The towering structures that loom over us during our walk around the busy city can look similar and bleak. With some of them opting for glass windows and minimal designs on their architecture, we might think that they’re all just bland– but not really!
Photographer Chris Hytha decided to document historic high rises to show the different artworks that can be found atop a structure’s spire. Additionally, there is creativity and art involved in the choice of a building’s gilding and signage, which differentiates it from the rest of the city skyline.
His initial idea to complete this project was to photograph them from adjacent rooftops, but it proved to be challenging. He then turned to the next idea on his list: photographing from a helicopter with a telephoto lens. This too proved challenging as the costs of renting helicopters were far too expensive for his budget.
In the end, he decided to take the photos via drone photography. While he encountered issues with his drone, such as its low resolution, Hytha found a way eventually to solve them.
“The high-rise images are created by scanning the building façade with images at each floor level, then manually stitching the series of landscape images into one vertical composition,” he shared. “This technique is time-consuming but well worth it for the extra sharpness and resolution it provides! One of the side effects of this method is the flattening of perspective, making the images almost like an orthographic architectural elevation.”
Image credit: Chris Hytha via My Modern Met