City Scenes by Chipka
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Description
In the City…
—where silver trains clatter and rumble through subway tunnels like worms: the quiet and perpetual and meticulous tillers of the earth.
—where the overlap of human voices (in laughter, conversation, challenge, and inquisition) mingle like the warbles and squawks of outsized birds.
—where it is said, by some, that every face is the face of a stranger.
…it is easy to wander, sometimes between worlds, or simply through the convolutions of a single place. Cities are worlds, and the collisions of worlds. They are strange things, alive in some ways and completely dead in others. They are massive human artifacts: repositories of dreams, nightmares, and absent flights of momentary fancy.
Some cities are better than others. No city is perfect.
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I found this single image lurking in multiple images at home on my resurrected hard-drive. I saw other galleries here, drawing inspiration from them, analyzing them, seeking clues about the personalities of the artists. I suspect though superimpositions are not new to photography or any form of digital art, the ghostly collage (most superimpositions are, by their nature, ghostly) is—in many ways—scarcely explored. There are stunning examples of such work: here on Renderosity, and in photographic archives scattered all over the globe.
In thinking of photographic superimpositions, I thought of cities and of the similarities between jumbled images and the often-haphazard arrangement of human dwellings, work-spaces, and meticulously-planned common places. Cities are superimpositions of another sort and the worst ones loom on the landscape like vast, angular mistakes. The best ones simply loom. I’m interested in cities because I’m interested in people, and what is a city without the faces of strangers?
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As always, thank you for viewing, reading, and commenting, and I hope you’re all having a great week.
Comments (19)
junge1
Cool!
kgb224
Superb capture my friend. God bless.
tofi
This is a fabulously creative and wonderful idea, Chip! What a gorgeous presentation and a true inspiration... wake-up call to what is important in life. I especially like the choice of black and white here... it works so well, as all these images seem to come together as one, yet all so distinctly different and unique When I look it more and more, it becomes obvious that the place or "city" is in fact the people... Fantastic composition, my Friend! hugs
MrsRatbag
Superimpositions is a wonderful concept; I'm reminded of "Engine Summer", which built a society on the superimpositions of a miscellaneous set of slides. Now I have to go read it again, thanks for the reminder! Brilliant shot, Chip!
Faemike55
Perfect image for your description of cities. very cool postwork
KatesFriend
I think of time machines when looking at your image. By accident or design the overlapping characters look like they might be from different eras. Maybe it's that ghost metafore of which you spoke. And cities are bit like that too; a patchwork of overlapping architecture, advertizing, fashion, vehicles etc. There is a steel and glass crystal now sticking out of the Victorian era stonework of the Royal Ontario Museum in downtown Toronto. Like two centuries briefly (and some suggest disastrously) collided. And cities have many ghosts too, in the shape of abandoned buildings and long forgotten industries. And of coarse (in too many places) the long forgotten streetcar (of coarse I'd bring that up), their era now only punctuated by a little bit of track breaking the old asphalt of some neglected road. Gosh I do ramble or trundle -snicker! A belated Happy Easter my friend.
Wolfenshire
That's a very cool photo, so much happening in there.
wysiwig
Katz' Deli has been a New York landmark for over 100 years. My great grandparents ate there. When I last visited New York City I hade lunch there, perhaps in the same spot. There is this theory of parallel worlds. That somewhere in time my great grandparents are, right now, sitting down to lunch at Katz' Deli. This is a stunning visual representation of that theory. Just outstanding work and commentary.
durleybeachbum
Brilliant! I am a great fan of the work of sema fox here on rr and this is right up there at his standard.
prutzworks
cool shot
arthez
great collage, cool idea well executed
whaleman
Well done and second to none!
vis151
cool
auntietk
I love this image ... it's outstanding! Mark's theory is perfect. It explains everything. :) I believe the one you wondered about is Voltaire.
helanker
What a fun and beautiful image. So much to discover. So many details :)
JuliSonne
I read the words of a sensitive intellectual young man. Your words are very good. You split and you connect. In words and pictures. You are pensive and open at the same time in your perception. I appreciate that very much up to you. Your picture I like it because I'm also a big city kid. I need the rush and the full broadside of the big city with its beautiful and less beautiful sides. Thank you.
sandra46
GREAT WORK! VERY MYSTERIOUS MOOD
flavia49
fantastic work
nikolais
and a lovely narrative!