October 22

As fall approaches and the birds have had all summer to fatten up, these fat little birds -- house sparrows, perhaps? -- are all over Boston. They're a little comical to watch, as they hop around the ground looking for bits and bobs to snack on. They look so rotund that they shouldn't be able to get airborne. It makes sense that they fatten up for their journey south, I suppose. It's a long flight and they burn a lot of calories.

Last summer, a family of house sparrows took up residence in our front porch light. I was a little concerned that the eggs might be hard boiled, but the light acted more like an incubator than oven coil. My landladies moved them, nest and all, to a purpose-built little box high up on the corner of the porch, as they worried that the naked bulb might set the nest on fire.

I know, intellectually, that house sparrows are an invasive species in North America, and that they smash eggs and steal nests from other birds. Still, after the little family shared our home last summer, I feel some affection for the little pests.

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October 14

Cumberland Street in Boston's Back Bay is a tony little side street of single-family homes near the Christian Science Center. Being a dead-end street means that there isn't much traffic either.

I drive down Cumberland between Huntington Ave. and St. Botolph St. almost every weekday en route to work. With the foliage really coming into its own in the cooler weather, the scene is very picturesque. Since tomorrow there will likely be an overcast sky, I thought this might be my best chance to capture a pretty scene before the leaves turn brown and get blown away.

I'm usually not fond of autumn, as it heralds the end of summer and the inevitable winter storms that befall New England. This year, though, I have to admit that the beautiful foliage (following a sopping wet spring) has been remarkable.

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September 17

My friend Brandon is fond of saying, "boys shouldn't shop in the girl's department." He would have needed a megaphone had he come across this young fellow in his travels.

Apologies for the quality of the photo, but I had to make sure the car was safely stopped before I reached for my camera, and it was shot through the front windshield without flash as dusk was falling. It's something of a testament to the sheer fluorescence of the fabric that it stood out like a beacon in the fading light. This guy could go stand on the end of a quay and guide ships through the fog with those pants.

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September 14

In my photography workshops, I discuss composition at length, and usually start off by talking about the importance of seeing what you're photographing. In other words, you should be able to look through the viewfinder (or at your screen) and take note of everything in your image -- both the good and the bad.

I snapped this photo on one of my breaks from work, and I thought (scoping out the shot beforehand) that it was a pretty scene, one that looked almost European. I moved a bit, found the right framing devices to give the shot some depth (trees and the picturesque lamppost), then got the shot, all the while completely ignoring the glaring distraction smack in the middle of the photo -- that cinder block wall. It's decidedly unromantic.

While not an epic fail by any means, today's photo still reminds me of the importance of seeing -- and of paying attention. I think I'll add it to my presentation.

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September 08

This isn't sunset proper, but it is an interesting view of the sun silhouetting the dome of The Church of Christ, Scientist, in Back Bay this evening.

This church is the Mother Church for the Church of Christ, Scientist -- the first and foremost church of the denomination -- and is part of a large complex. A plaza with reflecting pool and various church buildings are a popular place to gather in the summer, with children playing in a fountain on the property. It's an ornate building, with the large dome and the smaller spire from the original structure, and it has one of the largest pipe organs in Boston.

Whatever your thoughts on the tenets of the Christian Scientists, the complex is impressive and beautiful from many angles, and certainly photogenic enough from almost any angle.

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September 03

While I haven't ridden a motorcycle in -- what? 20 years? -- I enjoy them. I'll never have a Harley or any other large touring bike, but I could see myself on a small cruiser -- say 250cc or so -- tooling around Boston.

Thus, I will never own, or get the chance to ride, a Ducati, and it's even less likely that I will ever get the chance to take one out somewhere where I could ride it as it was meant to be ouldridden. Still, it's pretty, and I enjoyed looking it over when I caught it parked on the street.

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September 02

I often comment on how I need to look around more, to see the remarkable things around me, to be more aware of my surroundings. I guess I need to add "look down" to that list. Not even being an amateur ornithologist, I couldn't tell you what kind of bird lost this feather. It was about eight inches long, so it's either a large bird or one monster pigeon.

I remember finding large feathers like this when I lived in the leafy green suburbs. I also remember my mother telling me not to touch it, because I would get mites and catch some bird disease. I just never expected to find one in downtown Boston.

