From a Different Angle

Dear FCI,

Have you ever wondered what Paris would look like without the Eiffel Tower? Or what New York City would look like without the Statue of Liberty? What about the inside of a computer, or even what a bee looks like on a magnified level? We know these elements exist, but sometimes it's rewarding to look at these famous landmarks or the things we typically see every day from different perspectives to truly appreciate them.

We commonly see things from only one point-of-view, to where if we see them from a different level, it looks like something completely different. Let's not forget that movies consist of actors and special effects and Earth is but a spec in our galaxy. I’d like to share with you some photos of iconic things seen from rare perspectives.

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Recognize this hand? Perhaps you've seen it as a finished structure, but this is the hand of the Statue of Liberty.

Jaws was a terrifying movie that made me personally afraid to go in the ocean! Without that iconic music, the ferocious beast doesn’t look all the scary anymore, does he?

Mount Rushmore’s original design was a little more involved than what we see today, here is the studio model in 1923.

Looks a little different without the faces of 4 presidents carved in it, doesn’t it? This was Mount Rushmore before it’s makeover, originally being called Six Grandfathers.

Could you imagine creating a sculpture this big? Michelangelo’s David is 17 feet high and made of solid marble. And let’s not forget that this was sculpted during the 16th century where scaffolding and ladders were not so stable or safe.

We’ve all seen the picture of the 11 men eating lunch atop a skyscraper, 850 feet above the ground in New York. Have you ever seen the person who took the image? This is Charles Ebbets.

Niagara Falls, at one point, didn’t have water! This was the Falls in 1969.

The famous MGM lion’s roar was recorded from real lions. It is said that 11 lions were used over the years. Although their names differed, they were all referred to as "Leo."

Getting dressed in Victorian times wasn’t the easiest for the upper class. A crinolines, or the cage-like structure you see here, was a necessary piece to a woman’s wardrobe.

It's always amazed me how bridges are constructed—can you guess what bridge this is? Cause it looks a lot different today. This is the Golden Gate Bridge (at least the start of it).

This photo was taken from Mars and that little dot? That’s Earth. That’s us.

You’ve seen this mountain before, but perhaps from a different angle. This is Mount Fuji—from the top.

Mother nature waits for no one—not even hurricanes that hit during the night. Thanks to NASA, we can see the true immensity of Hurricane Isaac.

Time really does change things, doesn’t it? This is the New York Harbor in the 1860s.

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Why talk about perspective? To me, the world is absolutely beautiful. We live on such an amazing planet and not only is nature beautiful, but the buildings we construct, the statues we create—they all started from somewhere and have been incorporated into “the norm” to where they’re no longer special.

Sometimes we get so caught up in the rush of everything that we don’t know how to appreciate the little things we see every day, or we don’t acknowledge that every great landmark once started as an idea. Perspective can change everything, if you only know where to look.

Until next time,