WEEK 50

OCTOBER 13TH- 19TH

FINAL WEEK

 

I took my last photo for this blog yesterday. Today when I looked out the kitchen window they were sweeping up the yellow leaves from the plaza and it felt like they were clearing props from a stage on closing night. 

So I was trying to decide what grand finale photo I should have for my last week- and decided to go in a different direction. No grand finale- just more photos on the scale that I have been doing all along. Its a week-- Week 50 on Haviland Street.

I want to take a minute to thank everyone that followed this project and those who commented here, on Facebook and to me personally. It has been one of the most rewarding things I have ever done. Sticking with things is not always my strong suit and having stuck with this for an entire year is something I'm proud of. I learned a hell of a lot about photography. I've taken classes and read books but nothing is like getting out and doing it week after week.So in that respect the Project was a rousing success. I think there's at least a few really good photos to be found here. And I think that it's a  nice record of a small street. I hope everyone who has followed has enjoyed it. 

I am coming up with a new project and hope to start soon. I may even post another photo or 2 here if the mood strikes me.

Goodnight Moon

 

One thing I was a little disappointed with over the year is not getting as many shots of my neighbors as I would have liked. But I'm not out there all the time and had to depend on happenstance to see them when I was out with my camera-- so for the last week I invited people from my building to come out if they could for a group shot. Thanks to those who made it. Here's a great shot of some neighbors that mean the world to me. Nothing says Haviland Street to me like the people who live here. 

Neighbors

 

This photo I took twice and one was a screw-up where I focused on the leaves rather than the girl in the red sweater. But I kind of like the result. The foliage is nice and people are in the background. One thing I learned from this project is sometimes mistakes  can work out ok. Never throw anything away. 

Girl in Red Sweater with Leaves

Leaves with Girl in Red Sweater

Here's the leaves in the gutter that were cleaned up today

Fall in the Gutter

October

 

A couple of last twilight black and white shots which I think have been my favorite style . One thing that will be hard to get used to is not constantly looking out the window--wondering, should I grab the camera and head down? It will be a bit of a relief, but I also will miss it. 

Twilight

 

Leave a Light On

One thing I hadn't done was a self portrait-- so here's me-- grim and gritty on Haviland Street. My wife said it should be the photo on the dust jacket of my hard boiled detective novel. Now there's a project. 

Steve on Haviland

And here's my last shot- it's simple, elegant and taken out my kitchen window that has been my eyes on the street for the past year. I don't think I'll ever tire of the view. I'm sure sooner, rather than later, I'll get the urge to grab the camera and head down to the street. 

Good Night Haviland, Good Night Moon

 
 

WEEK 49

OCTOBER 6TH- 12TH

 

I can't believe it--the penultimate week. This week is actually the last week that I haven't done-- I started this blog the week of October 13-20th last year. The first photo I used was taken October 17th. So next week will actually overlap a bit-- a couple of reasons- I took 3 weeks off-- 1 in the spring when I went to Florida and another 2 weeks for my summer vacation. But I wanted a nice even number of weeks--so decided to settle on 50 weeks. 

So here we go-- last Monday was a spectacular sunset. I thought about saving it for my last photo of the project - but that would violate the rule of making sure the photo was taken in the week it's posted. 

So here it is-

Sunset Over The Fenway

Here's a couple of other sunset shots a little more Haviland focused

Black & White Sunset Over Haviland

Sun Setting Over Haviland

 

 

 

The leaves are really starting to change now-- the weather has been great. The is really my favorite time in Boston. 

Changing

 

 

 

A Moment

Beige Day

 

 I used some split toning to exaggerate the colors a bit in this one.

Yellow

 

 

 

This might be my favorite from this week. I love that the street is mostly darkened but just a small bit of sunlight shooting out from the alley. 

Patch

 

I just can't get enough of these chairs--I love shooting them 

 

More Chairs

 
 
 Don't forget to check in next week for the last week.

