Main staircase of the McKim Building, Boston Public Library, Boston, USA

weekly update 010 - 2016-12-19 - A farewell to Boston

December 19, 2016

This week marks the end of my showcase of last year's trip to the USA, namely to the cities of New York, Chicago and of course Boston. And to finish things off on a high, nothing better than sharing the inside of the McKim Building of the Boston Public Library. Founded in 1848, it contains 23 million items that range from books to DVDs, maps to microfilm and music scores. It's main two buildings are the Johnson building, opened in 1972, and the gorgeous McKim building which opened in 1895 pictured here.

And I'll leave you with a different version of the same picture I showcased when I was there, the George Washington statue at the Public Garden on a cloudy afternoon. Passing through these gardens became my favourite part of the day during our short stay in town. Hope to come back for a visit soon.

Since I'm flying back to Portugal for the Holidays, expect some nice shots from the westernmost country in Europe, which I called home for most of my life. Until then, enjoy the season with your loved ones, and indulge on your favourite treats.
See y'all next week.
APN

George Washington Statue at the Public Garden, Boston, USA

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

#project365 [day 92] Jupiter, Venus and their Sphinxes

December 1, 2015

From the great collection of the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art I picked out these two beautiful sculptures by French "Romantic" artist Antoine-Augustin Préault. They depict Jupiter on the left and Venus on the right siting on top of two unusual looking sphinxes. Completed in 1868, they are plaster working models for monumental stone sculptures completed in 1870 and still sit in the garden of the palace at Fontainebleau. Like Venus, the companion sculpture, Jupiter has no precedent in antique iconography and is apparently the original product of Préault's deeply Romantic imagination. You can find more of his work at the Musee du Louvre and the beautiful Musee d'Orsay, and also at the iconic Pere Lachaise Cemetery.

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

#project365 [day 60] William Cullen Bryant Memorial

October 30, 2015

On the back of NYPL's Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, you can find Bryant Park, a tiny 39,000 square meter public park with a wonderful lawn in the middle of all of midtown Manhattan's skyscrapers. Previously known as Reservoir Park, in 1884 it was renamed Bryant Park to honour the New York Evening Post editor and abolitionist William Cullen Bryant. In 1899 the construction of the New York Public Library building began, and when it finished in 1911 the memorial was also created. On it's center you can find the bronze statue of Bryant created by Herbert Adams. The history of the park has been marked by a great period of deterioration, and by the 1970s it had been taken over by drug dealers, prostitutes and the homeless. In 1980 the Bryant Park Restoration Corporation was created with the purpose of restoring the parks former glory, which had been achieved by the 1990s after major rebuilding projects.

-- Gear
Fujifilm X-PRO1
Samyang 8mm f2.8 Fisheye
-- Post
Lightroom : Initial toning and final crop
Photoshop: Sharpening, colour blending and clean up
NikCollection Color Efex Pro 4: Toning and Detail extraction

#project365 [day 57] Church of Letters

October 27, 2015

Located in the Chinatown neighbourhood of Manhattan, New York City, the Church of the Transfiguration is a Roman Catholic church built in 1801 in the Georgian style. It was designated a landmark in 1966. On one of the corners of the building you can find a very unusual statue, it is a memorial to Father Varela, a Cuban priest who became a defender of immigrant rights when he moved to New York.
The Memorial consists of a statue of Father Varela surrounded by a mandorla of anodised aluminium letters that together spell out The Lord’s Prayer. The base of the sculpture is fashioned from black granite from the lot used to build the September, 11th Memorial.The mandorla was conceived and designed by Father Andrew O’Connor of St. Mary’s Catholic Church, architect Hans Roegle and Chris Knight, a Manchester, England based sculptor.

-- 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 52] Rockefeller Center Atlas

October 22, 2015

The largest sculpture in the Art Deco haven that is the Rockefeller Center in midtown Manhattan, NYC, depicts the Ancient Greek Titan Atlas. Weighing in at 7 tonnes, this bronze statue is 14m tall, that's about as high as a four-story building. It was created by sculptor Lee Lawrie and was installed in 1937 to some strange controversy, it apparently resembled the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini who as in power at the time. The statue is located on the Fifth Avenue, just in front of St. Patrick's Cathedral. It's gothic facade is clearly visible on the reflections in the glass, although somewhat more deconstructed that what it is in reality.
I decided to crop this down to a 6 by 7 format, not only because it reminds me of my trusted old Mamiya RB67, but it also makes for a more formal view giving more weight to the statue in the frame

-- 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