The internet is like a used book store. You flip through countless old volumes never knowing what you will find. Often you walk away with nothing, but you remain confident that, eventually you will find a real treasure. Well, recently I found one of the really great web treasures, in the form of Under Montreal. This web site was created in 2009 by Canadian photographer Andrew Emond, documenting Montreal’s sewers and underground architecture.
Most of us give little thought to the complex network of underground tunnels that carry away the water and waste of our cities. We may understand them as magnificent feats of engineering; but architecture? Mr. Emond’s website is filled with gorgeous images from the tunnels under the city of Montreal. The sewer tunnels may not exhibit the refinement and elegance of detail found in the buildings above, but Edmond’s photos reveal the powerful utilitarian architecture inherent in these man-made caves. His photo compositions and lighting bring an other-worldly mystery to these spaces that were never intended for our view. His long exposures capture the smooth surface of the rushing water, played against the rough aged textures of the arching and twisting tubes. He often places himself in ghostly silhouette against tunnels that seem to run off to infinity. The tunnels, especially those made of brick, exhibit exquisite craftsmanship. The juncture of tunnels often result in beautifully shaped cathedral-like spaces with chance collisions of geometry forming beautiful sculpture.
Emond’s explorations gained the attention of film maker Katarina Soukup, which eventually led to the making of the documentary Lost Rivers. The film looks at Montreal’s rivers and streams rivers, long ago buried below the city streets. Buffalo has its own buried river. Most of the Scajaquada Creek runs unseen below the east side of the city until it emerges in Forest Lawn Cemetery. Click here to se a trailer for the movie.
Now for Niagara Falls.
Mr. Emond travels beyond Montreal to explore as well, which brings me to the title of this story. He has been to several North American cities to explore their netherworld. Each time he works his camera magic, revealing beauty where we don’t expect it. Of course in the case of Niagara Falls we do expect beauty, but Emond doubles down by producing this stunning image of the falls from the gorge level as seen from one of the tunnels that you may have noticed exiting the rock walls at the base of the Falls. There are countless images of the Falls but I don’t think I have ever seen one as beautiful as these two shown here. I have to say stunning again. These images are simply stunning.
BONUS
Mr. Emond has also been to Buffalo, but this time he was not here to explore the underground. His photo Buffalo photos focus on the city’s iconic grain storage structures resulting in a photo book he published titled Elevator Alley. The 65 page book is available on the publisher’s site or on Amazon for just $20. Emond’s web site describes the book thusly:
A photo documentation and critical analysis of the Childs Street grain elevators in Buffalo’s First Ward, Elevator Alley tackles the history, present, and future of the giant structures that played a central role in Buffalo’s industrial development and subsequent decline.