The grid of Buenos Aires Photo

Photographer’s Note

From Iguazu we returned to Buenos Aires. This time we took the fastest option: by air. And the views that we got were very different from the views that we had on our way TO Iguazu from the bus. This was great as well, especially when we arrived at Buenos Aires. The view over the city was marvellous with large parts in the shade but some light spots of sun on the city.

The very organized layout of the city is visible in this picture. It has its origin in the late 1500s when Juan de Garay created the first organized layout of the city. The squares were chosen as simple unities. Every Spanish conquistador was appointed an area as large as one square of the city (or half a square). Many towns in Argentina have city-plans that look like this. And that's something that we also could see during our flight from Iguazu to Buenos Aires.

Tech: increased contrast to get rid off the haze caused by the airplane window.

brkgnd, kikvel, nickthegreek82, esme, Rinie_Hoff, rage_tm, jpages, pamastro, robiuk, bertolucci, Bolivar, erdna, Inspired, capthaddock, krakowiak, calimex has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

Maru (0) 2005-01-23 16:54

Oh My..! And I live in the middle of THAT jam?? I have to move out veeeery quickly from here..
Michael, great aerial view of the city and it square patterns.
Once I arrived by plane to Buenos Aires from Ushuaia, so 3.000 km from nothing more than almost desert, and suddenly, millons of houses all together. It's just impressive and you chatch very well the feeling.
Nice work

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brkgnd (268) 2005-01-23 17:06

Michael,
This is the most amazing photo I have ever seen on TE. Congratulations.
I am living in a small city with the population of just 60.000
This is BIG my friend, realy BIG.
And perfect shot......

Praetzer (1657) 2005-01-23 17:07

Great areal and no haze: life or photoshop?

maciekda (19587) 2005-01-23 17:09

very interesting photo Michael, in fact it looks surreal - an increbibly dense net... definitely interesting

kikvel (4772) 2005-01-23 17:30

Hi Miguel

nice view of this beautiful city which I like very much
your notes are great too! I see you investigated the origins
very well done!

K.

todbrowning (105) 2005-01-23 18:00

Very interesting and impressive !

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nickthegreek82 (1572) 2005-01-23 18:01

Very impresive indeed! Very well done!

Rinie_Hoff (9332) 2005-01-23 18:20

This is incredible, Michael, not only you,re crazy about airplanes, but you manage to get the best shots theer are, from those tiny windows. Or did you chat with the captain?
Really amazing, and a beautiful airial view of this big, big city. Yet I'm glad that we do not have this grid here, and a bit more adventurous lay-out.

rage_tm (623) 2005-01-23 18:36

Hi Michael, Wow! Really an excellent sharp view of the city. The lighting brought by the sun in middle add beauty to this composition. Well Done!

jpages (1670) 2005-01-23 19:17

What a impressive view of this great city. Really difficult to get this kind of photos, in the airplane, usualy with a very small windows and not very clean. This is very clear photo and have a very good definition of the whole city.
I live in Barcelona, in Catalunya, Spain, and it also have a city-planning drawn into squares, like this, made by architect "Ildefons Cerdà" in 1859, with islands of houses in square or rectangular form, like Buenos Aires. I didn't know it.
Very well done Michael.

pamastro (7213) 2005-01-23 21:36

Wow, that is impressive. I always like urban shots from the sky and this is one of those really amazing ones. You did good work to clear up the image. It sort of makes me think of a book I have of aerial photographs of Los Angeles with mile after mile of grids. I like how the taller buildings rise up from the shorter ones in a very organic pattern adding a good focus to the image. The way the light falls across that area also adds to that focus. Is that an expressway or railroad curving through the photo. That adds a sort of natural vein like aspect to the shot. And if it is a more modern addition shows how the old grids in many cities, especially the United States, have been ignored to place these modern additions. Excellent work, Michael.

niculceaadi (227) 2005-01-23 22:03

hi,is intersting the image from the plane,I see all the grid in details and the light in the centre, very good composition.Congratulation

avigur_11 (21273) 2005-01-23 22:18

It's incredible, Michael. The area of the city is huge, and we can see that there are more than one center in this city. I wonder why some of the lines are bended in the middle. It's a very interesting aerial shot,very good job.

tcht (7298) 2005-01-24 6:12

this is very impressive picture... n i like the patches of white sunlight that beenms onto parts of the city...

and i dont think i'd like to live there..just too crowded!

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robiuk (10763) 2005-01-24 8:38

Woow!
It almost looks like a shot from a satellite. Very interesting capture and good PP work, Michael.
Why does it always happen to me (when on plane) that the plane window is either scratched or dirty?
(maybe I shouldn't be flying with cheap companies? lol)

ishai (4093) 2005-01-24 14:47

Hi Michael,
Amazing shoot
Its showing us again how small we are
It’s nice to see all these symmetrical lines
I head no idée Buenos Aires was so huge
The weather goods were one your side

bertolucci (11976) 2005-01-24 17:02

Wow Michael, this rather formal urban grid looks very exciting from this high point of vantage. I love the way the grid shows its irregularities in form and the way the city rises and falls in height flagging high density areas. The play of the light adds xtra interest. You captured an astonoshing amount of detail here.
I'm gonna check if SimCity is still installed on my PC ;-) Xcellent job!

erdna (5348) 2005-01-26 15:58 [Comment]

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joseelias (367) 2005-02-04 8:54

Amazing view! It’s very interesting to see the geometry of this city which is surely very different from the one in the old cities of Portugal with a labyrinth structure. The light spots add a lot of interest to the image.

capthaddock (28640) 2005-07-28 9:21

Hi Michael - wow, the grid from above is interesting enough, but the light and shadow patterns make it incredible, and no trace of window haze, this looks like it was taken by a bird.

baba_flies (7985) 2005-10-20 10:40

I just came over this picture by clicking around. This is simply fantastic ... a little master piece ... wow this is maybe crowed (as many other cities).

rajhema (1865) 2005-10-27 14:24

you mentioned it Michael. It is marvelous. What a closely stacked concrete system. Very well captured.

krakowiak (4702) 2005-10-29 4:27 [Comment]

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fbauer (361) 2006-06-09 5:12

Hi Michael,incredible concentration there,I like such overviews.The dark quadrats at the bottom image border are distracting,maybe it is better to crop them.
Franz

fmfelman (118) 2006-10-16 22:42

Great shot of this incredible city. You've captured the details well and the lighting is wonderful. I've just moved back to the US after 1.5 years in Buenos Aires and this photo makes me miss it once again. I loved the fact that I take the rickety old elevator down to the ground floor and walk 12 paces to a small cafe for a most wonderful cafe con leche. And I could hop in a cab and be in the middle of the life of the city no matter the day of the week or the time of the day. I enjoyed my work and leisure time in Argentina and often wish that I was back in my expat life in Buenos Aires. Thanks for sharing this beautiful aerial shot of a The Paris of the South.

calimex (1029) 2007-03-11 10:11

Hi Michael,
Pictures from airplane windows are notoriously hard to capture and often serve as a beautiful memory just to the photographer (which is a great aim, of course), but in this instance I think you have given us something that is pleasing and informative and graphically interesting. I really appeciate your historical and technical note and the crystal-clarity of your shot.
Thanks,
José