September 19 - 20

A unique set of circumstances kept me from posting my photos this weekend. I was on a trip and didn't have reliable Internet access for most of it. I'm combining these posts in order to play catch up.

September 19

My friend Anna and I took a whirlwind trip to Upstate New York this weekend. Anna's family lives there, and happen to be only a few minutes from Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome, one of the premier museums of early aviation, and one that puts on airshows in their vintage aircraft. It was the perfect opportunity for me to go visit the Aerodrome, which has fascinated me since I first heard of the place, and for Anna to get a free ride home to visit her folks one weekend. (More on this later.) It was also the chance to visit my friend Mark, who moved from Boston years ago and lives just down the road from Rhinebeck.

With National Novel Writing Month coming up, it also gave us a chance to sit and begin planning our schedule and events, since its a four-hour drive out there and back. It also gave us the chance to pick up the only remains of Merlene, who will be attending our events as well as featuring on NaNoBoston merchandise in our CafePress store.

I got the above picture of the Mid-Hudson Bridge in Poughkeepsie while returning from the mall with Anna, where we had picked up Merlene. It's beautifully lit at night, and the lights change colors in an intricately-synchronized routine.

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September 20

Sunday, Anna and I, along with her father, headed over to Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome for the airshow. It was remarkable, and less airshow in the traditional sense than pure showmanship and old-fashioned entertainment. Old Rhinebeck has a large collection of flyable vintage and reproduction aircraft, and they put on a fine program.

This is the business end of their Albatros D.Va, a reproduction built in 1975 by the museum's founder, Cole Palen, and his associates. It's simply beautiful, and watching it in flight was a delight. It was also nearly impossible to photograph clearly because of my lack of a fast lens with a long-enough focal length. When the airshow was over I hied it to the display to get some shots, including this one, which is my favorite.

It was a long short weekend, if that makes any sense to you. I was gone about 37 hours, and spent 12 of those hours in the driver's seat. Still, it was absolutely worth the trip, and with the most perfect weather imaginable, a great way to spend the last weekend of the summer.

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July 20

It's good to have friends, and I'm fortunate to have some pretty great friends in my life.

My friend Brandon snapped the photo above (see original here) on one of our photo walks out to Castle Island in June. Anna is one of my best friends in Boston, and the sense of camaraderie we feel when together is remarkable. Brandon managed to capture that in this photograph; it's one of my favorite images.

Anna's birthday was last Saturday, so I didn't get the chance to give her a birthday gift. With the current precarious state of my finances, buying anything worthwhile was out of the question. However, I have a photo printer, glossy inkjet paper, a frame, and a wonderful image to work with. I desaturated the image and put a black hairline around it to define the edge, then set it off with a broad white margin to give it a classic dignity. I'm pretty proud of the results; it's playful and fun, while having an elegance that most photos of me lack.

Now that I've made one for Anna, I'm going to make another print for myself. It's going to occupy a place of honor on my office wall -- along with other images I collect of all of my great friends.

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July 19

Boyfriend and I didn't plan to do a lot today, and for what it's worth, we accomplished it.

We had brunch -- how gay is that? -- at Geoffreys, a marvelous cafe in Roslindale Square. For a chi-chi cafe, they serve pretty good biscuits and gravy, and a lot of it! We walked past the house in the photo as we headed to Geoffrey's, and I snapped the colorful photo above. For some reason, it seemed a very American house facade, with the bright blue sky, pretty window boxes and the United States flag flying from the pole in front. It makes for an altogether satisfying photo of the day.

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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 12

Oh, pretty flowers, my constant summer fall-back option.

After yesterday's ambitious photo walk, today I didn't really feel like going out (except to put my poor sneakers on the clothesline to dry after getting caught in the cloudburst). When hunger overcame apathy, I grabbed my camera for a quick walk to Roslindale Square and a stop at the fabulously cheap-and-cheerful Wapo Taco. It was closed.

Turns out, the highlight of my walk was right at the beginning. I stopped and got photos of these marvelously blue-purple flowers on my neighbor Nicolene's porch -- perhaps 150 feet from my own front door. They have a sort of wild exuberance that helped cheer me up.

I wish I could grow plants. Except for tomatoes, which are known to thrive under benign neglect, I've never grown anything substantive. Maybe someday, when I have a yard, I'll try again.

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July 11

Periodically in Boston -- every ten years or so -- we're visited by a flotilla of tall ships.

Being a Sailor, I'm always drawn to these events. Many people assume that any sailing ship is a tall ship, so all the sailing ships in the harbor generate quite a bit of buzz. To be considered a true tall ship, the vessel has to have traditional rigging, usually has square sails, and is a fairly large ship. In this case, there were several tall ships among the myriad smaller sailboats.

The ship in the foreground is the Portuguese sailing ship Sagres. Their ship was definitely the best lit tonight. I may try to make it back tomorrow for a tour, but if I don't, I'll feel better knowing I got to see them.

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June 27

Today's photo walk took us outside the city limits -- to fabulous Newport, Rhode Island.

In the finest tradition of my photo walks, I had no clue where we were going to end up, other than somewhere outside of Boston, until late in the process (last night). My original plans were to go to Fall River and Battleship Cove, but those plans were tabled when the idea to visit Newport popped into my head.