 

WEEK 48

SEPTEMBER 29th - OCTOBER 5th

 

Quite a bit of rain this past week. I've mentioned this before but over this past year there really hasn't been much rain. Of course, we had 100+ inches of snow, so it's not like we had a California style drought. So I will start off with some rain photos. It was coming down pretty good, so I took them from my kitchen window--I liked the impressionistic feel of the look through the fogged up window. 

Pink Umbrella

Rainy Morning- Kitchen Window

Rainy Window

The leaves are just starting to turn color a little bit-- a yellow tinge that will hopefully burst into color before the Project ends. 

Early Fall-- Haviland

Had to shoot upward a bit to get some of the nice light coming in today. I like this cluster of building just off Haviland. 

Brick Buildings

 

A sign of the best weather being behind us

Covered

 

A few more shots of the people on the street. 

Blue Guitar

Headphones

 

Laptop

 

 
Haviland St is a one way street--it's amazing how many people drive down the wrong way. 

Wrong Way

 
 

WEEK 47

SEPTEMBER 22-28

 

Lunar eclipse was the star this week. So for the 2nd week in a row it's all night photos. 

To get one of those great Supermoon photos you need a strong telephoto lens, which I don't have. Plus the light in the city creates a lot of noise. So I decided the best way to show it was juxtaposition with the buildings. 

This first shot is when it was about half covered. 

Eclipse - Half

This one is my favorite

Eclipse 

Here's one from the street just as the eclipse really started 

Full Moon- Start of Eclipse

And here's the entire moon covered-- 

Eclipse

 

 

There were other things happening on Haviland and not just above it

Super Truck

I've never seen one of these little vehicles before-- it's like a Segway but with no handle.  I looked it up and that's exactly what it is--a hands-free Segway and it's $200

Hands Free Segway

 And finally some late night studying under a different kind of glow

Late Night Studying

 

WEEK 46

SEPTEMBER 15th- 21st

 

I was out of town for a good part of this week, so I decided to take a suggestion and did some long exposures. Headed out this evening after dinner and brought the tripod along-- I mostly set up on the corner of Mass Ave and Haviland and tried to get some shots. This is a technique I'm not very familiar with so it was pretty new to me. I didn't do any crazy long exposures-- but I think one of them was 4 or 5 seconds. I'll definitely try this again. It was fun and I'll do a little research into it. Thanks to Chris Harnish for the suggestion. 

Watching The Bus Go By

Scooter Guy

Pedicab at Night

Here's some Black and White ones from the same corner-

Street Light

Corner

 

Scooter

 

This one is from earlier in the week. 

Rain

 

Tried to get some similar light trails further up the street, but it wasn't really working-- I did get a cool effect with some feet though. The feet showed up evn though the rest of the bodies were very blurred. 

Feet in Crosswalk

And the mural at night-

Mural--Night Time

WEEK 45

SEPTEMBER 8TH-14TH

 

Some rain and fog this week, which helped get me through. Something I thought about Sunday as I was walking the street-- I bet I know every nook and cranny of this street as well as anyone. I can tell you where the fireplugs are, what time they put the chairs up in the plaza, the graffitti, how many cracked bricks and when the light hits the wall by Dunkin Donuts. I don't think I'll ever look at this street the same again-- I probably won't look at any street the same again. And I do find myself looking deeper into every scene when I am out shooting elsewhere. 

If anyone is still reading and following along, please send some ideas along about things you think would be good to shoot in these last weeks. Leave your ideas here or in the comments on Facebook. I could use some fresh ideas. 

Here's this week's shots-

Pru in Fog

Shrouded

A couple of shots from my window on a rainy Sunday night

Rain Talk

Rainy Late Summer Evening

An alley on each side of the street

Through the Alley

Tucked Away

Here's something I never did notice before- the trees have a little Parks Dept bracelets on them

Parks Dept