Stills

On the assumption that this was taken on your recent trip, at roughly the same time as you were shooting this, I was taking a very similar shot in Kyle (only, Rex, mine was at the end of the line, there was nothing but sea behind me). The primary difference being that mine was on film and the canister hasn't even been put into an envelope yet. It'll be a while before I see the results.

Your shot makes me nostalgic for foreign cities. Middle to east Europe doesn't always make the greatest tourist destination, but I recall the excitement of first going there. Iron curtain (slightly rusty, but still in place) and all. And those tracks play havoc with two wheeled travel!

Graphically the picture doesn't do much for me, but as a prompt to think about how we humans have managed to complicate the continent in the past and how we seem to be simplifying it now it has worked for me.

I don't know what you meant by your title, but to me, yes, a continuum. Kyle to Bratislava and beyond. A shared history.
 

My attention is held by the (I am assuming) power lines above the street. That is, perhaps, because they hold more interest for me than the other elements in the photograph. I'm just curious about them I suppose. Are they attached to the side of the buildings or to those lamp posts?

It's like a netting over the urban environment and I'm wondering if there was an opportunity there to make a different image.
 

Johnjo - it would be perfectly valid to consider the shot you mention. The power lines for the trams (and also trolleybuses) traverse much of the city but have much less impact close up; are more diffuse than you imagine. Earlier I had tried with a section and wasn't particularly inspired. The lines are attached to the poles.

Auspicious - you're reaction is close to what (in hindsight) drew me to the shot. Your continuum intersects with mine: given a time/space continuum, yours is space, mine is time! I originally took the shot to try a more unorthodox angle on trams (which fascinate me as a symbol) but looking at it I found a symbol of past, present and future. Those communist-era blocks of flats are very typical of the time and now here they are with the emerging trappings of a free market (for better or for worse). The tram line just seemed to symbolise how one ran into the other and may run into something else.

Rex - I was constantly told off by Jana for jumping out into the street to take approaching trams and waiting until I could see the whites of the driver's eyes! Not a Slovak thing to do!
 

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There is a good hit of light on the rails which tapers off a little too soon. The rails lead me by some interestingly (and uniformly) parked cars. The light also captures the windows well - again bringing my eye to the focal point. And that's where it falls flat for me. I need a little more than a bright sky and some electricity lines. I see a distant tram - just need it to be much bigger in the distance though.
 

Akikana - you are right about the tram's size. This started off as an exercise in getting close to trams and then got hijacked by an alternative viewpoint and needing to catch a bus out of town!