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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Forty-Eight: Telling stories with pictures > Electrical hell, Beijing, China, 2007
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15-SEP-2007

Electrical hell, Beijing, China, 2007

Beijing is a city of striking contrasts. It now offers some of the world's most advanced architecture and technology. Its booming economy paces the world marketplace. Yet in its older neighborhoods, makeshift, tangled patchworks of electrical wires such as these symbolize just how far Beijing and China itself have yet to go. A closer look reveals satellite dishes and television antennas on the roof of the building in the background. I blend the tangled wires into them, and illuminate this paradox with a setting sun. All the elements of the story are in place. High technology, aging infrastructure, and a setting sun are incongruously juxtaposed in the heart of Beijing.

Leica V-Lux 1
1/1000s f/8.0 at 50.3mm iso100 full exif

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Phil Douglis06-Oct-2007 21:38
Thanks, Jenene, for pointing out the chaotic nature of this image, and the dichotomy it's story is based upon. You are right -- China still lives in dual worlds, old and new, aging and futuristic.
JSWaters06-Oct-2007 02:43
Chaos - a city with all the modern conveniences yet still struggling to escape an aging foundation. It's as if one eye is firmly focused on the future, but the other keeps glancing back waiting for the city to catch up with itself.
Jenene
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