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August 28

I thought I should call this one "Urban Escher."

I got this shot while it was still a little sunny out, before the clouds came in and it began to drizzle. I park near this building two or three times a week, but had never noticed this courtyard with its maze of fire escapes before. Shows what happens when I actually bother to look around.

Unfortunately this framing doesn't show the maze of stairs to best effect. The trees block a lot of the view; the fire escapes ride for four or five stories on either side. It's almost too urban a scene to fit in Boston's chi-chi Back Bay.

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August 25

Seeing a crumpled-up parking ticket tossed to the sidewalk in frustration isn't that unusual. Seeing a blank parking ticket, however, is unheard of.

It's a bad habit of mine to pick up discarded parking tickets and read them. It's morbid curiousity, I guess -- I like to see what other parking miscreants have done -- and between this and my own collection of the things, I'm almost able to recite beginning to end the various citations, what they mean, and how much the fine is for each.

What I'm really waiting for, though, is the chance to see someone get tickets for littering after throwing their parking ticket to the sidewalk in disgust. That would be worth paying to see.

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August 13

I loved the reflection of the scattered clouds and blue skies in the facade of 111 Huntington Avenue as I walked back to work from my break. It rained this morning, and it was overcast and cool, with scattered showers, this afternoon as I drove in to work. That made the sun's appearance at 5:45 pm all the more beautiful.

I'm enjoying the weather, truth be told. OK, I could do without so much rain, but even that has its compensatory values -- the grass is greener and the flowers more verdant just about everywhere you look.

By the way, that should be the first rule for photographers: Look. If you're trudging around with your head down, not looking at what's around you, you can't see anything worth photographing.

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August 12

Part of me finds it obnoxious that the driver of this stretch limousine parked at not one, but two, parking meters this afternoon. The other part of me marvels at the good parallel parking job he did. His most remarkable feat, however, was in finding two adjacent parking places to claim.

I had to make a few circuits of the block to find my own parking space, which is about a block further down the street from where I work. So naturally, I felt a brief surge of annoyance when I saw it. In fairness, as I walked by, I checked, and the driver had put money in both meters, so at least he wasn't being a complete jackass about it.

I suppose that stretch limo drivers don't have many options for where to park the 20-foot-long monsters in Boston. And whatever else I feel about it, I still admire his skill at parallel parking.

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July 18

I thought I was being clever and sneaky in getting this amusing photo of somebody standing on the grass next to the "keep off the grass" sign. If I'd been really clever, I'd have noticed the bag she carried is from Agent Provocateur, a high-end seller of women's knickers and things.

Brandon and I went on a photo walk in Back Bay today, starting off in Copley Square and quickly seeking shelter in the shady areas of the Public Garden and Boston Common. We had no real plan for this photo walk, other than possibly meeting up with Tom and Steph somewhere along the route. Eventually we ended up at Government Center before reversing course and heading back.

I ate the entire way, it seemed. A hot dog on the way to the Commuter Rail, another one on Boston Common, a fried dough with cherry pie filling near Park Street Station, and a cherry slush on the way back.

All in all, it's been an excellent way to spend an afternoon.

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July 14

It was a beautiful, partly-cloudy day in Boston today. High temperature of 80, light breezes, and just really delightful.

It's a pity I had to work.

I took my camera with me both times I had to go do the meter dance (moving my car space to space), and caught the clouds reflecting on the mirrored glass facade of 111 Huntington Avenue. I originally planned to zoom way in and get the faceted effect up close, but I only had a mid-range zoom. Cropping was a possibility, but after polling friends online, I decided I liked this composition well enough to go with it as-is.

Many city dwellers -- unlike tourists -- go about their lives in cities with their heads down, charging through the crowds to get where they need to be. It's really a shame, because you can see beautiful things if you just look up occasionally.

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July 09

Today's Photo of the Day was selected with the advice and sage counsel of my friend and doorman, Ennio.

Some days, it's easy to get a great photo. Other days, you kind of have to pick from the best of a mediocre lot, perhaps photoshop it a bit for an artsy-fartsy effect and hope your readership (all five of you) will give you a pass. When you get a day sort of in the middle, with three possibilities, all dodgy, you have to call in your arbiter of taste -- in my case, that's Ennio.

