{"id":1515918,"date":"2024-02-23T06:34:15","date_gmt":"2024-02-23T06:34:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.counterpunch.org\/?p=314247"},"modified":"2024-02-23T06:34:15","modified_gmt":"2024-02-23T06:34:15","slug":"the-architecture-of-cities-the-beauty-of-looking-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2024\/02\/23\/the-architecture-of-cities-the-beauty-of-looking-up\/","title":{"rendered":"The Architecture of Cities: the Beauty of Looking Up"},"content":{"rendered":"
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42nd Street New York City.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The beauty of looking up:<\/p>\n

The earliest examples of some portrait photography were about the essence of gazing into the twilight lives of others:<\/p>\n

The most significant recipients of a photographer\u2019s exposure were\u00a0\u00a0beautifully executed studies of a subjects gaze: The freeze, the subjects had to undertake early on was part art, part scientific experiment: if the image moved it would be blurred: so there was this study in an unintentional way of the life in its twilight years:<\/p>\n

I understand a bit of portrait photography because I at one time had made thousands:<\/p>\n

I always liked the notion of the subjects \u201cgaze\u201d. I do remember fondly Irving Penn\u2019s portrait of Joan Didion: This exuberant silver toned image: beautiful does not appropriately apply: the framed study was beyond: I remember the silver tone, but I also remember the gaze.<\/p>\n

Today two hundred years later, the portrait gaze is still significant.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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57th Street: The Solow Building, New York City.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Architectural photography is about a different beast: The captured image is about the photographer\u2019s gaze: To examine a moment in time that will be lost forever if not for a reflexive snippety-snap-snap. When the photographer sees the assumed edifice of his intentions he might acknowledge it as an otherkin or mere brick and mortar: he considers the needs necessary to shoot, the needs to be snapped: If the photographer turns his head for a fleas second and returns to make a capture: what was felt in the initial capture may be gone forever: The photographer may say till death: \u201cthe one that got away\u201d.<\/p>\n

There is rarely chaos in architectural photography: Sometimes there may be a note of pell-mell: an infusion of creative passion: We must all adopt techniques that the science and tools will allow: the tricks are numerous: The art and execution desirable: Where to go next: How to see next: But what is architecture without the photographer\u2019s gaze:<\/p>\n

The measured photographer embraces a photograph like a lab technician waiting for atoms to disperse under the microscope: He sizes up the landscape: He acknowledges the footprint: The gaze absorbs ideas: a particular moment is elevated: Imagine sleeping naked with a snow leopard.<\/p>\n

Photography\u2019s marriage of archaeology or anthropology might seem a bit convoluted: The photographer may merely espy the reflective qualities and considerations: but there is more:<\/p>\n

Every urban or rural development stands in history\u2019s moment: the history of yesterday will reveal something about this now, but what will it feed us about tomorrow?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The light on East 29th Street, NYC.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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We are swinging in a continuum of change: the question for this photographer is: how do I reveal it: Digging a massive hole under the Empire State Building? Excavating documents from a decade or a century past: Impossible: The gaze is not a peek: The gaze is about why I am seeing:<\/p>\n

I look at architecture: l consider the possibilities:<\/p>\n

One day my parachute fluttered above my head: It seemed like a mess\/flock of birds<\/p>\n

spirited away in slow motion: At first I tired of the look up: Then I caught the sound of wings below: I laughed with laughter: Two black birds sweating like athletes in training hovered an arm or two away: I looked down and across the sky as if I was one or more of the perspiring crows or sparrows: I nodded with a bit of ho-hum:<\/p>\n

I realized that the infinite that lives inside my lens while looking up reveals something\u00a0\u00a0more: Maybe this is where astronomy lives in my mind: somewhere up: Maybe it is through astronomy where I learned\u00a0\u00a0how architecture could be captured: Looking up is about more than architecture it is quietly about our universe above: Possibly my lens possesses a communing of the stars and dreams in one frame.<\/p>\n

Maybe in some eyes I sound like William Wharton\u2019s\u00a0Birdy<\/em>: Something compels me to fly while merely addressing the values of seeing through my lens: to put your mind at ease there is nothing psychotic, just a dream in my reality.<\/p>\n

All of the materials, all of the surfaces\u00a0\u00a0on this globe and beyond are my canvases: My eyes stand before me: Everything looks so inviting: What might I do: For the moment, I will take a picture of what I imagine is there: From there I will see what else may be captured:<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd miles to go before I sleep,
\nAnd miles to go before I sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Robert Frost)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The Sherry Netherland Hotel meets Apple Store on Fifth Ave.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>

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All photographs by Richard Schulman<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The post The Architecture of Cities: the Beauty of Looking Up<\/a> appeared first on CounterPunch.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

This post was originally published on CounterPunch.org<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The beauty of looking up: The earliest examples of some portrait photography were about the essence of gazing into the twilight lives of others: The most significant recipients of a photographer\u2019s exposure were\u00a0\u00a0beautifully executed studies of a subjects gaze: The freeze, the subjects had to undertake early on was part art, part scientific experiment: if More<\/a><\/p>\n

The post The Architecture of Cities: the Beauty of Looking Up<\/a> appeared first on CounterPunch.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13681,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,250],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1515918"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13681"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1515918"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1515918\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1515919,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1515918\/revisions\/1515919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1515918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1515918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1515918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}