August 26, 2005

Aerial Photographs of Mexico City seen @ Cynical-C Blog
posted by Chyren 19 years ago
  • While I obviously think these are great, I'd be obliged if anyone knows whether any of these photos are not real, bogus or otherwise embellished. See towards the end of the MeFi discussion, particularly regarding Casas Geo - said to have built some of the production line coloured residences.
  • Wow, the difference between the rich and the poor are quite striking. Not that they aren't elsewhere, but there are some nice representations here. I don't know how to link to the pictures I'm thinking of...
  • I didn't see that you had posted these on MeFi, obviously we're pulling from a pool of the same sources. ;) I don't see anything here to indicate photographic alteration.
  • What you do is, click on the pic, it comes up in a popup, then click it again, it'll open in yet another window just with the .jpg. It is this address that can be used to link, avoiding all the javascript shenanigans. (I use a firefox extension called Makelink which makes it real easy)
  • Yeah, or when the applet thing opens, right click, save link or image location. It's a bit of a shit but I like pages that have large thumbs so I definitely forgive him heh.
  • The pictures are fine, and aerial views are always interesting, but...the place is overcrowded!
  • It's funny how everyone say they're computer renderings. No, they all seem quite real, no embellishment. Yes, the place is overcrowded; watching the city while landing down on the airport (which today is almost in the middle of the sprawl) is a breathtaking experience for anyone not used to a real monster-sized city.
  • Wonderful photos. Yes, I'm in the camp that thinks these are un-touched. A former colleague of mine took a helicopter tour of NYC a couple years back (his buddie pilots one for a local news station), and documented the journey with his camera. Some of the shots were quite magnificient! The views and perspectives are obviously not what one would see on a normal daily basis. Flying across the "grain belt" of the U.S., the fields paint quite a surreal colorful mosaic during the right time of year. One could almost imagine that it was "computer rendered." I'm reminded of a scene from "Slacker" for some reason: To me, my thing is, a video image is much more powerful and useful than an actual event. Like back when I used to go out, when I was last out, I was walking down the street and this guy, that came barreling out of a bar, fell right in front of me, and he had a knife right in his back, landed right on the ground and... Well, I have no reference to it now. I can't put it on pause. I can't put it on slow mo and see all the little details. And the blood, it was all wrong. It didn't look like blood. The hue was off. I couldn't adjust the hue. I was seeing it for real, but it just wasn't right. And I didn't even see the knife impact on the body. I missed that part. The "real" world (i.e., not digitized) profoundly assults our senses, more so than any computer rendered image could IMHO. Where else do we get the inspiration for such renderings? (Although the mind is a powerful creative force)
  • I'd love to know how one takes a picture while flying a helicopter. I keep thinking it's: 'let go'; 'aim, click'; 'SCREAM!; 'regain control, breathe'. A mounted device perhaps?
  • Based on this, I'm guessing the camera is mounted on a gyro on the helicopter, and it's triggered remotely. This site has a picture.
  • Of course, if you like to freefall while taking pictures, you'll want of of these.
  • er, "one of these". silly preview!
  • Nah, I like peacay's way better.
  • I would think that these have been sharpened and some other filters applied to highlight the colors and eliminate noise. Gorgeous, though.
  • "I'd love to know how one takes a picture while flying a helicopter." Aside from the other techniques mentioned, a chopper is quite stable in flight. If he's not got the camera mounted on an arm or such-like, he can quite easily lean across and take a shot without the thing plummeting out of the sky or whatnot.
  • I am informed that an employee at Casas Geo has confirmed that the 'simcity'-like buildings I mentioned upthread are indeed real. I was asked to post this message to ensure things were clear. I think the fact that some of those pics come off looking surreal or too good or bogus is testament to the pilot/photographer's excellent abilities with both vehicle and camera.
  • I don't understand peole in this thread. What makes people think these are photoshopped? and what makes people think helicopters will, I don't know, explode I guess, if the pilot has a camera?
  • "What makes people think these are photoshopped?" Because they've probably never seen something really extraordinary and beautiful in real life with their own eyes, and thus believe that any such image cannot be real. At a guess. Perhaps I do them an injustice, but that's my take.
  • I actually don't think anyone in this thread doubted the authenticity. I brought over a MeFi suggestion (to that effect) to see what people thought. Maybe people haven't seen such pictures/vistas because they haven't seen too many 'copter shots. The contrasts of Mexico City amplify that uniqueness.
  • Don't whirly birds explode when they're exposed to cameras? Well, shoot, guess I can use my cell phone when I gas up my car then.