Ennio thought the fuzzy, through-the-windshield shot of the man with the questionable fashion choices was "too weird." He found the photo of the statue of Athena atop the Cambridge Athenæum "unmoving." So it fell to the DUKW --pronounced "duck" -- to carry the day.

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July 08

The word "FAIL" has become a catchphrase among young people. It's a fair and accurate -- and brief -- descriptive word; it's sort of the "NOT!" of the new generation. There's even a blog dedicated to it. So when I saw it on a parking meter, the bane of my existence as a street parker in an urban area, I couldn't help but think how appropriate it seemed.

My life sometimes feels like a big fat "FAIL", but I keep plugging along. What was a leisurely job search, a "what-if" exercise in the current perilous economic climate, may be taking on a new urgency soon. Keep your fingers crossed and let's hope this one is FTW (For The Win), as the kids say.

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July 01

If I had to come up with a title for this photo, I think it would have to be "Dueling Parking Tickets."

Seeing parking tickets in Boston's Back Bay is as common as seeing grass in a park. Parking Enforcement Officers (to call them "meter maids" seems both dimunitive of their jobs and pejorative) are tasked with enforcing the byzantine series of laws governing parking in the city. Traffic Rules and Regulations, the official City of Boston document governing parking, is 49 pages long. It's full of interesting information, such as Article IV, Section 17, Item 1a: "If the parking regulations at a particular location change due to time, then a second parking ticket may be issued after the expiration of ten (10) minutes from the time the first parking ticket was issued."

Seeing two tickets on one car, undoubtedly two perfectly legal tickets according to Traffic Rules and Regulations, is a bit more unusual. It's also noteworthy enough for a Photo of the Day on a rainy, slow Wednesday.

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June 18

I've seen Jesus fish. I've seen Darwin fish. I've seen dead Darwin fish. I've even seen Sushi fish, Gefilte fish, and the rarer (if more correct) ΙΧΘΥΣ (Ichthys) fish. But until today, I'd never seen a PADDLE fish, and it really amused me.

Of course, I haven't a clue what it means. I know what a paddlefish is, but the PADDLE fish on a car seems to be designed to befuddle. It succeeds in that respect -- at least to me.

But it's still amusing, if only for causing the confusion, because it's exactly the kind of thing I would do.

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June 11

Having gone into the subjects of curious juxtapositions in Boston yesterday, it figures that the perfect illustration would present itself today. Oy ...

I have my doubts about whether the smart car is as intelligent a choice as it's being made out to be. I just think it might be more hype than substance. My friend Sean says that all early adopters are showy, but he's willing to believe the car may have something going for it other than its novelty.

It was amusing, though, to see this über-modern little car -- one of the visual punchlines to the new Pink Panther movie -- parking in the Back Bay, among the ever-present Saabs and Volvos.

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I'm experimenting with a new "frame" for my Photos of the Day. Opinions on it are welcomed.

June 03

Summer is remodeling season in Boston's Back Bay, as evidenced by this casually-placed hard hat in a tree.

Remodeling means construction, which means construction trucks taking parking places and other spaces being cordoned off for deliveries and pickups -- even the occasional double-parked enormous construction vehicle taking up more than its alloted half of the already-narrow Back Bay streets. Boston doesn't have that much on-street parking in the first place, so losing five or ten spaces on adjacent blocks has a knock-on effect for the entire neighborhood.

Fortunately, construction workers arrive early and knock off early, so if I can find a space initially, it holds me over for two hours when more spaces are free.

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May 27

You have to admire the lawless insouciance that inspires a driver who's earned a parking ticket to casually crumple it up and toss it in the gutter with his other litter.

Having earned many parking tickets in my life -- and suffered the consequences of untimely payment of same -- Careless Charlie's casual tossing aside of the ticket suggests to me that he's not from Boston. Back Bay does get a few tourists now and again, so it's quite easy for them to run afoul of the labyrinth of parking regulations and overlapping jurisdictions that hold sway over Boston's precious few on-street parking spaces.

As for the littering ... well, that's just inexcusable.

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