WaterFire in Providence

Recently, my wife and I spent a couple of nights in Providence, Rhode Island, and we were able to see their famous WaterFire program conducted on average about every other weekend from May 26 to October 6. It is an awesome spectacle as nearly 80 mini-bonfires are lit on the city’s three rivers, to the accompaniment of beautiful music, dancing, and crowds of enthusiastic spectators.

Food and drink are readily available for purchase, and crowds are enthusiastic and also well-mannered. The program points out that “WaterFire was created by Barnaby Evans in 1994 as an art installation to revitalize the urban landscape of Providence and has now become one of Rhode Islands most popular tourist attractions.”

They often have dance lessons, concerts, mimes, and other sorts of entertainment. It was really a great time, and I got some really interesting photos, some of which I will post here, and others will be posted on my various photography websites.

Should you wish to visit WaterFire yourself, there are still four more performance: August 18, September 15, September 29, and October 6. Waterfire.org is the website. It’s a terrific evening—and the WaterFire itself and many other activities associated with it are FREE!

Should you wish to view more of my WaterFire photos, please visit my facebook photography site at

http://www.facebook.com/mitchell.r.grosky.photography

© Mitchell R. Grosky and Mitchell R. Grosky Photography Blog 2008-2012. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material including all photographs without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

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Visit to The Big Apple

The Empire State Building from the Top of the Rock

This past December, my wife, son, and I visited New York City for a wonderful mini-vacation of three days and two nights.  Although I was born in New York and have gone back for many a wedding, Bar Mitzvah, and funeral over these past many years, this was the first time I had gone back as a tourist.  We visited Times Square, Rockefeller Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Fine Arts, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Bronx Zoo.  Not bad for just three days!  Late one night on the Brooklyn Bridge–near midnight, as I recall–I crossed paths with a friendly young jogger on  the Brooklyn Bridge.   When I mentioned being a native New Yorker who was visiting after a long absence, his quick but warm reply was, “What took you so long?”

Nikon D90, iso 400, 52mm focal length, 1/2 sec., f4.2, matrix metering, 1/3 stop underexposed

© Mitchell R. Grosky and Mitchell R. Grosky Photography Blog 2008-2012. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material including all photographs without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

 

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Return to My Photography Blog: The Quabbin

 

The Quabbin Reservoir--New Salem Overlook

Once (and for about 200 years) there were four lovely, small towns in North-Central Massachusetts.  There nearly 3000 people lived, farmed, built small industries, attended school, worshiped in church, celebrated births and graduations and grieved over losing loved ones.  In Dana, Greenwich, Prescott, and Enfield, families built their homes and lives together.

All of this came to an end in April, 1938 when the four towns were sacrificed–dismantled, torn apart, and flooded–in order to create the Quabbin Reservoir.  This huge reservoir provides drinking water to the city of Boston and 40 other cities and towns in the Greater Boston region (among them are Arlington, Belmont,  Brookline, Chelsea, Clinton, Everett, Framingham, Lexington, Malden, Medford, Melrose, Milton, Newton, Norwood, Quincy, Reading, Revere, Somerville, Stoneham, Waltham, Watertown, and Winthrop.  It also provides water for Chicopee, Lynnfield Water District, Marblehead, Nahant, Saugus, Southborough, South Hadley, Weston, and Wilbraham).

It contains 412 billion gallons of water in an area of 38.6 square miles, but its watershed area is a full 185.9 square miles.  It is 18 miles long, and its shoreline is 118 miles, in total.    Its average depth is 51 feet, but it is 150 feet deep at its maximum depth.

In the past month, I have spent more time in the Quabbin—in parts of the Massachusetts towns of New Salem, Ware, and Belchertown–than in the previous 37 years I have lived here in Central Massachusetts.  It is a lovely area–ideal for hiking, fishing, and other recreational activities.  Yet, as I learn more about its origins,  I realize that every time I visit, just as I am enchanted by its beauty, so too am I saddened–often beyond words–by the awesome and awful sacrifice that four towns made so that Boston and 40 other communities could have pure drinking water.

Nikon D90, focal length of 32 mm, f 7.1, ISO 250, cloudy WB

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Boston Skyline from the Charles

Boston Skyline on the Charles from Cambridge, MA

In December, my wife and I spent spent a lovely night in Boston, staying at the Hyatt in Cambridge, right on the Charles River.  The major reason we chose the Hyatt was that I knew that it had this gorgeous view of the Boston Skyline.  I shot it hundreds of times from late afternoon until late at night.  This shot is one of my favorites.

