waste disposal? What a feat of engineering!
I wonder where exactly the photographer was he when he took this photo - or is it a dronescape?
This image takes in areas of the city a visitor would miss: car park behind the mall; small office block; supermarket; delivery bays. So it evokes a city's underbelly: garbage processing plants; flourescent-signed massage parlours; head offices; Metro servicing sheds and delivery services.
So atmospheric - thanks Alex Jodoin!
Hello Alex
Your "Cloudy evening in Montreal" inspired me to Wordscape it.
I hope you like it:
@Wordscapes celebrates inspiring photos. I describe the visuals accurately in a no-frills poem, write a few notes, ask the photographer a question and bundle it all into a post. Next, I invite the photographer onto steemit and yours: if and when s/he replies, it goes in the weekly Wordscapes Digest.
I hope you have time to reply: feel free to send with your reply material promoting your work for the Digest. I have posted this Wordscape on all my channels and have followed yours where I can.
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