Shadows, Silhouettes & Reflections


Shadows . . .

1. This is the picture that inspired this art gallery. So, it is right it gets a first look. I took it when I was waiting for Felista at an art gallery and decided to take a seat and look things over. Just across from where I was sitting this chair insisted I take a picture of it. So I accommodated it for no particular reason. Course, when you are doing art, the last thing you want to do it to think, right? So I didn't. I just did. When I got home I discovered the shadow is the picture.

2. My one year old grandson, Adrien Jean, shadowing Auguste Rodin's, The Thinker, and experiencing high level culture. What a great way to begin a life. Baltimore Art Museum. Baltimore, MD.


3. On this day I happened to be out and about with my camera. Not surprising, and what do you know, this limousine pulled up and out jumped a wedding party who went off to take pictures of themselves and while they were having pictures of each other I was having a picture of myself taking a picture of the shadow of this bike on their limo.

3a. In the Shadow of a Crocus it looks like a tulip shadow, doesn't it? But there are no tulips in sight.

3b.

4. Olympic Rings, Olympic Village, Lake Placid, NY. Standing here I can only think of the incredible athletes that stood on this very spot, and were presented their Gold, Silver or Bronze medals.


5. I was in my office and decided, warm day and all, to saunter downtown and grab a latte. I sat down outside the cafe and began sipping that delectable delight and there in front of me was this bike in the pavement. Amazing how these things happen.

6. Shadow on cello.

7. One night out walking with Felista and enjoying the crisp night air. I saw what I saw on the wall and knew the only way to get what I was seeing was to lie down on my belly if I was going to get what was there. And so I did. This guard rail is on the front side of Prospect Hill Monument in Somerville.

8. I was sitting on a bench at a train station in Somerville when this pigeon, shadow and all, set down in front of me. As I always say, I have my camera always ready, just in case, and a click and there it is.



9. Just an old fire escape on the side of a red brick building, and it is hard to tell which is the fire escape and which is the shadow of the fire escape.

1o. Seriously, is this not a great shadow? What a fantastic time of day for a picture. I was driving along and came around this corner and the sun hit me right between the eyes. Luckily, when I uncovered them I noticed the gold, the shape of the this great elm, its trunk, the lines in the street. I jumped out of the car, fixed up the camera settings, and wow. Still, it was the time of the day that made this picture happen. I might have been there ten minutes later and this scene would not have happened. A bit of serendipitousness there.

 11. Shadows in the snow.

12. One day, one year, late in July, Felista and I were having a stroll in the pines in Saranac Lake, NY. We came around a bend in the path and this is what we found. So glad I had my camera with me that day. Wait, I always have my camera with me.

12a Westfield, MA

13. One late afternoon Felista and I were visiting her dad's grave in Harriotsville, NY, and just before leaving she raised up her hands in reverence of the day.

13a. Summer walk in Somerville

14. Granddaughter Addison on a shadowing March day, 2013.



15. Grandson Adrien. Christmas 2016

16. Open Air Circus. Somerville. Love the reflection of this performer's shadow next to her on the ground.



17. Another shadow, make that two, three with me taking the picture, at Open Air Circus one sweet summer afternoon in Somerville.

18. I stepped out of my front doorway on a fine summer day and down the steps and I looked up and don't you know there was this tree in the middle of the street. Hey, does that counts as an alliteration?


19. There is something about this picture I really like. Don't know what it is but I do. It looks like someone was out on a cold and frost North Country day in Vermont, paint brush in hand, laying a shadow under this tree.

20. Gathering under the lights before the start of snow shoe races at Dewey Mountain during Winter Carnival, 2017, Saranac Lake, NY.

21. Fast moving start of snow shoe race at Dewey Mountain during Winter Carnival, 2017, Saranac Lake, NY.

22. Still in the Adirondack Mountains checking out the loon shadow in the snow.




23. I happened to be out one bright crisp early morning to see nature dancing in all manner of very nice contrasts with sunlight streaking through trees, tossing shadows into the snow on the ground and against the white wall. Prospect Hill Monument, Somerville, MA

24. A short jaunt and a different angle.

25. And here am I in the long distance taking advantage of those morning shapes, my shadow on the ground taking the picture above.

