The interaction of city and nature

I’ve been looking at the Daily Dose of Imagery website and both yesterday and today have photos that depict Toronto’s February weather. The first one is called Garbage and Snow and underneath the picture it says Toronto’s King street at Yonge. The photo is in black and white and focuses on a pile of black garbage bags lined up horizontally on the sidewalk. Due to the snow the usually busy street in Toronto has only three people walking on it. The snow has obviously been falling for sometime since the bags are more than just lightly dusted. When you look at the lights on the lamppost you can see that the snow is still falling while the picture is being taken. There aren’t any cars on the street which could indicate that people don’t want to drive in the snowy weather.

In Garbage and Snow no one is braving the weather in their cars, but in Biker and Second Cup it is a different story. In this photo there is a person who has braved the weather alone with only their bike. The snow is coming down hard and there is no one insight in or outside of the Second Cup. The wind is blowing the snow down and it is already piling up judging by the biker whose feet have completely disappeared. This picture is also in black and white, which was a great idea since it makes the white snow stand out.

Both pictures stood out to me because the snow really makes Toronto look beautiful. You can’t see the broken windows or the pieces of garbage on the ground. All you can see are snow covered streets with bright lights from businesses and streetlamps. Also without people crowding the street the buildings are center stage. The buildings may not be architecturally pleasing, but there is something about the way they tower over the city that is visually pleasing. I tried to simulate the same thing on Dundas Street West. I took a picture during a February day when the snow was just starting to fall. I feel like the colours distract viewers from the skyscrapers so I put the picture in grayscale. Though the city has a lot of colour and diversity it is sometimes nice to take a second and enjoy the beauty of the city interacting with nature. Being born and raised in Toronto I easily forget all that the city visually has to offer.