Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #291 – Cityscapes

Published on by Yinglan

Happy Sunday! This week, we are cities through cityscapes as Patti hosts this week’s Lens-Artists Challenge.

Despite my fear of heights, every time I go to a new city, I like to find the tallest building in the city, ride the elevator up to the top, and take in the panorama views of the city from the safety behind a thick pane of glass.

I think it all started with my trip to Chicago in 2015. I was in college at the time, working my way toward my second undergraduate degree in accounting, when I saw a flyer for a trip to the Windy city to visit accounting firms. It was my first time visiting a major U.S. city that is not Los Angeles or San Francisco. It was quite an eye-opening trip for me as I realized traveling with someone other than my mom was a totally experience. I tried new foods, saw new sights, including the 103rd floor of the Willis Tower, and made new friends.

The next city I saw from a high vantage point was when I rode the elevator to the top of the CN Tower in Toronto in the fall of 2022. As I wandered around the sky deck of the CN Tower, I wondered about the purpose of the buildings. What are they for? Are they residential? Business? Both? I also wondered what would they look like if I’m to see them up close?

So many thoughts…

The only major city I can think of where I did not see the city in a high vantage point is London. I think time definitely played a factor as my mom was a bit sticker-shock when she found out how expensive public transportation was, so we mostly relied on our legs to get us from point A to point B and despite being an island nation, point A to point B can sometimes be pretty damn far.

It was a last-minute decision as neared the end of our one-day trip in Edinburgh, Scotland when mom decided to hike up Carlton Hill. We had a few hours to kill before needing to catch the bus back to Glasgow. After wandering up and down the Royal Mile all day, my sense of direction was pretty much lost as everything looked the same to me. However, when I looked through the camera’s view-finder to snap this picture, I had a light-bulb moment that made me felt dumb. Oh, so is that where I’ve been all day?

Finally, I feel it’s a not-to-be-missed experience when visiting Japan to not going up one of the towers and see the city because the view up top is much different than at the bottom, like this shot from the Tokyo Skytree.

23 thoughts on “Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #291 – Cityscapes”

  9. Traveling to big cities is always eyeopening to me as well . And I do the same thing. I try to figure out what the buildings are for. I also wonder how far people wander from their apartments and workplaces. Great photos.

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    1. Thank you. I think it’s a side effect of living the suburbs, the city becomes this fascinating place with skyscrapers, structures, and people. I often do the same thing when I head into downtown for work.

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