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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Fourteen: Expressing the meaning of buildings and structures > The Empire State Building, New York City, New York, 2008
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02-SEP-2008

The Empire State Building, New York City, New York, 2008

The iconic Empire State Building, once the world’s tallest skyscraper, is one of the world’s most photographed buildings. Instead of describing it here, I abstract it by shooting it with a setting sun at the end of 34th Street. By backlighting the famous building, I make the golden clouds overhead my subject, while the silhouetted structure itself becomes context for nature at work. I hold just enough detail in the shadows to reveal a smattering of lights along the building’s façade. I frame the structure with tilting buildings on either side, creating an overhead triangle of sky that echoes the thrust of the Empire State’s soaring tower. The buildings just in front of it offer an additional layer for scale comparison.

Sigma DP1
1/60s f/5.0 at 16.6mm iso50 full exif

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Phil Douglis19-Sep-2008 01:45
Thanks, Jenene, for giving thought to both the symbolic and real life nature of this amazing structure. I am glad the image confirms both for you.
JSWaters18-Sep-2008 05:37
I'm mindfull of Tim's and Celia's thoughts while offering my own. I'm not sure I've ever seen the Empire State Building depicted this way before, but the image allows one to see the building as greater than the 'one' skyscraper people portend it to be, and more of the maverick building that brings interest and continuity to itself and it's midtown neighbors. Your inclusion of trees and the beautiful skies grounds this icon in reality.
Jenene
Phil Douglis09-Sep-2008 23:27
Thanks, Celia, for pointing out the role of coloration here. I only shoot raw images with the Sigma DP1, and this allows much much greater control and choice over intensity and hue of color. In processing the RAW image, I deliberately brought out the "fire in the sky" here to evoke the beauty of the end of the day.Thanks, too, for commenting on a significant contextual matter here. For many, a reddish sky anywhere in New York City can still evoke the ultimate terroristic fire that took out the World Trade Center on 9/11, even seven years after the fact. I did not intend to awake such painful thoughts, yet I can see how such thoughts can be triggered by an image such as this one. And you are right -- the World Trade Center and Empire State Building both once held the title of the world's tallest building. Although the WTC is no longer at the foot of Manhattan, the Empire State still dominates midtown, even though it has long since lost its title to structures elsewhere. You are also right on the twinkle of lights -- once again, a RAW image allows us to hold such details in the shadows. The glow of the evening sky has rendered the facade of the Empire State Building in sepia tones that do indeed recall an age and era gone by. Thanks so much, Celia, for these thoughtful observations -- they greatly enhance the meaning of this image for me, and, I hope, for anyone coming to it.
Cecilia Lim09-Sep-2008 22:42
I agree with Tim's sentiments here. The lighting that created the brown-sepia tones of the buildings also evoke a sense of an era gone by - an idea further reinforced by the day drawing to a close with the sun setting. But I also like the twinkle of lights in the windows of the Empire State Building, as it reminds us that it is still very much alive as an icon of New York.

But I can't help but be reminded of the 9/11 tragedy when I look at the reddish cloudy sky and the fiery glow of the sun in this image. They remind me of smoke and fire in the distance, and offers a haunting connection between the Empire State Building here and the World Trade Centers, both once the tallest buildings in New York's Skyline.
Phil Douglis09-Sep-2008 18:46
I just knew you would see "brooding confinement" here, Tim. This image is indeed structured very much like my "Tree in the Canyon" shot (http://www.pbase.com/image/20738371 ) that orginally inspired that expression back in 2003. Both the tree in that picture and the Empire State Building in this image are dwarfed and pressured by confining pressure and silhouetted bulk on either side. Time has indeed moved on, leaving the world's once tallest building as a tribute to another age, another time.
Tim May09-Sep-2008 00:13
Seems a lot like brooding confinement to me --- I like the sense that the composition seems to dwarf this once tallest building. Time, as shown by the sun set, has moved on - buildings are taller now - the photo says that to me.
Phil Douglis08-Sep-2008 17:19
Thanks for seeing the scale implications here, Alina. Although the foreground buildings are much lower than the Empire State Building, they seem larger because of scale perspective, and thus echo your point that this 1930's skyscraper is no longer the king of the world's skylines.
Alina08-Sep-2008 03:46
Beautifully composed picture. The Empire State Building as you said once the world’s tallest skyscraper now fits in between other constructions.
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