Photographer Justin Szeremeta Exposes the Mega-City’s Skyscrapers in Their Natural Habitat
揭秘上海 – 摄影师Justin Szeremeta镜头中栖息在大都市的摩天大楼
Shanghai is known for its glitz and glamor – a showpiece city exemplifying China’s thriving economy and emergence as a global superpower. Its iconic skyline defines the city internationally and, compared to some of its ancient counterparts, many of which have rich histories dating back thousands of years, Shanghai is a Chinese city that is sometimes thought of as having little history at all.
上海以其浮华和魅力而闻名——是彰显中国繁荣经济和全球强国的典型城市。 其标志性的天际线在国际上定义了这座城市，与其它一些拥有几千年丰富历史的事物相比，上海成为了一个有时被认为几乎没有历史的中国城市。
Photographer Justin Szeremeta Exposes the Mega-City’s Skyscrapers in Their Natural Habitat
揭秘上海 – 摄影师Justin Szeremeta镜头中栖息在大都市的摩天大楼
Shanghai is known for its glitz and glamor – a showpiece city exemplifying China’s thriving economy and emergence as a global superpower. Its iconic skyline defines the city internationally and, compared to some of its ancient counterparts, many of which have rich histories dating back thousands of years, Shanghai is a Chinese city that is sometimes thought of as having little history at all.
上海以其浮华和魅力而闻名——是彰显中国繁荣经济和全球强国的典型城市。 其标志性的天际线在国际上定义了这座城市，与其它一些拥有几千年丰富历史的事物相比，上海成为了一个有时被认为几乎没有历史的中国城市。
Having lived in the Chinese mega-city for the better part of the past decade, I wanted to find a way to celebrate Shanghai’s ever-changing skyline, while unmasking her perceived opulence, to lay her bare – unearthing the diversity one finds in the more uncharted corners of her urban environment.
在过去十年的大部分时间里，我一直居住在这个中国大都市里，我想找到一种方式来记录上海不断变化的天际线，掀开她富丽的面纱，毫无保留地展露出来——发掘其城市环境中更为未知角落里的多样性。
Shanghai Undressed is a photo essay that reveals many of the city’s most iconic skyscrapers as dynamic urban actors, each making their presence felt far and wide across the boundless metropolis. The series juxtaposes the city’s tall buildings with scenes from everyday life in Shanghai, highlighting how these high-rises serve as points of orientation for residents, anchoring their position within this vast, oftentimes chaotic city.
揭秘上海是一篇摄影集，展露了上海许多最具标志性的摩天大楼，作为极具活力的城市组成部分，每个摩天大楼都成为了这座大都市中不可缺少的存在。该摄影系列将城市的高层建筑与上海的日常生活场景相融合，突出了这些高楼如何为城市居民指引方向，使其在这座广袤繁杂的城市中扎根立足。
The photo essay does away with the long-established usage of the hero-shot image to document skyscrapers in which the tower is isolated as the be-all end-all. While most outsiders only ever see the dazzling postcard-like images of the Lujiazui skyline in Shanghai’s Pudong area, this series looks for tall buildings that are spread out all across the enormous city, and then more accurately contextualizes them with varied foregrounds ranging from laneway residential communities, to developing construction sites, to elevated highways, to vibrant commercial corridors. As a former architect myself who spent more than a decade designing tall buildings in Asia, I eventually came to the realization that very few people cared about the ‘architecture’ as much as I did. What really matters is its impact on the city, the community, and the people who actually use the building.
此摄影集未采用通常记录摩天大楼的拍摄手法，将建筑独立取景突出其标志性。有别于大多数外来者看到的上海浦东陆家嘴片区耀眼的明信片一样的天际线景象，这个摄影系列着重捕捉遍布这座大都市的高楼，更准确地将它们与各种各样的前景联系起来，从巷道居民区到正在开发的建筑工地，到高架公路，再到充满活力的商业走廊。 作为一名前建筑师，我花了十多年的时间在亚洲设计高楼建筑，我最终意识到很少有人像我这样在意”建筑”。建筑真正的意义是它对城市、社区和实际使用者的影响。
The experience of photographing this series turned out to be quite liberating. The specific requirements of professional architectural photography typically dictate that our camera remains on the tripod most, if not all, of the time. In order to capture the spontaneity of everyday life in the city, I decided from the outset that every image in the series would be taken handheld and from the ground level. It became a weeks-long adventure that was part architectural and part street photography, leading me to discover hidden parts of the city I had yet to experience.
拍摄这一系列照片的经历实际上是一种释放。专业建筑摄影通常需要我们的相机大部分时间保持在三脚架上。为了捕捉城市日常生活的自发性，我从一开始就决定，系列中的每一张照片都从地面角度拍摄，并手持相机。这是一次长达数周的体验，一部分是建筑，另一部分是街头摄影，这让我发现了这个城市我从未触及过的隐秘的一面。
Each image in the series may very well illicit a unique response from different viewers. Some people may see tension between the historic fabric and the newer landmark towers, while others may come away with a more harmonious reading of the old and new. For me, when I look at the entire series as a whole, I see a city that is grappling with how to strike the right balance between preserving the old while ushering in the new. Critics will lament the demolition of too much of the city’s historical character, but I believe China’s recent focus on urban renewal may have come just in time. Only time will tell whether the views captured in this series will live on for future generations to enjoy.
该系列中的每一张图片都可能得到不同观者的特有反应。有些人可能会看到历史性建筑和新地标性建筑之间的对立关系，而另一些人可能会对新旧建筑进行更和谐的解读。对我来说，当我把整个系列作为一个整体来看的时候，我看到一个城市正在努力寻求一种平衡去保留历史文化的同时引入新元素。评论者会为这座城市太多的历史特征被拆除而惋惜感叹，但我认为中国最近对城市更新的关注可能来得正是时候。只有时间会告诉我们，这个摄影系列中捕捉到的景象是否会流传下去，供后人欣赏。