Urban Geometry - a photo on Flickriver

Urban Geometry

Urban Geometry. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell - all rights reserved.

A woman walks past a building with a display under construction.

One element of the urban/street world that fascinates me is the juxtaposition of "perfect" structures — geometric patterns, shiny metal, highly designed forms — with the imperfect and always-deteriorating nature of this world — peeling paint, dirty sidewalks, constant construction and reconstruction, accumulated dirt, and so forth. Long ago the fact that urban structures fell short of the theoretical perfection offered in architectural drawings bothered me, but now I find it fascinating.

This is an example of one of those little scenes that always seem to catch my eye. The facade fo this building is, from one perspective, quite boring, even though its patterned wall and metal lights depart from typical (and often rather plain) urban surfaces. But notice some interesting things about it. For example, because the sidewalk and street are inclined, the designer was faced with a question: align the metal form beneath the windows with the sidewalk or align them with one another? And if you align with the sidewalk — as is done here — what do you do about the size of the windows and about their alignment? (The sizes were kept the same, leaving the lower bank out of alignment... but they are "corrected" in the second level!) Beyond that, the contrast with the op-art nature of the under-construction window dressing is fascinating. I waited for a passer-by to enter the scene before making the exposure.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, "California's Fall Color: A Photographer's Guide to Autumn in the Sierra" is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.

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Taken on: September 24, 2019

Tags:

urban

geometry

california

usa

north

america

street

photography

woman

person

walk

window

reflection

patterns

display

ladder

sidewalk « less

Sets appears in: • Architecture • Structures more » • Street/Urban • San Francisco « less

Camera: Fujifilm X-Pro2, f/5.6, 1/400 sec, 27mm (=41mm), ISO 400 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Fujifilm X-Pro2
Lens:	XF27mmF2.8
Aperture:	f/5.6
Exposure Time:	0.003 sec (1/400)
Focal Length:	27mm (35mm equivalent: 41mm)
ISO:	400
Exposure Bias:	-0.33 EV
Flash:	No Flash
Exposure Program:	Program AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Center-weighted average
White Balance:	Auto
Sharpness:	Hard
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop 21.0 (Macintosh)
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