Can you imagine cities without any lights?

What would the world’s major cities look like if someone turned off all the lights every night, then we could relax and enjoy watching stars? For the first time, some of the photographers (like Randy Scott Slavin) gave us a taste of it when Hurricane Sandy devastated New York City and so many part of New York plug into darkness.  

Darkened Cities is the name of a photography project that shows what the cities look like at a clear night night without lights! This series of photos created by Thierry Cohen. He is Parisian and has been a professional photographer since 1985.

   Paris

© Thierry Cohen, Paris 48° 51’ 52’’ N 2021-07-14 utc 22:18, courtesy Galerie Esther Woerdehoff

To creation of this series of images, Cohen travelled so far away from uraban areas on the one single latitude. He selected a latitude which some giant cities like Francisco, Rio de Janeiro and LA are located on it. While these cities are are buzzing with gigawatts of electricity, some other locations like Mojave Desert, Amazon and Joshua Tree National Park are totally dark locations on that same latitude.

Rio de Janeiro

© Thierry Cohen, Rio De Janeiro 22° 58′ 38” S 2011-06-04 Lst 15:08, courtesy Galerie Esther Woerdehoff

San Francisco 

© Thierry Cohen, San Francisco 37° 48’ 30’’ N 2010-10-09 lst 20:58, courtesy Galerie Esther Woerdehoff

 Cohen took photos of the skies in the dark locations and then combined them with images of the urban areas. The resulting images are stunning.

The Empire State Building, New York City

© Thierry Cohen, New York 40° 44’ 39’’ N 2010-10-13 lst 0:04, courtesy Galerie Esther Woerdehoff

Los Angeles 

Sao Paulo

© Thierry Cohen, São Paulo 23° 33′ 22” S 2011-06-05 Lst 11:44, courtesy Galerie Esther Woerdehoff

Shanghai

The brooklyn Bridge, New York City

© Thierry Cohen, Los Angeles 34° 06’ 58’’ N 2012-06-15 lst 14:52, courtesy Galerie Esther Woerdehoff

Hong Kong

© Thierry Cohen, Hong Kong 22° 16’ 38’’ N 2012-03-22 lst 14:00, courtesy Galerie Esther Woerdehoff

References: 
http://gizmodo.com/5970493/this-is-how-cities-would-look-at-night-without-lights/
http://flavorwire.com/358930/stunning-photos-of-cities-without-light-pollution/10/
http://www.stumbleupon.com
http://thierrycohen.com/