weekly update 009 - 2016-12-12 - Boston's Statues tour

December 11, 2016

This week we will be going over some of the most interesting, or more important, statues in the Boston area. Unfortunately I didn't have all the time I wanted to go looking for more as it is one of my favorite urban subjects to capture, but I manage to capture an interesting mix of styles. Above you can see part of the "Irish Famine Memorial" unveiled in 1998 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Great Famine that ravaged through Ireland in the 19th century, that led to the mass migration with Boston becoming home to a massive Irish community.
Below you can see the 8 foot bronze statue of Benjamin Franklin standing in front of Boston's elaborate French Second Empire-style Old City Hall. The statue is actually older than the building, being in this place since 1856, but the building was erected in 1874 after an earlier fire devastated this part of town 2 years earlier. Besides him is the top of the "Soldiers and Sailors Monument", located on the beautiful Boston Common Garden, and is dedicated to the Soldiers and Sailors of the Civil War.

Above you can see one of the most interesting Public Artworks I've seen so far, it is created by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa, and it is formed of numeric symbols arranged in the shape of a person sitting. And the Bobby Orr statue that has since moved to a new location, but continues to grace the TD Garden grounds.

I'll leave you with one of the funniest sculptures I found at Boston, at the Common Garden you can find a scattering of frogs that belong, and celebrate, the greatly named Tadpole Playground.

Next week will be the last post dedicated to Boston, and since I'll be travelling to Portugal for Christmas I will try to share with you some of the sights of my country of birth.
Until then, be merry and enjoy the cold weather :)
APN

Fishing Frogs of Tadpole Playground, Boston, USA

weekly update 007 - 2016-11-28 - welcome to Cambridge, MA

November 28, 2016

This week I have a more image heavy post, I blame it on the architecture of Cambridge, MA. Also on the fact that we got to spend a wonderful sunny day, although still very cold, walking around some of the most revered and well-known universities in America. As many of you may know, Cambridge is home to the Harvard university and the MIT. Starting the day at the Harvard station of the Red Line of "The T", as the MBTA is also known, which has a mid 20th-century vibe and is dominated by the crimson color of the Harvard University.

Walking over to Harvard Yard, the oldest part of the Harvard University and it's historical heart, you can find the statue of John Harvard under a big USA flag. John Harvard was an English minister in America, "a godly gentleman and a lover of learning", is properly considered one of the founders of Harvard College mainly due to his deathbed bequest of half his monetary estate and more importantly leaving his scholar library of more than 300 titles. Strolling around in the, usually grassy, Harvard Yard does feel like walking around a place steeped in heritage. I would suggest that after wandering around the university grounds, you should head down to the riverside and have a look at the old student houses, like the McKinlock Hall picture above. On the way there try and find the Harvard Lampoon Building, an historic building that is best known as the home of The Harvard Lampoon, an undergraduate humor publication founded in 1876, and for its unusual design including the blue and yellow door.

Heading towards the MIT, it is worth paying attention to the buildings along Massachusetts Av., where amongst new buildings you can find some interesting examples of art-deco and the beautifully utilitarian Lafayette Square Fire House. The facade of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, is the most impressive part of the MIT, but I need to go back to have a look around the rest of the campus. Just before you arrive here, do stop at the MIT Museum, at least to have a look at the shop which is full of interesting souvenirs for all science geeks out there.

I'll leave this week with an image of the Charles River, and one of the many bridges that cross it, this is known as the Weeks Footbridge and connects Cambridge with the Allston neighborhood of Boston.
Next week I'll show a brief view of the architecture of Boston, in what should be the penultimate post focusing on the Boston area.

APN

John W. Weeks Bridge over the Charles River, Cambridge, USA

weekly update 005 - 2016-11-14 - Welcome to Boston

November 14, 2016

Arriving at the Logan International Airport, Boston, USA

So after 3 great days in the Chicago, we head off to the historic city of Boston, Massachusetts. With the Logan airport located on a peninsula in the Massachusetts Bay, the approach to the city is a great calling card for the area in which the city is located, surrounded by water on three sides. Continuing with the theme of an extremely cold Spring, we are greeted with lots of snow still hanging around. That is very visible on all the photos from the Boston Common Park, located on the heart of the city, and one of the places I recommend visiting even when covered in snow.

