The World’s Most Spectacular Skylines

08/18/08  Print This Post Print This Post    88 Comments   Popular   Written by Juliane Huang
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Chicago skyline reflected off the Bean / Photo by jswieringa. Feature photo by Pete Carr.

Some of the best instances in which humanity attempts to reach for the heavens.

Something about the outline of a city against its clear, crisp sky stops us in our tracks and commands our attention.

How mesmerizing it is to gaze upon the contours of our structures as they stretch toward the clouds above. Each building rises higher than the next and stands as testament to human engineering and architectural advancements. Its shape reveals our history, our culture, our beliefs, our beauty to the infinite universe. How can we not stop and stare?

Below are staggeringly beautiful images where city meets sky all across the globe.

Miami, Florida, USA / Photo by vgm8383.

Bangkok, Thailand / Photo by Andrew Hux.

Vancouver, British Columbia / Photo by kennymatic.

Republic Plaza, Singapore / Photo by Singapor3.

Sydney, Australia / Photy by Maik Radke.

Shanghai, China / Photo by Molas.

London, England / Photo by vemma.

South Perth, Australia / Photo by Ole Reidar Johansen.

Cologne, Germany / Photo by JaBB.

Graz, Austria / Photo by dr.wiwo.

Boston, Massachusetts, USA / Photo by pxlpusher.

Hong Kong / Photo by wenzday01.

Detroit, Michigan / Photo by Sagittariuss.

Berlin, Germany / Photo by moonb00twalkerinthedark.

Venice, Italy / Photo by vgm8383.

New York, New York, USA / Photo by Fredo Alvarez.

Warsaw, Poland / Photo by Qba from Poland.

San Francisco, California, USA / Photo by David Paul Ohmer.


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About the Author

Juliane Huang

Juliane Huang majored in New Heights, with a minor in Acrophobia. She is in love with amazing photography and will follow you to the ends of the earth if you can produce a killer shot. You can find her sidewalk musings on her blog.

88 Comments... join the discussion!

  • mike replied on August 19, 2008

    Your list is fucking horrible. You have some of the WORST pictures ever. Some of them ARENT EVEN SKYLINES. Learn to use the internet. Toronto has one of the nicest most ORIGINAL skylines in the world and you didnt even include it? Venice, Graz, and San Fran arent even skyline pictures

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  • annom replied on August 19, 2008

    Wow, harsh replies. Some of them are excellent, I agree others could have been better.

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  • Chon replied on August 19, 2008

    What a horrid photo blog. I could've taken better photos with a polaroid. Many of them aren't even skylines. Just awful.

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  • Bob replied on August 19, 2008

    I don't know about everyone else, but Las Vegas has an amazing looking skyline.

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  • B replied on August 19, 2008

    The picture of Vancouver's Skyline is terrible…no mountains? Ohhh and yeah I know it is gaudy and tacky but what about the Vegas strip?? Some of the most unique buildings in the world… yeah hotels, but still.

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  • lauren replied on August 19, 2008

    no philadelphia? and i agree, some of these pictures are terrible.

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  • Ryan replied on August 19, 2008

    Chicago is the very first picture.

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  • Sean Kneeland replied on August 19, 2008

    Love most of the pictures. The Austria and San Fran ones don't really grab me, but the others are pretty!

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  • Blake Brannon replied on August 19, 2008

    I agree, that is not the NY skyline I remember.

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  • Cal replied on August 19, 2008

    I like it thanks

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  • wsrw werwerw replied on August 19, 2008

    Why the fuck didn't you include the auckland city skyline, faggot? Look alot better than the asian ones. Fail blog is fail.

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  • Eva replied on August 19, 2008

    Wow, it's amazing how many of these comments boil down to "why didn't you use the most obvious, well-known angle?!" [Insert inexplicable levels of rage and expletives.] Take a deep breath, folks. In through the nose, out through the mouth… Sure, I've seen better shots of some of these places - but most of these pics are stunning, and many of them are a little different than the usual ones I've seen a million times - which is a plus, I think. Worst photos you've ever seen? Really? If that's true, you need to get out more. There are whole worlds of incompetence out there that you've never experienced - you have no idea what you're missing. Once again, everybody: breathe…. breathe…. breathe….

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  • Yes/No replied on August 19, 2008

    Perhaps the title "The World’s Most Spectacular Skylines" was a bit presumptuous. Maybe something like, "A different look at the skylines we know so well…." 3 out of 10.

