When I was a child, I had a very peculiar, nerdy interest in the political geography of the world. I loved maps and atlases.
For me, there was import (and fun!) in knowing the location of countries, their geographical features, and the names of their respective capitals. Over time, this inquisitive hobby transformed into a keen fascination of cities in general, both domestically in America and around the world.
I spent an incredible amount of time reading about different cities, their histories, and the details that made each city significant. To augment this self-assigned study, I began to purchase travel guides and magazines just so I could admire various images of the world’s major city centres, downtown neighborhoods, and skylines. In my teenage years, I was frequently envious of the photographers who had the opportunity to visit all these cities and have their images published.
As my own domestic and international travels increased in adulthood, I developed an interest in photographing our world’s cities and comparing them to one another. Inevitably, I came to realize that cities, like people, had personalities. This is why my perspective massively differs from the opinion of “When you’ve seen one city, you’ve seen them all.” On the contrary, I believe no two cities are alike. The allure of Paris is not the same as the allure of London. The traits of Toronto are not the same as the traits of Tokyo. Sydney’s charm is not the same as that of San Francisco. Each of these cities is unique, just as we believe each human being is unique.
As a professional photographer, I have been on a mission to visit and explore our different cities and showcase their personalities, illustrating the qualities of what makes them intriguing, mystifying, and extraordinary. My philosophy remains the same: As a portrait displays the personality of an individual, a cityscape is the portrait of a city, and thus, a portrait of the city’s personality as well. My aim is to capture these personalities and share them with an audience who might be interested to learn about our world’s many multifaceted, urban centres.
In this collection, I focus on long exposures that convey the traffic that moves through the city, either by automobile, bus, or train. The roads and tracks on which the traffic travels are the main arteries of the city, the flow (similar to blood) that keeps the city alive, functioning, and vibrant. A city could not be a city without the people who transport themselves within it. I enjoy photographing long exposures in cities at night to demonstrate this mobility. Conclusively, my intention is to reveal a city’s aesthetic beauty (or chaos), typically in the form of illuminating light trails and mesmerizing motion blurs.
TIA International Photography (www.tia-international-photography.com) is a licensed photography business based in Seattle, Washington, USA. TIA has been in business since December 2009, offering proficient photographic services alongside high-quality, atypical, indelible images to clients. TIA specializes in night-time and low-light photography with an emphasis on Cityscapes and Urban Landscapes. TIA also specializes in Aerial Photography and Event Photography. Tosin I. Arasi is a Professional Photographer and the Sole Proprietor of TIA.
