WEEK 15

JANUARY 19 - 25  

 

This week we got our first "real" snowstorm on Saturday. Nothing major but a good 3 inches or so. So that was the focus this week. Now there is a huge storm and blizzard conditions coming next week. 

Went out quickly before work and found this little dachshund  out for a walk-- so low to the ground, he didn't seem to be having too much fun. 

Low to the Snow

The rest were night shots-- I was a little worried because in the afternoon it changed to a freezing rain and things were looking slushy and ugly, but it switched back to snow after dark. 

Snow Light

 

 

White balance is something that people don't always pay too much attention to, the different "temperatures" of light. There is a setting on the camera to change the white balance, so if you are shooting with artificial light, you get a different color cast than natural sunlight. I find it interesting to play around with this, so the photo above I left the white balance on cloudy because I liked the orange glow from the streetlight. In the photo below I used the Tungsten setting which is correct if you want to account for the effect of the streetlight streetlight. The two shots had almost the exact same settings other than the white balance-- a powerful effect.

Through the Branches

Of course with snow comes snow removal

Plow

 

Shoveling

 

 

Check in next week when we should have some blizzard photos!

Snow Blur

WEEK 14

JANUARY 12 - 18

 

One pitfall I've been afraid of is waiting til the last day of the week to get some shots and that day being a crappy day. I've hedged against that most weeks, by looking at the weather forecast and getting out  and shooting before if it appeared Sunday would be lousy. Well, my fear came true this week-- I put off shooting and didn't really check the weather ahead and here I was Sunday with no shots and a rainy day. Luckily, I caught a break in the rain, but it was still dreary out and not much good light. Very gray.

I decided to try and focus on things where I wouldn't need too much light--  I thought of the street as a big piece of art and I was going to photograph some of the detail. I found myself looking for light, the streetlights weren't on yet, but in the grayness they was some artificial light in the late afternoon.

BWSC

BE

I did get a little bit of sun break through the clouds for this shot-

Cornerstone

In searching for sources of light I noticed the cars had thier headlights on and as they came up Edgerly Rd. they were making some cool shadows with the bikes

Headlight Bike Shadow

Bike Shadow Wall

Last week, I did some shots from my kitchen window. Here's the same window shot from the outside.

Kitchen Window

Here's a few shots of street detail.

4 Rings

Pole

Mesh

 The little light there was really picked up the colors on this wall. It was really drab looking at first glance. A good example of something I would never have noticed before.

Wall

The Buried Treasures store has a great window with flyers and stickers- here's a small part of it

Jimi

One last shot as it was getting darker

Crosswalks

WEEK 13

JANUARY 5-11

This week was a tough one-- very cold temps. Also, I had to return my Fuji rental, which was very sad. We did get a little snow, so that got me out one afternoon. I was fortunate to be out when my son Andrew was walking home from school and I got a shot of him. 

Andrew's Public Alley

It got me to thinking about my sons' relationship with Haviland St. I grew up mostly in the suburbs with a backyard and mostly quiet streets. For my sons, Haviland St, in a way, is their backyard. It's what they see when they look out their window, it's how they walk to the school bus - it's really a part of their everyday lives. Right now, to Andrew, this project is not of much interest to him - just another one of his Dad's things he does. But I hope at some point he will look back at this as a documentation of an overlooked, yet subconsciously important part of his and his brother's lives. 

We got our second snowfall of the season, but again not much really fell and it didn't last too long. 

Dusting

 

R

 

 
My last photo with the Fuji--appropriate end to the Holidays

Christmas is Over

I wasn't really sure what to do with these so I did some experimentation with different looks. I was trying to get the paperwhites in my kitchen window, backlit by the cold winter sunset. It was a tough photo, but I fooled around with some different exposures and then tried some different processing. I'm not sure I really like any one individual photo in this set, by I do like the 4 together, for some reason. 

