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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Fourteen: Expressing the meaning of buildings and structures > Railroad Station, Shanghai, China, 2007
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09-SEP-2007

Railroad Station, Shanghai, China, 2007

Sometimes an interior view of a building tells a better story than an exterior view. Such was the case here. I shoot from high over the main concourse of the Shanghai Railroad Station, enabling me to make an image that greatly reduces the scale of the people far below me, and in the process makes the train station appear even larger than it is. I also use a 28mm wideangle lens that stretches my perspective into near panoramic effect. By shooting down on the scene, I give the viewer a glimpse not only of the entire concourse, but also a look outside of the building as well. The image contrasts two worlds – the relatively casual pace and spacing of the people walking below us, versus the chaotic Shanghai street jammed with buses just outside of the station’s window.

Leica D-Lux 3
1/125s f/3.6 at 6.3mm iso100 full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
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Phil Douglis14-Nov-2007 00:30
Thanks, Sonia, for stopping here at the Shanghai Station. You make a good point about the uniformity of the colors within the interior world here (the station) contrasting to the variety of color that exists uncontrollably in the outside world beyond those windows.
Guest 13-Nov-2007 19:09
I like how the image of the people are abstracted by the back light and the building appears in sepia as a contrast to the colors outside the windows. Yes it's a linkage of an outside world to shanghai.
Phil Douglis15-Oct-2007 04:48
I would not go so far as to call the main lobby of the Shanghai Railroad Station a place of "Zen-like calm." It is a very busy place. However my camera has indeed brought this busy room to a stop. There is no sound, either. Everything is still. So that is why it must seem so serene to you.
Patricia Lay-Dorsey14-Oct-2007 04:49
I am so attracted to the simple clarity of this scene with its panoramic dimensions. Instead of the hustle and bustle normally experienced in places where journeys begin or end, this railroad station has a Zen-like calm. I don't even notice the chaotic street outside the window that you describe, my eyes are so taken in by the serenity of the scene inside.
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