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New York/Amsterdam collage

Based upon satellite and aerial photographs, I have created a highly detailed
Photoshop collage in which New York and Amsterdam, without making any
changes to the north orientation and the exact same scale of both cities, have been organically fused together to form one, imaginary metropolis.

Few cities other than New York and Amsterdam would allow for artistic
manipulation as presented here, and the resulting topographical rarity - with
a striking congruence between Amsterdam's old town center and the tip of
Manhattan, and with 'mother' Amsterdam metaphorically holding her 'child'
New York - uniquely illustrates the indelible and still very relevant bond that
exists between the two cities.
 

Fusion

To enhance the illusion of one, fictitious city, I have meticulously connected
several topographical elements of Amsterdam, of Brooklyn and of New Jersey.

In the imaginary 'Hudson Bay' (or 'extended river IJ'), ferries like 'Half Moons'
sail back and forth across the busy waterway between Amsterdam and Manhattan, and ships, coming down the Hudson and East River, pass by Lady Liberty and continue their way on the North Sea Canal and the
Amsterdam-Rhine Canal.

In the west, the North Sea Canal, the 'Noorder IJ-polder' and the industrial zone 'Noord 1' with the NDSM-shipyard, all appear to be part of New Jersey, whilst the ring road 'A10-Noord' changes over to Interstate 78 and Amsterdam and Newark are connected by the 'Coentunnel' road.

In the east of Amsterdam, a small remnant of the 'Buiten-IJ', together with the 'Zuiderdijk', mark the change-over to the docks of Brooklyn; the 'Zuiderzeeweg' connects to the Gowanus Expressway towards Brooklyn Heights, and the 'Zeeburgertunnel' disappears into the earth at Greenwood Cemetery!

In the south-east of Amsterdam, the 'A1' highway runs via Overdiemen and
's-Graveland to Gravesend in Brooklyn (the old 's-Gravesande) and on to
Rockaway Beach on the Atlantic Ocean.

                                               Leonard de Vogel - Amsterdam - 2010
 

High Resolution

A very high resolution image (5 meters/16 feet) was achieved by stitching
together sixty or so 23-inch monitor screenshots of Amsterdam and New York
from a virtual altitude of 2½ kilometers (1.5 miles). The vibrancy of the final
pictures was then achieved - in a process that took many weeks to complete
- by creating a great number of adjustment layers in Photoshop and making
hundreds of brightness, contrast and color corrections.
 

Collages

Please take a look at the images. Keep in mind, however, that the colors shown are approximated colors. The overall appearance of the collages may vary from one monitor and from one Internet browser to the other.

CLICK IMAGE NUMBERS BELOW TO GO TO THE IMAGES

CLICK THE IMAGES TO SEE HIGHER RESOLUTION VERSIONS

Image no.1 - NEW YORK/AMSTERDAM - The metropolis of New York/Amsterdam as seen straight down from the cruising altitude of passenger jetliners. A heart-warming and mesmerizing picture for those with a passion for New York and Amsterdam and a familiarity with the layout of both cities.
The collage was presented (with no.2 and no.7) to the mayor of Amsterdam,
Job Cohen, in September 2009 and was published full-page on the frontpage of
the Arts and Media section of the quality newspaper 'Het Parool' on September
15th, 2009.
Image no.1 BM - same as no.1, with black margin and border (borderless print) for added style!

Image no.2 - NEW YORK/AMSTERDAM - GLOBE - Already dubbed an 'instant
classic', reminiscent of the vintage travel posters from the 1920's and 30's.
With its dramatic fisheye effect - and more explanatory nature - definitely the
image of choice for most New York and Amsterdam aficionados.
Image no.6 - same as no.2 - with wide black margin and black border. This
collage will be on permanent display (in a very large size) aboard the new
flagship of the Holland America Line, ms Nieuw Amsterdam, which is currently
under construction in Venice, Italy and will be launched in July of this year
and christened in New York harbor.

Image no.3 - NEW/AMSTERDAM - TWO CITIES/ONE SPIRIT - A typographic
variation on image no.1, highlighting the spiritual bond that has always existed between the two cities and reinforcing the notion that many New Yorkers still
lovingly nickname their city New Amsterdam.

Image no.4 - NY/A - GLOBE - Same as image no.2, without the typography.
A powerful image in its own right.
Image no.7 - NY/A - GLOBE (WIDE MARGIN) - Same as image no.4, with a
large white unprinted margin. This option, which is recommended if you do not
like passe-partouts, is available for all collages.

Image no.5 - THE VOYAGE - Commemorating Henry Hudson's 1609 voyage of discovery to the New World, showing the lonely VOC vessel, the Half Moon, on
its way from Amsterdam to Governor's Island and to Manhattan. A hazardous,
three-month journey reduced to a short and pleasant sailing trip under the lee
of the surrounding land!

Image no.8 and no.9 - Close-ups of the collages 1 through 7 showing the high level of detail. Click the images to see higher resolution versions!
 

Available Prints

All the collages are available as prints* in the following sizes:

A4 - 21,0 x 29,7 cm (8.27 x 11.69")

A3 - 29,7 x 42,0 cm (11.69 x 16.54")

A3+ - 32,9 x 48,3 cm (12.95 x 19.00")

A2 - 42,0 x 59,4 cm (16.54 x 23.39")
 

HIGHEST ARCHIVAL QUALITY INKJET PRINTS

EPSON 8-COLOR SYSTEM

HAHNEMÜHLE - FINE ART BARYTA PAPER
 

Wide margin option (image7) available for all collages

* without the see-through watermark, of course
 

Prices/Order

For prices and to order

and for further information and other suggestions

PLEASE CONTACT ME


 

Concept & Design - ©2009 Leonard de Vogel

Imagery - ©2009Google / ©2009DigitalGlobe / ©2009Aerodata International Surveys
 

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