Paper White Sunset- Blurry Haviland

Paper White Sunset - Soft

Paper White Sunset- Orange Glow

Paper White Sunset - Sepia

 

WEEK 12

DECEMBER 29TH- JANUARY 4TH 2015

 

Happy New Year everyone-- Hope there's still a few people sticking with this.

I keep wondering how I'm going to keep this going. At the start of the week it feels impossible to keep coming up with shots and I keep telling myself that I'll just put up 2 or 3 shots this week. But I keep going out and finding things to shoot that interest me. I feel if I think too much about it and try and plan out ahead what I'll shoot, it feels damn near impossible-- but if I just take it week by week and go out a couple of times a week and shoot it seems to work. Now maybe these shots are interesting to me and me alone- but I'm having fun anyway.

This is taken from inside the new structure on the playground- I loved all the different shades of blue in here. 

A Web of Blue

Here's a black and white and color pairing-- I couldn't decide which to use-- so here's both.

Ramp

Ramp B&W

So, I really want to get more people in here. I think that's what will help give variety to the shots. I have quite a few random people shots, but not too many of the people I know in the neighborhood. Now it's mostly been cold since I started this, so not a lot of opportunity- and that will come with the warmer weather. But in the meantime I've been hoping to come across my neighbor Cathy and her dog Pebbles on one of my shooting forays. And on New Year's Day I finally did. It's not the best shot as everyone was pretty cold but it will do for now.

Cathy and Pebbles

More stuff from New Year's day

New Year's Eve Remnant

New Year's Shadow

The back windows are up in the alley of the old TCs space. Really looks great.

Bricks and Glass

One more of the playground-- the fake grass looks very inviting on a cold winter's day.

Winter Grass

WEEK 11

DECEMBER 22-28

 

 Christmas week is very quiet on the street. The students are away and a lot of people head out of town. The days leading up til Christmas get quieter and quieter and by late Christmas eve it's mostly just a few drunks straggling home. The street has certain stillness to it that you just don't see very often. It's even different than Thanksgiving- it's more hushed and you feel as though even the people that are still in the city are tucked away in their homes. I tried to capture some of the stillness.

 

Christmas Day

 

 

Edgerely Road- Christmas Day

 

 

The day after Christmas brought some bright sunshine

Berklee Tritop

The back alley and a new window in the old TC's space.

 

New Window

Our old friend the scooter has been back and I tried a new photo with a nice reflection in the aqua blue

Scooter Reflection

Happy New Year all--the next post will be in 2015.

WEEK 10

December 15-21

The big  news on Haviland Street this week is the new Edgerely Road Playground opened, with a new entrance and a complete face lift. I was finally able to get inside and get some shots. It's very inviting and colorful. Here's a shot from Sunday:

Edgerely Road Playground- Open

Here's an old shot of what it used to look like.

Playground 2008

Here's a shot looking onto Haviland Street

Walk Along the Park

Having a lot of fun shooting in low light with my rental Fuji X100S. It really does well in low light and I can shoot pretty slow speed without a tripod. Here's a few night shots.

Unloading

 

 

Public Alley & Pru

Public Alley & Pru in B&W

WEEK 9

DECEMBER 8 - 14 

First I want to give a big thank you for The Fenway News and Stephen Brophy for doing a story on our humble little blog in their December issue.  Their website is in transition right now so I can't link it. But if you can, pick up a copy and check it out.

We had our first snowfall this week.

Tracks

 

Warm Alley

Someone was happy for the snow.

Happy

They knocked part of the wall out of the old TC's space and will put in a big picture window. Very interested to see this when it's done.

A Real Hole in the Wall

I rented a Fuji X100S camera this week - I'll have it for close to a month and  really looking forward to playing around with it. It's a nice little camera- very light and small and looks like an old Leica. Here's a few shots I took on my first try with it.

Public Alley 909

More street signs:

Corner of.....

Christmas Lights

Love You