So today, in a whirlwind of planning, Anna, Keith, and I got in the car, stopped at a market en route, and put together an impromptu picnic. Anna brought some really lovely bamboo plates, a frisbee, etc., while I grabbed a blanket, a couple of throw pillows, and other assorted accessories. Keith mentioned knowing a pretty place to picnic right on the beach, so we went with his suggestion (gut instinct), and ended up spending most of our time at the rocky beach at Brenton Point.

We left Brenton Point Beach with two bags of rocks, one depleted camera battery, some remnants of picnic food, etc., and pooped. God what a great day!

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June 20

It's a miracle I manage to get anything done sometimes.

My teen photography workshop is next Wednesday (June 24), and I was beginning to feel the panic because I haven't completed either the handouts to go with the class or the presentation I have to give. My friend Anna agreed to meet with me for a late lunch today, followed by helping me put together my talk and critiquing it. God bless Anna for sitting there and listening to me talk for two hours, mostly uninterrupted.

After finishing the presentation, we meandered about a bit on a photo walk. This shot was the shot that wasn't yesterday -- I lined up my image and my camera battery died. Tonight's capture worked perfectly, though, producing the above image of the John W. Weeks footbridge over the Charles River near Harvard.

I love it when things work out.

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June 07

Today's weekend photo walk was one of the more interesting trips I've taken -- specifically because of the company.

Anna and Brandon busied themselves doing environmental work before the photo walk began. They hauled a shopping cart out of the Muddy River near Fenway. I was invited to participate but declined. I picked them up and off we headed, meandering around until we decided to head over to Charlestown and the Bunker Hill Monument.

Marion had to work until 4 pm -- and then an hour later -- so we picked her up en route to Castle Island. She was sporting two black eyes and a bruise over her left eye from a softball accident, so any portraiture plans with my most willing subject went out the proverbial window. Since she gamely let me take photos, though, I cleaned up the bruising just a teensy little bit in Photoshop. After all, we must look our best. ;-)

In the future, I hope we can get some more folks involved in our walks. The people I've met through National Novel Writing Month and Script Frenzy are really some of the most interesting and unique individuals I know -- and I have high standards. It's just a lot of fun spending time with them.

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May 31

If I were a superstitious person -- or any more superstitious than I already am, I should say -- today would have been very auspicious indeed!

My friend Keith and I went roaming today, half in search of photo ops and half just getting out and enjoying a pretty Sunday afternoon. Near the JFK Library, after walking by the bay, we came onto a secluded little garden area. I looked down, because I will look for four-leaf clovers in any patch of clover I happen to see, and spotted this pretty little specimen.

Afterward, between rain showers, we caught sight of a rainbow from Castle Island and then another one over Boston from Memorial Drive in Cambridge.

With all these good luck omens today, I should have bought a lottery ticket!

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May 30

My photo walk today was less of a walk and more of a car-based meander.

It was a great day here in Boston, with temperatures in the high 70s but low humidity. Puffy white clouds floated in the clear blue sky while I drove around this afternoon. Nobody was available to hang out, so I went it alone and ended up having a really good time.

From Memorial Drive in Cambridge, I went over to Bunker Hill Park in Charlestown, then to the Charlestown Navy Yard, before driving over to Castle Island and capturing some shots of airliners taking off.

It was there, on the fishing pier, that I looked over my shoulder and caught sight of the stunning sunset behind the Boston skyline. No question -- this was going to be my Photo of the Day.

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May 15

My travel plans left me with a day of ... well, nothing to do. With my friend Ruth working and the kids still in school, I literally had nobody to entertain and no place to really do it. So I went for a photo walk.

Taking the photo walk was a dicey proposition. A line of storms came through yesterday and more were coming today, so I had to get out while it wasn't raining and the light was okay. I drove out to the airport and the Heritage in Flight Museum, which was closed. Their website is still under development, and their answering machine doesn't state the operating hours. It's a completely volunteer-run operation, but getting real information is tough. The planes parked outside are totally accessible, though, so I snapped some photos.

Then I drove over to the architecturally-significant Logan County Courthouse (seen here). It's a little more than a century old, and according to wikipedia, it is, "considered the second most architecturally spectacular surviving historic courthouse in Illinois' 102 Counties." It's a pretty building.

And I went down a remaining abandoned portion of historic Route 66, to the site of a former bridge over Salt Creek. The concrete piers of the bridge are still in place, and it's a nice walk down.

The sky began darkening around then, so I put my camera away and hied back to the hotel to relax a bit. I'd promised to take Ruth's kids swimming tonight, so a nap was in order to brace myself for herding three loud teenagers. That was an adventure in itself, albeit one that yielded no photographic evidence.

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May 09

It's been a long week. I embraced the arrival of the weekend and the lack of anything urgent to do, and spent the day doing nothing.

Then I remembered this blog.

I grabbed my camera and went off on a "photo walk." That's where I go and take my camera and photograph whatever catches my fancy. I meandered by the commuter rail station and decided to work with leading lines, since railroad tracks are the obvious and most-cited examples. Looking at the picture, you'd never realize you were within the Boston city limits.

It was an easy decision to take this photo. I'm rather pleased with how it turned out.

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