“Amazing Shanghai” on Display in New York City

By Luyuan Zhang, bostonese.com

New York, Sept. 22, 2013, –A 360-degree panoramic rotunda of Shanghai, created by German architectural photographer Hans Georg Esch, caught the eyes of many New Yorkers. The rotunda showcases the image of this famous Asian metropolis in Eastern China. As part of the ‘Amazing Shanghai’ Exhibition (September 16 to 21), the rotunda opened at the Rockefeller Center Plaza on September 19. It remained open from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM throughout the exhibit.

A visitor looking at the 360-degree rotunda of Shanghai (all photos by Luyuan Zhang).

This high-resolution panorama is almost 18 feet by 18 feet. It was photographed from the Jin Mao Tower, an 88-story landmark skyscraper, situated in the Lujiazui area of the Pudong district of Shanghai. Shanghai was chosen for the rotunda because its skyline is viewed as a symbol for urban growth in the 19th and 20th century. “I was there when this panorama, the 360-degree shots were taken,” said Hans Georg Esch’s son, Helge Esch, “It was from the top of the Jin Mao Tower, which actually is one of my favorite buildings in this world.”

Arrived in New York on Wednesday night, he and his companions came from Germany to attend the ceremony of the exhibit. Turning 20 next month, Mr. Esch’s son is in New York for his second time. But he has been in Shanghai three times since 2010. [gallery] The first time was on a family trip to celebrate his 16th birthday and the second was for film production. The third visit, most recently, was on the photo-shooting trip for the panorama with his father. Born in 1964 in Neuwied, Germany, Mr. Esch has been working as a freelance architectural photographer for national and international architecture firms since 1989. He has created three rotundas so far. The first two are “Salzburg 360 degrees” and “New York 360 degrees”. “360-degree Shanghai” is the latest masterpiece.

The technique of panoramic rotundas, first emerged in the 19th century, has been given a renaissance by Mr. Esch with high-resolution, digitally composed large images. To be more specific, his rotundas are composed of 60 shots (20 each side by side and 3 on top of one another). These shots are recorded within a very short period of time. After the shots are taken, the images are assembled on the computer and then printed on large metal sheets. In this way, the long image strips provide 360-degree views.

In Mr. Esch’s panoramas, he shows both the attractiveness and oppressiveness of the great cities in the 21st century, which is also called the “urban” century. In additional to rotundas, books Cities Unknown, Mega-Cities and Cities and Structure also show his urban and architectural photography. In terms of the three trips in Shanghai, Mr. Esch’s son said he was amazed when he went to the construction site of the Shanghai Tower, a super-tall Shanghai skyscraper which will be completed in 2014, because he has never seen so many construction workers in one building. “My biggest dream is to go to China for a semester,” said the tall young man, who is going to study mechanic engineering in college within a month. “I only know Shanghai and Hong Kong, but I want to get to know a lot of more cities.”