WEEK 44

SEPTEMBER 1-7

 

Haviland Street was taken over by Berklee this week--they had 2 big block parties to welcome the students back. It's time to say a small bit about the Berklee College of Music and its relationship with Haviland St. 

I honestly like living near a music school-- 3 of them, in fact, are nearby-- Berklee, Boston Conservatory and New England Conservatory. Berklee is the giant, though, and dominates the neighborhood. They are forever expanding and as they grow bigger the tougher it is to not feel like you live on their campus. 

There is music all around and I generally enjoy that. I like the youthful spirit that permeates the neighborhood. But the institutional aspect of Berklee is a different story. They do some not very great things and can be hard to deal with at times. I don't want to turn this into a Berklee rant, but suffice it say they are not always great neighbors. Like when you come home from work and notice your street has been turned into a block party and you aren't invited and if you had parked on the street you probably would have had your car towed. 

So September means students are back- so let's get take a look-

Student Invasion

Haviland Block Party for Berklee

 

DJ

 

Invasion

 

So it's not ideal, but had we had some warning it wouldn't have been too bad-- it's not a terrible thing to have fried dough on your street, is it? 

Fried Dough

And Balloons!

Balloons

 

Balloon Arch

And a few shots that had nothing to do with the parties. 

Bathed in Sun

 

That shot was toward the sun and this one was behind the sun

Late Summer

Sometimes when there isn't a party and you are walking down the street-- there's just a guy playing stand up bass. 

Stand Up

The late afternoon light is great this time of year- 

Tastes Like Gameday

 

WEEK 43

AUGUST 24-31

 

Back after 2 weeks off. Went up to Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island-- I noticed in Charlottetown, PEI there was a Haviland Street close to where we were staying-- I have to get some photos! Of course, then I forgot and didn't remember until we were hours away. 

I was hoping the time off would refresh me for the home stretch of this project, but to be honest I was having a bit of trouble getting motivated. Having been taking photos of fresh, exciting things while on vacation, Haviland St was all too familiar when I returned. But this project is a marathon and the last few miles are always the hardest. 

So how about a SuperMoon some  for some inspiration?

 

Super Moon

It's hard to shoot the moon ( in hearts and in photography). I don't have a super zoom lens, so these will have to do.

Super Moon from Haviland

Pru and Super Moon

Also - students are back -- which means --moving day traffic. If you aren't from Boston -  Sept 1st means 250,000 students move in and they all move in the same 2-3 days. It creates chaos and also Allston Christmas

Moving Day

Traffic

 

\

Student Activities

 

 

Between traffic and Super Moons, I had a very nice sunset and just some regular Haviland St blues

Clouds

 

Sunset

 

Garbage Time

Night Tables

And then there's just the regular Haviland St:

Bark

Fence Shadow

  

WEEK 42

AUGUST 3RD - AUGUST 10TH

 

Added an extra day this week. I will be heading out of town for close to 2 weeks, so there will be no posts for a little while. And I have to say that my extra day was very productive. 

One thing I think about each week is what will be the first photo posted. It's not always my absolute favorite, but it does serve a specific purpose. I want it to be the most interesting attention grabbing photo, the first one I post is also the one that shows when I share it to Facebook. So, again--an attention grabber. Anyway, this is all to say that it's usually an easy choice for me- but this week I have 3 that I'm considering and having a hard time deciding which.  But, I ultimately decided to go with this one. 

Figure

I really like this photo-- my neighbor Selena was riding past on her bike real close to me and I just turned and took a quick shot. I think it might be the sunglasses, but there's a real colorful  summer quality to it. 

Selena Biking By

This was the third one I considered for the first photo-- I like the light here. Burbank Apartments had their annual block party this week, so a nice shot of the building.

Burbank

 

 


And here's some shots of the block party-- I got there toward the end

Burbank Annual Block Party

Balloons at the Block Party

My wife Joanne and a shy Tracy Hunt

Joanne and Tracy

The light was really nice on my extra day-- here's a few that were all about the light

Building on Haviland

 

Sliver of Sky

 

Slung

This shadow and manhole reminded me of a hockey puck and stick-- ok,  maybe I have spent too much time shooting this street.

Hit The Puck

 Two week break-- see you soon for the home stretch of this project.
 

WEEK 37

JUNE 29TH- JULY 5TH

 

Fourth of July weekend is a strange time here. Most of the weekend is very quiet as the locals head to the shore or mountains and the city is empty except of course for the 4th itself when it gets very crowded for the fireworks. 

I want to start with a photo that I really like- even though it was kind of a tossed off photo I took from the car as I was getting ready to take the Fuji back. I like the photo for the haziness and the muted colors. It has the look of a hot summer day in the 70's. I barely processed it all-- it just looked right.

Hazy Day

Speaking of old photos-- a friend of my wife's sent us this photo-- from 1965, looking down Mass Ave toward Symphony it shows the corner of Mass Ave and Haviland--the Back Bay Lounge is where Dunkin' Donuts now is. I love this photo-- you can see dirty piles of snow and all the little business's crammed in that block. There's a Chinese place in the same spot where Nan Ling's was and now Dumpling Palace. If you look closely you can see Bill's Bar and the sign that the Bill's Bar on Landsdowne used. 

Looking Down Mass Ave -1965

Here's a few shots of above Haviland Street--way above

Helicopter

 

Sunburst

 

Sunset

 

One more taken from above

Couple on the Corner

And back down to street level

Alley Chat

Shadow Leaves

For Lease

Sax Girl

And here's one to wish you a Happy 4th of July and a great summer!

Happy 4th

 

WEEK 36

JUNE 22-28

 

So, running a little late this week. Like to get the post up earlier on Mondays, but had a long day today. I've done well to get this in on time every week, especially since I switched to Mondays instead of Sunday. 

After my wordy week last week, I'll keep things brief here-- but I do have a lot of photos this week. 


This week with my Fuji I was trying a lot of "shooting from the hip" - where you don't use your eye through the viewfinder and try to shoot without anyone noticing. Some came out good-- there's a certain randomness to this way of shooting too, which is kind of cool. 

Crossing The Walk

It's a good way to grab shots of people 

Flowers

Friends Part

Along The Wall

Hip Shot

 

Groceries

Stretching The Hose

And practiced on stationary objects

Black Bike in the Rain

Through Bars

I did suddenly realize I had no photos of the garage that is underneath Haviland Street

Entrance

 

Patriot Parking

 

 

 
  Now back to some everyday objects-

Valve

 

Sprinkler Alarm

A door--for my brother Chris, who loves doors

Door

Door- B&W

And finally--I had this shot last week, but the other day the light was hitting it just right and I think this one came out better

Still Life with Cheerwine