All of these pictures - twelve as of this writing - were taken within a few days of each other in late October 2006. All were taken either late or early in the day, during a clear and haze-free spell which brought a beautiful quality to the light.
This place is still listed in some online phone directories, but it
was never open and serving food when I was around in 2006, and it has
now been replaced by a Domino's. I guess cardboard is the new
pizzette.
The b&w version is from green (equivalent to a green filter).
I think this image is about equally good in color or monochrome.
It's hard to articulate what I like about this one. If you don't like
it at first, don't work at it.
This is a shower handle. You push on the knob and water comes out
from above you, so that you can wash off the salt and be less sticky
after swimming in the ocean. During the summer it is fully
functional, although it had been shut off for the season at the time
this picture was taken.
B&W version is taken from cyan, to darken the bricks as much as
possible, the effect I preferred.
This flag is at the south end of Revere Beach, where the housing
projects start. The sun happened to be exactly right to illuminate
the flag, a bit of rock, and Nahant in the background. I think the
illuminated flag against the dark sky works well.
I'm thinking about cropping off the right side of this one, putting
the vanishing point dead center. However, I like the shadows on the
ground over there. I can't decide. Oh, teh angst.
This picture, and some of the others on this page with strong blue
skies, were taken on the new Fuji Velvia 100. It did exactly the
right thing for the colors.
The side illuminated by the sun is yellow; the side illuminated by the
sky is blue. I spent a long time holding the slide up to the light
and ajusting the colors to get it to come out right. I enjoy the
concept of these partial color palette images, and I think this is an
excellent example.
In color or in black and white, I am confident that none of these
footprints were made by imaginary beings.
The yellow reflection on the asphalt balances, in negative, the
silhouette of the tree. The tree is absolutely essential; this
picture would be of no interest whatsoever without it. Now, all we
have to do in post is replace it with a joshua tree, remove the cars
and asphalt and buildings, and throw in some cactus... sorry, wrong
gallery.
As far as I can tell, these things - which are scattered around in
various places in the area - used to be drinking fountains. There is
some disused piping of some sort in the center, anyway, and drinking
fountains suggests itself becuase I doubt they're birdbaths or
open-air bidets. They have not been operational in the time I have
been in the area and I very much doubt they ever will be again.
The pictures before this were all done late in the day. This
picture begins the ones taken at sunrise.
The sand blows onshore, up towards the street, and seems to be at a
much higher level than intended by the original designers of the
infrastructure, entirely submerging some structures insand.
It's also a pretty color in the early morning.
This is yet another piece of nonfunctioning historical infrastructure.
There appear to be some pipes which might have caused water to come
out of the lion's mouth at one time, so my best guess is that it was
once a shower of a sort for the benefit of bathers.
This picture is soooooo goooood. It was the last one, right
at the end of the last roll, and I'm glad I had one left. It's my
favorite in this batch. Many of the others are solid pictures, but
this one is right. Instead of merely not knowing how to
improve it, I assert that it cannot be improved without changing its
basic nature.
There are once again only two colors. I find it counterintuitive
that an image in which color seems to play such an important part can
still look good in black and white, but I think it does. This B&W
version taken from red.
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Terran Melconian.
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