For the first post about Boston, I'm just leaving you with a view of my first impressions. Mainly for the area around the main parks, the Boston Common Park and the Boston Public Garden, which you can see below. Beyond its frozen lake, you can find the original Cheers pub, made famous by the 80's sitcom of the same name. On the coming weeks, I'll be publishing more photos from my days in Boston, including a visit to the Universities of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and also some great views from the top of the Prudential Center building.

Until next week,

APN

The frozen lake of the Boston Public Garden, Boston, USA

Hard Rock Hotel at the Carbide and Carbon Building, Chicago, USA

weekly update 004 - 2016-11-07 - Up close and personal with Chicago's Architecture

November 7, 2016

This week we are up close with the extraordinary architecture that characterises the downtown area of Chicago. With a mixture of modern steel and glass skyscrapers, stone gothic facades and wonderful art-deco details, it makes for great images for all architecture enthusiasts. The raised lines of the "L" train give a different view of the streets and buildings, by elevating us above the normal viewpoint of the buildings facade at ground level. As the picture above illustrates, this city is a must for all lovers of art-deco, with the Carbide and Carbon Building being just one of the many, beautifully preserved, examples of that style present in the city. Hope to stay there next time, and see what it looks like on the inside.

This marks my last post focused on Chicago, and next week I'll move on to show the wonders of the last leg of the USA trip of 2015, the historical city of Boston, Massachusetts. The days spent in Chicago left me with the need to come back and delve deeper into the history and architecture of the Windy City, of the three cities it was the one that inspired me the most.

I'll leave today with one of my favourite shots from those few days in Chicago, taken under a viaduct that connects to the Navy Pier. Street art and derelict spaces are always attractive and make for great subjects. Here the tricky light made it even more compelling, giving it an almost ethereal vibe to the street grime.
Until next week,
APN

Chi.Town Green Dragon & Cubs Geixa, Chicago, USA

Jay Pritzker Pavillion at the Millennium Park, Chicago, USA

Weekly update 003 - 2016-10-31 : Spring morning at Chicago's Millennium Park

October 31, 2016

This week I would like to share the sights from the Millennium Park in Chicago, captured on a crisp Spring morning in 2015. Located by Lake Michigan, just next to the Art Institute of Chicago, the Millenium Park is actually a roof-top garden, built to cover railway lines and automobile garage which were rather unpleasant to the eye on such a prime location. It is an ultra modern and interactive park with state of the art fountains, sculptures, theater and plenty of garden space to relax and enjoy in the heart of the Windy City.
One of it's most iconic attractions is the "Cloud Gate" sculpture by Anish Kapoor, also known as the Bean since it resembles a giant mercury jellybean, it is made out of a seamless series of highly polished stainless steel plates. Spending some time looking into it from different angles offers impressive views of the city's skyline, and when standing beneath it a feeling of being inside the house of mirrors at a carnival.
The Jay Pritzker Pavillion is a must see for all architecture fans. Designed by the mythical architect Frank Gehry, it follows in his use of fluid lines and panel, with a sense of weightlessness and organic shapes. "The Pavilion stands 120-feet high, with a billowing headdress of brushed stainless steel ribbons that frame the stage opening and connect to an overhead trellis of crisscrossing steel pipes".
I was also fortunate enough to be there when a large sculpture installation by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa titled "Jaume Plensa: 1004 Portraits". The entire installation is comprised of four large-scale portrait sculptures of young girls positioned in the Park, the tallest of the four sculptures, "Looking Into My Dreams, Awilda," is made of resin and rises 39 feet above the ground.

On other news, I have started the selection of the photos from Boston, which is the final city from the 2015 US trip. These should start being posted in a couple of weeks, just as I finish off the posting the Chicago photos.
With Chicago and New York done, I think this is the time to do a small update to the websites galleries. Since I also got a new piece of hardware that finally allows me to consolidate all the catalogs from the past 10 years of photography, I hope to do a big refresh to the whole website and include a lot of my concert photos as well as past trips.

