Wordscapes first ever post: Doom Level ?

Photo by Alex Jodoin on Unsplash

Doom Level ?

Brooding clouds on Montreal
Like post-apocalyptic Doom


Presage an impending squall
For traffic dwindling in the gloom.

Scraping skies in downtown

Are office blocks and cranes;


Orange lighting fades to brown
As storm drains gutter for the rains.


@wordscapes

Wordscapes: "Cloudy evening in Montreal"

This photograph of Montreal, home to Unsplash, has been liked over 2000 times. Its Montreal-based creator, Alex Jodoin, has more enjoyably edgy urban photos on his website and social media.

The urban landscape's foreboding; a monster storm's about to break. The moment I saw this photo, I was reminded of the Doom games, from Level 2's tense outer cityscapes to Level 3's foundry colour schemes - hence the name of the poem.

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Alex's skilful exposure techniques, using low shutter speeds, illuminate the freeway with a sweeping curve of headlights. Light and dark contrasts brings to mind another contrast: the coziness of a dry car as the first heavy drops of a storm plop onto the windscreen. Hear the wipers: Riders on the Storm by the Doors:

The photo also conjured up Metropolis, the fictional city in which Superman is set. Metropolis was based on the Toronto skyline just 300 miles (500km) away - just down the road in terms of Canada's vast distances:

Metropolis is a fictional city appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, best known as the home of Superman. First appearing by name in Action Comics #16 (Sept. 1939), Metropolis is depicted as a prosperous and massive city in the Northeastern United States, within close proximity to Gotham City.

The co-creator and original artist of Superman, Joe Shuster, modeled the Metropolis skyline after Toronto, where he was born and lived until he was ten.

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Superman's Met Skyline

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The atmospheric photograph was also reminiscent of Fritz Lang's 1927 classic movie Metropolis:

Scene from the movie Metropolis

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It's haunting to see a cityscape like this empty of people, including residences. Sure, there will be apartment blocks and houses out there but they're not prominent: this vista is almost entirely industrial. And what is that mammoth, awe-inspiring block behind the freeway? A power station? Waste disposal? What a feat of engineering!

I wonder where exactly the photographer was he when he took this photo - or is it a dronescape?

This image takes in areas of the city a visitor would miss: car park behind the mall; small office block; supermarket; delivery bays. So it evokes a city's underbelly: garbage processing plants; flourescent-signed massage parlours; head offices; Metro servicing sheds and delivery services.

So atmospheric - thanks Alex Jodoin!

Message sent today to photographer Alex Jodoin:

Hello Alex

Your "Cloudy evening in Montreal" inspired me to Wordscape it.

I hope you like it:

@Wordscapes celebrates inspiring photos. I describe the visuals accurately in a no-frills poem, write a few notes, ask the photographer a question and bundle it all into a post. Next, I invite the photographer onto steemit and yours: if and when s/he replies, it goes in the weekly Wordscapes Digest.

Your Question:

Where exactly did you take this photo: is it a dronescape?

I hope you have time to reply: feel free to send with your reply material promoting your work for the Digest. I have posted this Wordscape on all my channels and have followed yours where I can.

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