Urban Photography

Fall Foliage Backdrop in Public Garden

2009-11-21T19:17:00.000-08:00

The autumn hues provide a colorful background for any photograph within the Public Garden. These photographs span October and November. Not all trees change colors at the same time: some are early in October, other late in November. The late change is due to the urban micro-climate, as the city pavement and buildings create enough of a head sink that the foliage changes in the Public Garden lag the suburbs of Boston.

Summer in the Park -- Public Garden

2009-11-21T18:32:00.000-08:00

The Public Garden is a beautiful subject in any season. But, in summer it really comes to life. Life, in both senses: people and plantings. The main walkways are lined with planting beds that feature the most creative designs of the Parks Departments' horticulturists.

When the weather is nice, the park is teaming with strollers, people eating lunch on park benches, musicians playing, and many in line for the swan boats.

July 4th was a Saturday this year...."Saturday in the park; I think it was the 4th of July"....the lyrics of that song by Chicago were in my mind all day. When we passed through the park, people were everywhere. The swans were nesting. The mallards were escorting their little ducklings around the lagoon.

There are a sampling of the photographs I took this summer.

Sampling of the horticultural creativity:

Below: Weeping tree drapes over walkway.

Below: Swans, ducklins, and swan boats share the lagoon.

Below: Sun descending new the close of a summer's day.

Spring Scenes -- Boston Public Garden

2009-11-21T18:24:00.000-08:00

Some photos from April and May 2009.

Industrial Heritage - Vassar Street at MIT

2009-11-21T16:11:00.000-08:00

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) was built on filled tidal marsh land between the industrial Cambridgeport and what is now the bank of the Charles River Basin. Being principally an engineering school, MIT always had a close tie to industry. For decades, the western fringes of the MIT campus overlapped with the factories and warehouses of industrial Cambridge.

Over time, industry departed Cambridge, replaced by research and development, with biomedical and pharmaceutical businesses predominating.

The MIT thermal energy plant on Vassar Street still beckons back to an earlier, more industrial age, with its tall stack and characteristically industrial architecture. In the failing fall sunlight, it could be 1959, but it is 2009.

Lagoon in the Public Garden

2009-04-17T15:14:00.001-07:00

Photos taken April 16, 2009.

Above: Looking across the lagoon, the Hancock Tower provides a backdrop for the historic Arlington Street Church steeple.

Below left: The ducklings island on the right with the sun reflecting off the Taj Hotel (formerly, the Ritz).

Below right: The office towers that ring Beacon Hill are the backdrop to the lagoon.

Below left: The Taj and Hancock Towers are in the left background behind the lagoon. This same view in winter, with the lagoon frozen and snow-covered, is the 4th photo in my post "Scenes of Winter in Boston".

Below right: Sunset on the lagoon silhouettes the ducks at the water's edge.

Urban Rails

2009-04-03T18:15:00.001-07:00

Rail yard in Worcester, March 2008:

Above: Street tracks, elevated tracks, Causeway Street in Boston (from archieves of University of Connecticut)

Below: Trolley stop in Lowell, Massachusetts

Above: Compromise joint bar connects rail of different thicknesses. On the left is 115RE rail and on the right 100NH rail.

Below: Locomotives in the Providence and Worcester Railroad yard, Worcester, Massachuestts, March 2008.

Below: Tracks at train station in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Back Bay Boston Photos

2009-03-15T21:45:00.000-07:00

Below: Bank clock and Prudential Tower

Above: Converted Industrial Building at Mass. Av. and Newbury St.

Below: Boston Conservatory along The Fenway

Above: St. Clement's Church on Boylston Street

Below: Trinity Church reflected in the windows of the Hancock Tower

Winter Evening

2009-02-08T08:11:00.000-08:00

January 21, 2009. Berkley Street, Boston: Spire of the Church of the Covenant (which hosts the Women's Lunch Place, an important outreach center for women who find themselves homeless).

Scenes of Winter in Boston

2009-01-13T17:26:00.000-08:00

Photos taken January 12, 2009.

Above: Trinity Church reflected in the Hancock tower.

Below: frozen pond at Public Garden

Below: Tree in Public Garden

Sun has set on Commonwealth Avenue:

Above: Boston Common in the fading light

Below: Gas lights and brick sidewalks line Beacon Hill

Mills and Canals of Lowell, Mass.

2008-12-18T20:37:00.000-08:00

Photographs taken Dec. 5, 2008:

Swamp Locks Gate House (above and below)

Setting sun reflected in factory:

Abandoned railroad bridges (above)

Swamp Locks dam - downstream side (below):

Factory along canal (below)