Until next week,
APN

Quincy Station panorama, at Chicago's "L", Chicago, USA

weekly update 001 - 2016-10-17 : Chicago on my mind

October 17, 2016

First of my new weekly updates after a few months absence from the blog, and continuing with the Chicago set of photos from last years visit. Still have about 20 photos to process which I hope to get through over the next few weeks, so I can share them and also get to Boston. At the same time I also started doing the first editing pass at the images from this Summers trip through the Highlands of Scotland, next week I will include a sneak peek.

The "L" ride in Chicago was one of the highlights of the days we spent there. Although the weather was miserable it got me some very moody photos of the old stations. A day later and I was able to get beautiful blue skies with some streaky white clouds when visiting the parks by the lake.

Enter here for Chicago's "L", Chicago, USA

The Berghoff, on the streets of Chicago, Chicago, USA

Chicago skyline and the BP Pedestrian Bridge at Grant Park, Chicago, USA

#project365 year1 [day 013]

June 14, 2016

Common view in the Chicago city center, the raised tracks of the "Loop".

-- Gear
Fujifilm X-T1
Fujifilm XF18-135mmF3.5-5.6R LM OIS WR
-- Post
Lightroom : Initial tone and final crop.
Photoshop: Clean up and sharpening.
NikCollection Color Efex Pro 4: Toning and Detail extraction.

#project365 [day 56] Eastern Standard Time on Grand Central Terminal

October 26, 2015

Being one of the most visited tourist attractions worldwide, with over 21 million visitors in 2013, the Grand Central Terminal in midtown Manhattan is one of the most majestic buildings of the twentieth century. Being enclosed by buildings on all sides, to gain access to the main concourse, people need to travel through a myriad of corridors filled with interesting details of interior architecture. Here you can see a watchface showing Eastern Standard Time and one of the many beautiful chandeliers illuminating the corridors.

-- Gear
Fujifilm X-T1
Fujifilm XF18-135mmF3.5-5.6R LM OIS WR
-- Post
Lightroom : Initial tone, final crop and vignette
Photoshop: Minor clean up and sharpening.
NikCollection Color Efex Pro 4: Toning and Detail extraction

#project365 [day 48] USS Maine National Monument pt2

October 18, 2015

Back on day five of my #project365 I showed the detail of the figures that reside on the base of this monument. So I thought I should also show the beautiful statue the sits on top of the USS Maine National Monument on the corner of New Yorks Central Park by Columbus Circle.
Sculpted by Attilio Piccirilli in 1912 the three bronze gilded figures representing Columbia Triumphant, her seashell chariot being drawn by three hippocampi, make it almost 20 meters tall, and shine on a sunny day like this one. The monument is dedicated to the men killed aboard USS Maine when the ship exploded in Havana harbour. The bronze for this group reportedly came from metal recovered from the guns of the Maine.

-- Gear
Fujifilm X-T1
Fujifilm XF18-135mmF3.5-5.6R LM OIS WR
-- Post
Lightroom : Initial toning and final crop
Photoshop: Sharpening and clean up
NikCollection Color Efex Pro 4: Toning and Detail extraction

#project365 [day 47] The Little Chapel That Stood

October 17, 2015

The St. Paul's Chapel is the oldest surviving church building in Manhattan. It's an episcopal chapel located at 209 Broadway in Lower Manhattan. It was built on land granted by Queen Anne, designed by architect Thomas McBean and, upon its completion in 1766 it was the tallest building in New York.
It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1960, in part by being the oldest public building in continuous use in the city. It also survived the Great New York City Fire of 1776, when a quarter of the city was burned following the British capture after the Battle of Long Island.

-- Gear
Fujifilm X-T1
Fujifilm XF18-135mmF3.5-5.6R LM OIS WR
-- Post
Lightroom : Crop, tone and vignette
Photoshop: Sharpening and clean up
NikCollection Color Efex Pro 4: Toning and Detail extraction