26. Out front at the Baltimore Art Museum

27. Rodin's, The Thinker. Baltimore Art Museum


28. Ah yes, as I was walking with Felista on Rue Albrecht in Paris, I happened to look down to see myself on the pavement in front of me. The street lamp I was passing by and under provided perfect light, the perfect etching. Or is that just the magic of Paris? I like everything about the picture so much I made it ito a card I give out when anyone asks me for one. Earlier in the day I had bought the hat I am wearing in on Blvd. Montparnesse. Nice tilt, eh?


29. When I moved into position to take a picture of this shadow of the tree on his wall my own shadow moved into place so I grabbed the whole thing.

30. Amazing what you find walking down a street. This is Dedham, MA. Not that the place matters, could be anywhere in the world, but the sun had to be in the right place.

31. Contemplating what I will find as I get ready to go into the St. Denis Cathedral in Paris. And what I found, wow, inside that thousand year old church.



Then there are 

Silhouettes


Scribner-Bantam dictionary defines silhouettes as:
"Dark shape outlined against a light background"
 From the French: Étienne de Silhouette


1. Coming into Boston on a cruise around the harbor one bristling and vibrant afternoon and we set upon the city skyline.

1a. Driving along the highway in Maine, on a soon to be storming afternoon.

 1b.

2. One fine 4th of July evening at the Esplanade in Boston, getting ready to watch the fireworks being sent up and out into the night sky with the Boston Pops playing Peter Tachaikovsky's 1812 Overture, while military guys fired off canon's during the crescendo. The people in the picture are standing on a barge on the Charles River, and well placed for a good look at the festivities.

Marblehead, MA

3. Looks like others had the same picture taking idea. Actually, I intended to be home from an appointment long before I had been and because I hadn't been where I wanted to be when I wanted to, when driving across the Mystic River bridge in Somerville, I arrived just in time to see this scene happening in the sky, and so on the other sides of the bridge I made a right turn onto the road running along the river, Shore Drive, jumped out of my care and jointed others already there. What a find.

4. Lower Saranac Lake, NY, for a nice cruise in canoe. Felista is in the middle with the dog, Max just behind her. Her sister Beth is in the back of the canoe, with her niece, Tabitha, in front.

5. Next to Pollard Field in Billerica, MA. During a baseball game I watched this sky and the game develop at the same time.

6. Union Sq, Somerville,MA

7. Raven at Pere Lachaise cemetery. More beautifully said in French: Cimetière du Père-Lachaiseor "Le corbeau du Pere Lachaise", which would be more like "The raven of the Pere Lachaise" Thank you to my daughter-in-law, French born, lucky her, Stephanie, for your translation.




8. Rooster in my sister Betty's yard, keeping an eye out. Dedham, MA




9. The color of the sky at times in a wonder. This is one of those times. You never know what you are going to get, do you? Medford, MA.
 

10. Same place, same time, just a different turn of the camera.

11.

12. Butterfly at dusk. Somerville, MA. I walked right into the yard of this person's house and took my leisure at making this picture. Actually, this was an after thought. There were some great flowers in this yard, and then there was this great butterfly on the walking path leading to the front door.

13. State Street, Boston

14. Olympic Village, Lake Placid, NY

15. In flight over Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island

16/17. I happened to be in Kendall Square, Cambridge, MA, when I came across this wonderful set of sculptings by Pablo Eduardo. I liked it so much I took a bunch of pictures and here are the four that were on display.


18.


19.


20. Getting toward the end part of the day, purple part of the same some call it. Or Twilight Time. This picture was taken in Canton, MA, not that it matters where. It could have been taken anywhere in the world where there are trees of this nature, couldn't it?


21. This could be a reflection just as easily as a silhouette. It settled in nicely here, so I left it. It is curious how reflections, in this case a silhouette, show up in the most unusual places. I happened to look out my kitchen window one morning and right down there in front of me on the roof of a parked car was this picture of scraggly, squiggly branches leaping toward us waiting to be taken.

22. Joshua Tree National Park, CA

23. Last burst of the sun before leaving for the day. Black and gold, or pretty nearly black and gold, is a pretty nice combination, wouldn't you say? Prospect Hill Monument, Somerville, MA

24. This sprawling tree, leaning in toward Prospect Hill Monument, in Somerville, MA, highlights sunset on a winter afternoon.

25. Copp's Hill Cemetery, Boston, MA. Does this have a Gothic look and feel or what? We were visiting this old cemetery, doing research for the book on the Freedom Trail I am writing. It is the second oldest cemetery in Boston, founded in 1659. When we were leaving at this perfect time of the day, I was able to capture this beauty. Not something I planned. A lucky moment.