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  • michaela lola replied on August 19, 2008

    Wow! nearly everyone that commented on this post are such…jerks. Sorry, but c'mon isn't that what a blog is about, to put a different perspective out there. Its someone's personal opinion and if you don't agree, that's cool but to post stuff like: "Your list is fucking horrible. You have some of the WORST pictures ever. Some of them ARENT EVEN SKYLINES. Learn to use the internet. Toronto has one of the nicest most ORIGINAL skylines in the world and you didnt even include it?" "'d rather see pictures of the new Nissan Skyline than this trash. " "Why the fuck didn't you include the auckland city skyline, faggot? Look alot better than the asian ones. Fail blog is fail. " God, most of you commentators are such haters. Personally, I liked the writing and theres no need for harsh comments. WTF is wrong with you guys? "How mesmerizing it is to gaze upon the contours of our structures as they stretch toward the clouds above. Each building rises higher than the next and stands as testament to human engineering and architectural advancements. Its shape reveals our history, our culture, our beliefs, our beauty to the infinite universe. How can we not stop and stare?" –> That's an interesting point and her wording was beautiful. I think most of the commentators missed the point of the whole thing and I'm ashamed that I read the same site as people who would use words like "faggot" or gain a wee bit of self-esteem by harshly and violently dragging someone down.

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  • ytcritic6 replied on August 19, 2008

    they all look like fake HDR's

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  • anon replied on August 19, 2008

    photos look nice but theyre were some that lacked skylines and focused too much on just one building.

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  • Ron Jeremey replied on August 19, 2008

    Show us your tits and/or your ass These pics suck!

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  • skylineJudge replied on August 19, 2008

    hong kong > everything else everything else fails miserably, especially new york

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  • tel replied on August 19, 2008

    i dont' even think it's the real city…i'm pretty sure that's brooklyn… suck's eitherway…

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  • you're all assh replied on August 20, 2008

    you're an asshole. I hope whatever balls you do have, they shrivel up and go back inside you and that a dog gnaws off your penis you sick sack of sexist shit. Oh, and I hope your mom takes pictures of it and sends it off as xmas greeting cards. You're disgusting.

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  • all the commentators replied on August 20, 2008

    I actually thought some of the pics were cool. What's the big deal anyway? Why is everyone going nuts and being such assholes? Seriously, I don't get the basis for such an undeserved violent reaction. If the person was writing about how women should show their tits or that we should kill kittens, yeah, I might say not so nice things too..but seriously, what's everybody's problem?

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  • PhPhreddy replied on August 20, 2008

    Two great skylines left out: Frankfurt and Calgary also the NYC shot was bunk.

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  • Free Xbox 360 replied on August 20, 2008

    Great pics. I'll have to go to these places.

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  • what? replied on August 20, 2008

    what? This is rubbish!!

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  • SPunkNutz replied on August 20, 2008

    Pittsburgh.

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  • Richard replied on August 20, 2008

    Nice to see Perth in there! Great picture!

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  • Will replied on August 20, 2008

    Worst NYC skyline ever

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  • N/A replied on August 20, 2008

    I kinda liked some of these pics! What's with all the vitriol?!

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  • liv replied on August 20, 2008

    they forgot oxford, england [IMG]” target=”_blank”>http://i324.photobucket.com/albums/k354/livvydee/...

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  • Simon replied on August 22, 2008

    Perth…not South Perth. and is that just a big puddle? Although it is nice to see Perth there, it doesn't get much attention as the worlds most isolated city.

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  • Phoenix replied on August 23, 2008

    Perth having a "spectacular skyline"? Sorry. This is a collection of good photographs, with little bearing on the actual skyline.

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  • David paul Ohmer replied on August 24, 2008

    Hello, Thanks for using my San Francisco photo on your website. I very much appreciate it. I really liked the other photos of Perth, London and Miami as well. Sincerely, Dave P. Ohmer

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  • Avy replied on August 25, 2008

    Ouch, really? Have you been to Detroit?

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  • alan replied on August 26, 2008

    really spectacular captures…but whare's the polluted sky of bejing?

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  • logos replied on August 26, 2008

    i translate your wonderful article into chinese in http://www.yeeyan.com/

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  • martin Miller-yianni replied on August 27, 2008

    You need to get around a bit more many of these would be relegated if you did..

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  • Paul replied on August 30, 2008

    Thanks for bringing some spectacular cities to our attention, but yeah, most of these photos are comically bad.

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  • laradunston replied on August 30, 2008

    Gosh, what an 'interesting' thread… whoever would have thought that a blog on 'skylines' (although a couple in there aren't really skylines at all) would inspire such 'passion'. Dubai (the Deira skyline from the Bur Dubai side) and Abu Dhabi (taken from the giant flagpole) should definitely be there. Along with Istanbul for sure. And that picture is of Perth, not South Perth (could be taken from South Perth I think). I think the problem with a lot of these photos is that they are so over-processed - put them on a professional photographer's site and they'd be laughed at - although they probably wouldn't be the subject of such verbal abuse. Great idea for a post!

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