manuel alvarez diestro captures new cities from inside high speed trains in china

photographer manuel alvarez diestro adopted a new approach on how to photograph cities by taking images from inside high-speed trains while traveling all across china. the result is a dreamy and cinematic atmosphere where images are blurry and trains windows act as a lens filter generating an unreal environment.

all images by manuel alvarez diestro

in order to conduct the work, the spanish photographer traveled all across the country in these trains for a period of two years. his new series brings an unprecedented view of buildings, all homogenous in design generating through repetition and a continuous rhythmic accent to the landscape. this is particularly the case on the shanghai-beijing corridor where at moments all cities seem to be interconnected and create a unique metropolitan area.

on these trains traveling between 300 and 350 kilometers per hour, manuel alvarez diestro had no time to prepare the image composition or conduct camera adjustments which he depicted as an exhilarating experience. in this project, the architectural subjects are tackled in an ultra-dynamic manner where the photographer has almost no control over them with no time to prepare. he described this experience of crossing the country corner to corner at high speed as ‘living in a never-ending dream placed in a capsule where time and space are no longer recognizable.’

project info:

name: china high speed cities

photographer: manuel alvarez diestro

location: china

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: yasmina karam | designboom