Urban Passacaglia by Chipka
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Description
**This song was with me as I both captured and manipulated this image. You can hear it HERE.
And yep, it’s another Battlestar Galactica reference
***
I’ve been on this musical kick, lately: I’ll see something that reminds me of a piece of music, or I’ll hear a composition that reminds me of something distinctly visual, textural, or otherwise tactile. It’s been happening a lot since I’ve been back in the USA. It happened in the Czech Republic and in Germany, but I expected such associations there and indeed it’s impossible to walk through Prague and not feel the caress of haunting music bleeding from memory as you step along cobblestones, listening to a friend describing local history at your side. Much of what I possess in my musical collection fits with Prague, with Moscow, and with cities of more Hungarian, Romanian, or even Estonian pedigree; there is a darkness to everything that I enjoy, a brooding sense of existential weight, density, and thick, almost tectonic melody.
I have a weekly habit of scrounging around Chicago with Corey, looking for photographic subjects, looking for story ideas or random faces to spark the births of characters. Chicago is rich in many things, and though I’m inordinately bored with the Midwestern American mindset that rules this city, the very skin and bones of this city remain a source of fascination. Chicago is a strange creature: an amalgam of moods and temperaments, most of which are foreign to the city itself. Chicago, like a city twice its age, is becoming a cipher, an angular tabula rasa upon which the lives of its inhabitants are etched. But it isn’t totally blank in and of itself. It’s jagged and alive in its own right. It is like a musical composition, a 17th century Spanish passacaglia, or maybe one more modern. There was a time when I thought of Chicago as a fugue, but the city isn’t old enough for that. It still maintains its dominant, youthful melody, but that melody has shifted, has darkened, and become…well…something else.
As I walked downtown with Corey, I saw rectangles. Everywhere. Chicago seems to have a fetish for them. The city’s countless windows are rectangular in shape, as is the grid-arrangement of its streets. Chicago is a city that thinks in boxes, and yes, those boxes are rectangular in shape: there is no room here for soft circles, or complicated polyhedra. This struck me, later, as I walked with my camera, listening to Bear McCreary’s super-modern composition “Passacaglia” in my headphones. If cities were songs, Chicago would be a passacaglia: not as happy as you’d think it should be…not as diverse or interesting as it pretends, and yet in its structured repetition, there is an almost lyrical grace, a beauty that exists despite itself. This is, I think, the first timid hints of one particular sign: a hopeful one. Chicago, I hope, is beginning to grow up.
Comments (21)
beachzz
Baby steps--that's how anything grows up. I guess it's the same with cities, odd as that might sound. Views such as this are steps to adulthood, with perhaps a fall or two. Of course, there will be someone/thing around to help pick this baby city up.
KatesFriend
Chi,p it always impresses me how you can bring together so many supposedly orthogonal concepts within a few concise paragraphs. Here synthesized into a new way at looking at an old city like Chicago. And may I say the scenery and the people match the music perfectly.
tamburro
Fantastic photo my friend!!!!
kgb224
Outstanding creation my friend. One of the lessons of my photography course was to go out and look at everything ones eyes can see what shapes one can notice and to write it down.
Roxam
your post-work is the perfect touch with this image-- very symbolic, fine composition
Meisiekind
Most wonderful piece of art Chip! Excellent symbolism! Isn't it fun to look at thing with photographer's eyes? We are a special breed!!! :))
durleybeachbum
I was astonished to find that piece of music so familiar when I didn't recognise the name! Perfect for the image. I find too much rectilinear in the built environment infinitely depressing..I'd probably love the Gaudi bits of Barcelona!
ragouc
Very good POV and shot.
minos_6
The absence of colour variety gives this picture a stark quality. An evidently vibrant city, caught in a brooding mood..... Love your post work on this one!
helanker
I Just havent got words.... Dont know how you do it.... See a fantastic shot... Listened to the lovely music.... Yep, it fits beautifully. Dont know how you do it.
jac204
You capture Chicago well in both your image and narrative. Only been to Chicago twice, but it has a hard to describe quality.
MrsRatbag
I recognize that place, I spent a couple of hours lurking around there in the cold one day... And what you say of American cities is true, they are usually quite blocky and oblong in quality. There are some exceptions, St. Paul being one of them, but there are still a lot of oblongs to be found even there. Seattle has oblongs that are dissected sharply by sudden diagonals, as if they were disrupted by a major land shift (a reflection of the seismic activity of our area?) Maybe Americans are just terrified of being lost, and the square grid format lends itself to easier navigation? Great work, Chip!
mermaid
Oh I like this a lot, Chip, it's appealing in many ways, the different forms, the composition, the symbolism
lior
Excellent POV and depth!
sandra46
great creation, very beautiful! i love how you blend musical feeling with that livid color and the particular buildings you choose... and a great writing to accompany it.
MrsLubner
I adore the tone and hue in this. The overall feel is very welcoming and I find a lot of compelling eye appeal here.
watapki66
Wonderful capture!
auntietk
Oh yes, that music is perfect for this scene. The mood of the photograph weaves a dance with the mood of the music, and I am transported while remaining in the same place. Staring at the picture, listening to the familiar music, I get the sense of standing right there where you were standing, being flooded by memories. A truly transportive piece of work, my friend.
romanceworks
It seems a complex city with it's own kind of harmony. A lovely photo and intriguing observations. CC
flavia49
fantastic image and wonderful "non" colors that you worked on it! passacaglia has the same wavenlenght, it's right!!!
Alex_Antonov
Amazing!