26. Sometimes the right thing just happens to happen at the right time.


27. Raven at Rockport, MA


28. Honoring Veterans at Milk Row Cemetery, Somerville, MA

29. The Eye





. . . and Reflections

1. Woods Hole, MA




2.







This is the bridge in the distance and the below the bridge, on the Saranac River, Saranac Lake, NY. Over here on the left the barn with its fence and its winter roof, the birch trees streaming into air. I particularly like the shadows of those birches in the water below.




29. The Eye








2.

3. Tree on the Water. Who would have thought it? My daughter-in-law, Stephanie, gave this picture its name.


4. And here we have a tree reflected in a car window, of all things.


5. I was driving in Rhode Island on my way to working an event and happened to look to my right and caught this ray of sunshine.


6. Felista took this stunner in Saranac Lake, NY. The sun is a star. Well, that's right, it is a star, after all. We were riding in a canoe. I didn't see this beauty of a scene until I saw it on my computer.

6a.

6b.


6d.


7. Rouses Point bridge, NY. Coming around a bend and just entering the bridge. What a lucky picture this was. How many seconds later and this would not have been the picture it is?



8. We were waiting for a ferry to cross from Shelbourne, Vermont into New York. Way upstate New York, about to enter into the Adirondack Mountains, in Adirondack Park, which is bigger than the state of Massachusetts. As quiet a time of the day as could be. A few people around waiting along with us. No one was speaking, everyone was gazing.


9. Early one morning on the way back from working an event on Cape Cod. Driving in Cambridge. To take this picture I had to go the wrong way on a one way street. Right time of the day, few cars around to interfere with. If a cop had stopped me I would asked him, "What would you have done to get this picture?" This was taken across the Charles River and that dome is part Boston's Museum of Science.


10. MacKenzie Mountain, Saranac Lake, NY. Nice reflection. We were on an island with this reflection reaching out to us.


11. Lake Flower, Saranac Lake, NY. Sitting next to the lake, reading a book, enjoying a coffee and the words in the book, and this happened just as I was getting ready to close up my book, finish my coffee and leave.

12. Driving across the Oakland Bay Bridge. Luckily there is a place set aside for people to take such pictures as this. There were many people lined up with their cameras. This took me by surprise.


13. Boston skyline. Driving on Memorial Drive in Cambridge. I had hoped something like this would happen. That is the Prudential building the center with the Hancock building off to the left. All this across the Charles River. And those boats. Wow. Perfectly placed. Do you suppose someone put them there knowing I was coming along with my camera?

14. Standing on the sidewalk along Memorial Drive in Cambridge. The full moon to the left of the Hancock Building reflecting onto the Charles River.

15. Sun reflecting off the moon.

16. Memorial Drive, in Cambridge again. I was wandering along, seeing what there was to see and this happened right before my eyes. I had to hang over the side of this bridge to get the shot I thought I could get and did.

17. Headlights on the pavement. Union Square on a raining afternoon, Somerville, MA

18. What do you know, on Memorial Drive again. This is the night the Red Sox won the World Series. There was one other guy taking pictures when I pulled up into the parking space. Guess everyone else was home watching the game.

19. Milk Row Cemetery, Somerville, MA. The late sunlight reflecting off the windows in the adjacent building. 

20. Street lamp reflecting through bare tree

21. Near Lake Placid, NY. Can't get any calmer than this. What a lucky day for me to be there at that moment.

22. Great Elm at Milk Row cemetery, Somerville, MA, reflecting the late day sunlight.

23. As many times as I have looked at this church, this is the only time I have ever seen the sun reflect this color this way. It is St. Joseph's church in Somerville, MA. I have looked for this kind of happening again and again, but it has never been the same. Curious how these things work.

24. One great Autumn day in Dedham, MA. This was taken from he Ames Street bridge. As you can see, the colors are bristling on the Charles River.

25. Way up in the North Country. Silos next to a river, probably on the Lamoille river, on a sparkling Vermont day.

26. A bit of a mountain reflecting on the distant left over Colby Lake, Saranac Lake, NY. I love the rounded feel of this lake. People usually hang out here or go out in a canoe to try to get a picture of a loon. Or to fish.

27. The moon was just coming up as we pulled up on this beach in Marshfield, MA. A bright dot in the distance below.






See ya



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