Darkened Cities

"Paris 48° 51’ 03’’ N 2012-07-19 lst 19:46" Thierry Cohen

One of the downsides of living in a major city is the lack of stars—not the movie kind but the ones in the sky. The amount of light and pollution produced by cities virtually blots out any chance of seeing the stars above us. Look up in New York for example and the blinking lights you see are probably from a passing plane.

"New York 40° 44’ 39’’ N 2010-10-13 lst 0:04" Thierry Cohen

In his series “Darkened Cities,” French photographer Thierry Cohen imagines what the evening sky in these cities would look like if we could see the stars. He manages this feat by first shooting the cities during the day when no lights are on and then shooting the skies over less-populated areas that share the same latitude. For example, the stars shining over Paris in his photo are from Montana. The results are stunning and beautiful.

"Rio de Janeiro 22° 56’ 42’’ S 2011-06-04 lst 12:34" Thierry Cohen

To see more images from the series, visit here.