Camera Data:  Nikon D90, ISO 400, f16

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Athol, Massachusetts Uptown Common

Uptown Common in Athol, Massachusetts

This photo was taken about an hour after sunset at the Uptown Common of Athol a small town in the North Central part of Massachusetts, about one hour north of Worcester and 90 minutes east of Boston.  Featured is the Athol Woman’s Club Memory Tree, a special way for townspeople to honor and remember their loved ones.  Behind the Memory Tree is the Athol Congregational Church. 

My best wishes to all WordPress readers and contributers for a wonderful, warm holiday season surrounded by loving family and friends!

Nikon D90, ISO 2500, f 3.5, 1/15 sec, 18mm/27mm, matrix metering, incandescent white balance

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Orange, Mass. Peace Statue

 

This, the season of light for so many cultures–and the season in which we all pray for Peace on Earth, seems to be just the right time to post this photo of Orange’s Peace Statue.  This is actually the official peace statue of Massachusetts, designated as such by the legislature in 1998.  It is the focal point of Memorial Park in Orange.  The 12-foot bronze statue was created by Joseph Pollia in 1934 as a memorial to veterans of World War I. 

According to Allen Young’s book,  North of Quabbin, Revisited, “The Statue depicts a doughboy just returned from the war-torn fields of France.  He is seated on a stump with weariness emanating from every line of his body.”  Beside him “stands a typical American schoolboy of perhaps 10 years, who is partially embraced by the soldier’s left arm.  He appears to be listening intently to the soldier’s words with fist clenched.”   We can only imagine what the soldier is saying to the boy—what anguish he feels.

A plaque on the base bears these words:  “It Shall Not Be Again.” 

Thirteen stars honor Orange veterans who died in the war.

To all of those who read these words, let me wish you–first of all–a wonderfully warm and peaceful holiday!  Secondly, let us all join together–even as we support our country’s soldiers in war–let us all pray for a time, in the not-too-distant-future, when all men of every race, color, religion, and nationality can join hands in a time of true peace and good will.  Happy Holidays to you all and to your families and loved ones!   —-Mitch

Camera Data:  Nikon D90 –two photos combined in Photoshop Elements 6.0.  Both had a focal length of 18mm/27mm (35 equiv.)  Both were underexposed by 1/3 of a stop.  On one I spot-metered the statue (f3.5 for 1/3 sec)  and on the other I used center-weighted metering f 4,0 for 1/60 sec).

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Sunset in Venice

Santa Maria Della Salute in Venice

This is a view of the Santa Maria della Salute Church in Venice.  It is a great example of Venetian Byzantine Architecture.  According to Wikipedia, “Starting in the Summer of 1629, a wave of the plague assaulted Venice, and over the next two years killed nearly a third of the population.”   By October of 1630, almost 50,000 citizens had been killed by plague, and the Venetian Senate made a plea to God—that if  God would end the plague, they would build a Basilica in honor of the Virgin Mary.  The plague did end soon afterwards, and the church was built  at the intersecton of the Grand Canal and St. Mark’s Basin.

Settings:  Nikon D90, ISO 640, Nikon 18-200 VR, 105 mm, f4.0, 1/50 sec (handheld), -1.00 exposure) 

 Note:  I love the lack of noise in low light images with both by D90 and (to an even greater extent) by my D700.

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Keystone Bridge in Central Massachusetts

Keystone Bridge in New Salem, Massachusetts

This is the Keystone Bridge in New Salem, a small town in the North Quabbin Region of Central Massachusetts.   Our camera club, the North Quabbin Viewfinders (in Athol, MA) went here as part of one of our bi-monthly field trips.

I shot the bridge with my Nikon D700, ISO 200, f 22, 85 mm, with a shutter speed of three seconds to blur the water.  I then processed it in Dynamic Photo HDR.

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Nantucket’s Brant Point Lighthouse

The Gulls invaded the Brant Point well after day broke, and I was still there to catch the view.  Even clouds could not spoil the view.  Nantucket has so much to offer.  If you’ve never been there, I strongly recommend a mini-vacation, or a longer one, if you have the time and capital. 

Nikon D80,  40mm,  f 10.0,  1/640, ISO 400, WB cloudy

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Nantucket Lighthouse

Brant Point Lighthouse

Looking back, I realized that it was just two years ago that my wife and I took a  mini-vacation at Nantucket Island, off the coast of Massachusetts.  It was a wonderfully romantic three days, filled with  sightseeing, shopping, and photography (also some real relaxation).  This is the Brant Point Lighthouse, the second oldest lighthouse in America (1746).  It is also the lowest lighthouse in New England, only 26 feet above sea level.  This shot was taken at 6:26 p.m., and it was pretty chilly out there for mid-April.  I shot this lighthouse for more than two hours as the light kept changing.

Nikon D80, 40mm, f4.5, 1/80, -1/3

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