Favourite Photos #5

2010 | Photographer Unknown

This photograph shows the concrete foundations of the Shanghai Tower being laid down back in 2010. When completed next year, it will be the second tallest building in the world. There are many things I love about this photograph including actually how much the photographer has managed to squeeze into the composition. My favourite thing about the photo however is the way all of the machines look as if they are thirsty animals drinking from an oasis.

Unfortunately I can’t find who the photographer is but if anybody reading this knows, please let me know.

Favourite Photos #4

1964 | Julius Shulman – Founders National Bank Building/Bank of America

Julius Shulman was an architectural photographer who became famous in the 1960’s for his photographs of architectural modernism. I am a huge fan of modernist architecture with it’s beautiful converging lines and progressive style. Shulman’s photographs really show the style at its best and deserve to be more widely seen.

This particular photograph is one of my favourites by Shulman. Taken at magic hour, the photo manages to give the building an ethereal glow which almost makes it look like an alien spacecraft waiting to fly off into the night.

I may do a separate post about Julius Shulman in the future but in the meantime, if you want to see more of his pictures, there is a good selection here.

Favourite Photos #3

1941 | John Collier

This picture was taken on the world famous main concourse of Grand Central Terminal in New York. Click the image for a high res version.

I love how everybody in the photo is standing still except for the female figure in the middle who seems to be traversing the concourse with a sense of purpose while also exuding an air of mystery.

I guess it goes without saying, but I feel the man who created Grand Central’s cathedral-like architecture also deserves some of the credit for the beauty of this photo. Mr Whitney Warren, I salute you.

Favourite Photos #2

1990 | NASA – Pale Blue Dot

This photo, dubbed the “Pale Blue Dot” by Carl Sagan, was taken in 1990 as the Voyager 1 spacecraft exited the solar system after a 12 year mission exploring its far reaches. Travelling at 64,000 km/h and at a record distance of 6 billion kilometres from Earth, the probe had completed its primary mission and was therefore at the disposal of NASA scientists when on Valentines Day 1990 Carl Sagan, one of the greatest scientists of all time who worked as an advisor to NASA, suggested that Voyager 1 be turned around to face Earth in order to get a photograph at this unimaginable distance.

The result is the photograph above which shows Earth as a minuscule dot in the centre of the brown band on the far right. The great thing about the photo is how it shows the true insignificance of the planet we call home. I think we need photos like this to remind us that we aren’t as important as we sometimes like to think we are on this tiny rock in the middle of nowhere.

Favourite Photos #1

1864 | George N. Barnard

This is a photograph of a view from the Capitol in Nashville, Tennessee during the American Civil War in 1864. Click the image for a high res version.

I love the atmosphere of this photo. It reminds me of that feeling you get when you go outside just after it’s rained heavily and you’re all dry but the streets are soaking wet. I also love the way the man almost seems like one of the statues, frozen in time.

The photo is from a website called Shorpy which is absolutely amazing and I highly recommend taking a gander. It contains a huge archive of photographs mostly taken in the USA between 1850 and 1950. More are added every day and the best thing about the site is that all of the images can be viewed in super high resolution which is extremely rare for vintage photographs.