© William Rugen / Offset

From a high-angle vantage point, Seattle-based photographer William Rugen captures brightly-colored cabs caught in a gridlock of daytime traffic. Drawn to distinctive graphics and bold colors, Rugen frames the taxis in perfect rows of three, with the particularly bright vehicles taking center stage, flashing beneath the direct glare of the powerful July sunlight.

In Tokyo, an estimated thirty-five thousand taxis operate out of hundreds of independent dispatchers, each marked by a different vehicle color. In addition to hailing taxis on the street, commuters often line up at taxi stands throughout the city, where the cabs can safely gather. Though the scene pictured here is doubtless a hectic one, Rugen’s striking graphic aesthetic distills the hustle and bustle of the city into a single organized vision, frozen in time. Here, in this high-angle shot, we can appreciate the busy city streets for their unexpected formal elegance.

This photo and many others from Rugen’s portfolio are available through Offset, a new curated collection of high-end commercial and editorial photography and illustration from award-winning artists around the world.