View from on high

I've recently taken pictures of surrounding building tops from the offices or buildings I have been able to visit or chance upon. It may be a strange hobby - or subject matter, and I'm sure others might have thought it, well, unusual. So why my sudden interest?

Call it a vivid imagination, but have you ever wondered how the city would look like from the viewpoint of someone either swinging from building to building, or better yet, flying low - but not too low, of course... that you could see everything or everyone like the size of ants? Where vehicles looked like toys, or maybe even smaller? I have, hence, taken these pictures... to sort of put into perspective what artists in comicbooks might refer to as the bird's eye view.

To see, or at least, get to imagine, what a person who could do such feats would see - how they would see it, and consider... what would they be thinking as they passed above us, a populace that may be unaware of their moving silently (or not so silently) above us... possibly looking down on what we are doing, or ignoring us as they focus on other possibly more important things in their minds.

Here is my collection of pictures - ones that try to capture said feeling, such view. As you see these pictures, imagine yourself moving past these scenes, and consider - what first comes to mind as you witness such a view from above.

Could you easily locate your home from above? Would you be disoriented by the differing view? I can imagine how easily lost may people would feel from the ground - would their sense of direction be improved if they came form above? Or would they be further lost by the very different viewpoint? Consider, for example, do you remember what the color of your roof is? What is the closest landmark you can remember, how would this look from above? Could you spot it miles away, just by its unique shape?

Notice the beauty of each view - how the city seems to look very different from what you would normally see at the street level... how vast and open the space above seems to suddenly feel, as opposed to the close, cramped feeling one might experience with grounded vehicles and corridors.

Would you feel happier, or brighter because of this? Would you possibly feel a sense of superiority?

Would your perspective of the human race change, if you are able to do this and you know, for a fact that you were unique in having this skill or power, would your fellowship with everyone else be affected? I hope not. But not everyone might feel grounded - yes, ironic isn’t it… that one would have the need to feel grounded if he (or she) could fly?

Is this how a hero would feel? Would there be a certain smugness? Would a person's values change overnight? Would mine? I'd like to think that they won't. I'll still think of myself as the same, except for the simple fact that I could suddenly fly that is. But change my habits? Change my thinking? Change how I treat others? I'd like to think that my values are more grounded (there's that word again, I know...), more solid... similar to those instilled on a young boy who grew up from Smallville.

In connection to this, I remember reading one of the earlier profound lessons shared by Merlin to Arthur (I know I read it somewhere – I think it came from the Once and Future King – great book that); anyway , as Arthur, who was still a boy, was transformed into a bird, he flew on high and as he looked down, he saw how the lands looked from above - how the lines he expected to see – those normally found in maps, those that would normally discern one country from another; and segregated territories from each other… were surprisingly missing from above... making Arthur realize that there really were no separating lines, and that these territories were more man-made out of political convenience or arrangements. A lesson he would later use to consider consolidation rather than segregation.

It was, after all, at that point that Arthur started learning wisdom and a greater (though not yet global) perspective in life that others had not even imagined. So simple an idea… so wonderful a though, yet so different from the reality we live in.

Similarly, do we see city boundaries? Or like Arthur, would we just see a continuing mass of land, with countless roofs and patches of greens? Would the differences likewise elude us when viewed from above?

Lucky for us, there is software that can give us an idea as to how our city – and neighborhood would look like from above through satellite pictures – hence giving us that bird’s eye view perspective, and more. But that is limited to just one dimension – not having the option to look at things from different perspectives. I mean, can you imagine looking at the city through a 3-D version? Yes we have Google Earth, and Sim City to give us an idea about this. But something seemed missing in both – maybe if these two could be integrated?

Anyway, As I was saying, this gave me a different perspective… as it may do others. Now, what perspective that is, is really up to the person and said person’s action sometimes. Would you feel like Superman and feel the need to protect this city? Or be ever vigilant like Batman? Would you thrill to swinging from roof to roof like Spider-man? Would your (or my) interest be put to good use? Or would I use them poorly? Would I be the consummate voyeur - looking at windows and rooftops to see people doing things on the mistaken assumption that they are safe from prying eyes? The thought had occurred to me.

One definite advantage I can see, I won't be as affected by rising gasoline prices, and maybe I won't have to inhale too much pollution too. Travel from one place to another would simply be from point A to B, without worrying about traffic signs, crooked cops waiting to entrap you with their vague signs, nor crazy public transport drivers.

Mind you, this is not a flight (pun intended) of fancy. But I do wonder at times, heck I even dream it in some cases – about me flying... so I guess, its a flight of fantasy - and how it seems the most natural thing at that. No... I won’t be proceeding to a roof or ceiling to test that theory like Peter Petrelli of Heroes – I've a vivid imagination, but I’m still grounded on reality – thank you very much (but it is tempting).

So, until I accidentally find a flying carpet, or they finally invent a jet pack for one's back just like in James Bond, or a device that just defies gravity for whatever reason, these pictures will be as close to my seeing how I would view the world while flying... that is, if I could.