Towering. Not inferno.Toronto, ON
August 2008
Click to embiggen
I get dizzy not from looking up at these monstrosities of the sky, but from thinking how many people are working behind each of the windows in these two buildings.
The CN Tower - for non-Canucks, it's the one on the left - is so iconic that I often wonder if I should be shooting it at all. Why bother, the logic goes, when everyone else has already captured it every which way? And the answer comes back, simply: Because no one would shoot it like I can.
Indeed, if you had been in my shoes on this hot late summer's day, you, too, would have found some unique way to capture this most obvious of subjects. Because no one would shoot it like you, either.
Pretty big thought, come to think of it.
Your turn: We're finishing off our big-themed week, but you can still share a pic by clicking here. Otherwise, please pick a window and tell me the story of whoever's behind it.
Coming up next: Thematic Photographic's next theme - launching tomorrow (Wednesday) at 7:00 p.m. EDT - will be...
Perspective
Why perspective? As non-summer segues into the back-to-school-and-work season to come, I figure now is as worthwhile a time as any to ponder the concept of perspective. No?
Carmi, that photo is so iconic! Those buildings look like something that might have been drawn in the 30's to illustrate an example of the city of the future.
ReplyDeleteFrederick Chomsky sits behind his new desk in the recently assigned corner office with the proverbial window. It took 25 years, two divorces and countless midnights to reach this pinnacle. He loved his work and the price was not too great to pay including the ulcer that forced him to give up that expensive Cabernet with dinner. He would show his daughter the office after lunch, if she was able to make it.
ReplyDeleteFantastic shot Carmi...I love the skyline of Toronto and it must include the tower of course...do my kids ever get over the thrill of seeing it? Never, even the sarcastic, cynical teens still squee with joy when we see it popping up in front of us on our easterly drives. She's magnificent...and I've never seen her from quite this view :)
ReplyDeleteBreeze
Even this Southerner who's never been north of Potsdam, NY can recognize this building. Of course, having a good deal of exposure to Things Canadian via blogging and hockey fandom (I've heard there's a team in Toronto, any truth to that?) it's a little easier for me to recognize.
ReplyDeletePerspective. That's another one of those broad fuzzy themes that can be spun a lot of ways... depending on how you look at it. ;) Should make for an interesting week.
Thank you from this non-canuck for saying what bulding was which. They are just awesome looking. It reminds me of what Gotham City would look like. That's the first thing I thought of. Have a great day :)
ReplyDeleteI got dizzy when I was up in the CN Tower looking down through the glass floor! :D
ReplyDeleteI love the way you've shot this so the CN Tower seems incidental to the photo, rather than the center of it.
ReplyDeleteIf I had your skill with a camera...
I doubt I'll be participating in this week's theme...I don't think visually enough for it.
But I'm emailing you an Idea.
I will tell you the story that refers to picking a window and telling you the story of whoever's behind it...
ReplyDeleteOne night I was watching a movie with my then-boyfriend, "J". It was the opening of one of the Bourne movies (Bourne Identity, etc.), and the camera panned across the front of the CIA building in Virginia. J paused the DVD and points at the screen... "You see the window on the third floor... seventh one in from the left...?" I dutifully counted in and nodded. "Yeah, I see it..." He continued, "That's Gator's office." (Gator was the nickname of a mutual online friend, who was in the Navy but was living in Virginia at the time while the government paid for him to further his education.) I started. Lots of things ran through my mind, but mostly I was confused, because the CIA is not military and Gator was definitely military. Finally, I blurted, "Why do you know that?!" J replied, "It's easy to know things when you make them up."
And that is who J was. And it was very good while it lasted.