Holy crap. I freaked out for a minute there.

no wonder there isn't even one police officer ...

Oops... what's happen?

oh MAN that would have been fun to do.

I noticed it's in a predominatly english speaking country. Scary.

Very disturbing :<

woah, that was a scare, good thing u put the art installation part:S

How come I never see anything interesting like that in downtown Atlanta? Oi.

harsh

Love the website- you've been my homepage for as long as I can remember. This photo is great because of my disdain of the 'new crowning jewel' of public spaces in Toronto. If they did have a car bomb go off there, noone would even notice!

Hi! Just found you via the Star article. Startling contrast, car bomb and dude with water bottle; car bomb and people sitting around in the plaza chatting away. Great "essence of Toronto" shot! I would like to start photographing people but am too shy to intrude. Glad to have found your site, will check back often. Well done!

Good subject, but I can't help thinking the colours are a bit *too* oversaturated on this one. Normally I really go for the strong colour / contrast of your stuff, but this one doesn't quite work for me I'm afraid.

Its interesting to see this statement. Thanks for the capture!
Mark-

Oh my, quite a powerful image.

Isuzu Rodeo?

Holy crap! It's frightening how destructive we walking apes can be.

seems like toronto is a very art friendly city. i like this picture.

I've always really enjoyed my daily visits to DDOI, but I'm wondering if you've been feeling ill lately or have other big things on your mind for the past week or so. It seems to me that you've lost your inspiration for greater creativity lately. I understand though that it must be difficult to capture interesting and inspired photos on a daily basis, especially while working a day job.

As for this shot...I feel the whole upper half is rather pointless and distracting. Surely you could have found a much more interesting angle to shoot this somewhat interesting subject from....I know YOU can.

I don't mean to sound judgemental but I guess I'm just wooried about ya!

Cheers
Ron

wow, wasnt expecting this before i started to scroll down. very interesting.

freaked me out when I saw the picture. I thought, what an amazing photo oportunity...then I read the caption ;-)

Personally, while a cool pic, I don't know that you need all the "extra" stuff above the car showing as much sky and buildings. I would have cropped it a bit instead. Just my opinion of course.

Great Picture!

Why do I never find these photo opps in Montreal?

Since it's my first comment, I'll say that I can't get enough of this photoblog. Great pix. Keep up the good work.

i'm not sure if you are aware yet, but on the widget for tiger, it only showed the top half of the photo. i wasn't sure if this was intentional or not.

toronto sounds like a very interesting city.
i really have to visit this place.

I found the top of the pic just as artistic as the bottom. Keep up the good work Sam. We in the tiny towns with no skyscrapers love your work.
Hotshots Camera Club.

i totally agree with ron. lately, nothing outstanding.

Great shot, Sam. I love the contrast of rich colors throughout this.

1. The "extra stuff" at the top of the picture is a necessary contrast to the image of the car. I, like many scrolled down and the whole mood of the photo changed. Good color contrast between light and dark fits the subject matter well.
2. This "art" project would be surrounded by protesters if it was in the US. It doesn't seem like something a lot of people over here would want thrown in their faces.
3. My feeling on the "art" is that it's exploitative to people in several regions of the earth who have to live with this real fear on a daily basis. Kind of like the news exploiting personal tragedies to make money off commercials.

First, as someone from Toronto but who now lives elsewhere, I love the top, because it helps me see more of the city. From an artistic perspective I also think it creates a great contrast with the car.

To J, above, you're right it would be surrounded by protesters in the US, but the US doesn't want to see anything that reminds them of what is really going on in Iraq right now, and I can't really say I blame them for that. That doesn't mean it's a bad piece of art though.

Really, I don't think this piece is offensive in anyway. It's not meant to say 'hey, look how cool a blown up car is', it's meant to say 'look at the destruction these things can cause', and to get you thinking about why people would do such a thing.

In summary, great pic, great art.

like most of your recent pictures, WAY too much saturation.

The top half of the photo immediately sets the scene for any Torontonian. You see those buildings/billboards and you know where you are. And then to see a bombed out car, perhaps immediately after reading the latest news -- my reaction was very visceral. That changed to relief that in Canada we are not threatened with the reality this "art installation" presents. Far too many people in this world are...

It will be a sad day when this happens for real in Toronto or any American (Canadian too) city.

I disagree with those who think the top of the image is irrelevant. It very much sets the picture and the bizarreness that such a scene could happen and there as much as anywhere - with the people in the background dying or injured and more mess.

:D (ما اگر اینجا فارسی بنویسیم مشکلی داره؟)

I don't know what to say. But it's really terrible.

Just so happens that Matt from the narrative has MORE vehicular distruction at http://www.thenarrative.net/archive/000840.php (the real thing, though).

Wow, totally scared me there. Interesting. . .

I love the heighth of the photo.. that you have to scroll down through normalcy to get to the stark contrast of the car. Fantastic.

It is really interesting to read different people's take on this 'installation'. It was intended as a reaction to SUVs and our reliance on oil. It has nothing to do with Iraq, or car bombings in general. From the website Sam has linked to: "ATTACK: an explosive, graphically violent work serving as an indictment of the oil and auto industries, government and rampant consumerism; it will enlighten public awareness of the perverse effects of our overdependence on the "black gold". (You can see 3 other pictures of it on my photo-blog, too.)