Compelling Scenes

I've been thinking a lot about what makes me want to take a picture of something urbanist--whether while I'm traveling or just here in the QCA--and I have some principles in mind about what makes a streetscape or a scene compelling to the viewing eye. At least mine. I suppose others might be differently compelled.

1. Profusions and Absences

One of the most striking elements of a streetscene is whether there is anything present in excess of expectation or anything that might be expected that isn't there. Think about the empty streets or the appearance of dolphins during the heights of the lockdowns over Covid-19. It doesn't have to be a pandemic to bring this about. Ordinary everyday things in one place can seem like a profusion or an absence to a different eye.

The bikes in this Amsterdam street scene are normal for Amsterdam. But they're striking to an American visitor.

So striking, indeed, that I took several such shots.

This is just an ordinary commuting day in Amsterdam, but not for me. 

Absences can operate similarly. 

This isn't really "urbanist" per se, except insofar as the concentration of museums in London is a function of urbanist principles themselves, but the lack of an exhibition in this hall of the Tate Modern was notable to me--so I took a picture.

2. Uniqueness and Typicality

Of course, the Amsterdam bikes above are also proof of another principle: it makes a good scene when you see something that seems typical of or unique to a particular place or environment. Amsterdam (and the Netherlands in general) is known for bikes, and biking culture, so the bike parking reinforces or typifies that.

This is part of why iconic monuments (as Notre-Dame de Paris, above) make for good photos. But also it helps if this uniqueness applies not just to the place (there is only the one Notre-Dame, as memorialized in one of my favorite video game series) but to the angle or other elements of the picture: this picture of the still-rebuilding Notre-Dame feels more significant to me than this one of the stereotypical view of the Eiffel Tower.

I was the only one photographing Notre-Dame from that angle; thousands of others were photographing the Eiffel Tower at the same moment.

This goes for urbanist scenes as well as for distinctive architecture.

This double-decker red bus is a transport of delight, and very distinctive.

So too is the above older-style Tube train. But because the bus has more distinctive elements in the photo to my trip (the specific 172 to Aldwych, the background, etc.) it feels more meaningful; the Tube train photo was fun to get but could be almost anywhere by almost anyone at almost any time.

3. Beauty in Composition

I would be remiss if I didn't mention that all the other elements that ordinarily make any art compelling can apply here as well: color, light, shade, angle, etc. And they can come in surprising ways to an urbanist view, compounding the urbanist elements in a scene:

I don't usually consider the old brutalist dorms of the University of Washington compelling, but the trees, the lighting, and the interplay of cement and nature practically forced me to stop and take this picture. And the fact that they highlight the density around UW didn't hurt.

Likewise, the train to the airport was the focus of my attention when I snapped this photo in Toronto, but the composition of trees in front, train in the midground, and dense but colorful urban apartments/condos in the background contributed to why this photo, and not any other.

Was all of this an excuse to just share some photos that I liked that I took? Certainly! But I think these principles are also useful for considering what to photograph and why going forward--and maybe for you too to consider when you snap your own urbanist photographs wherever you may go.