View of the Back Bay area at night from across the Charles River, Memorial Drive near the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Boathouse in Cambridge.
The major landmarks in the Back Bay area are noted in the image (in my flickr site), including the "newer" John Hancock Tower & the "older" John Hancock building (visit the John Hancock Tower set for more images of this landmark Tower viewed from different parts of MetroBoston), The Prudential Tower, 500 Boylston Street, 111 Huntington Avenue, and more.
The small boats on the foreground were on the Cambridge side of the Charles River which is just slightly less than a mile wide at this vantage. The two-level river and dark band shown in the glassy river indicates the boundary where the frozen icy portion still was evident.
This was taken a week after the Noreaster on Valentines Day 2007 and a day just before mild snow dusting we had yesterday. In the other shots it should be possible to see the remains of the previous mild "snowstorm", at least for Boston.
It was supposed to be a mildly warm night (for Winter) at just below freezing but the breeze from Charles River could cause frostbite.
This was my first time to try night photography to explore the potential of my ultrawide Tokina 12-24mm. I still do not know what I am doing but I decided to plunge ahead using the Manual priority mode.
An Invitation
I am in the process of creating a collaborative and non-commercial webpage for the MetroBoston area. If you are interested to help and reside in MetroBoston, please get in touch.
The MetroBoston website shall focus initially with images captured mainly by people who are resident or impressions of those who have lived in the area, e.g., former students, residents, etc. and to a certain extent those of visitors. Eventually, it shall include photo-essays -- history, culture, people, etc. -- to capture the essence and spirit of MetroBoston
I have lived and visited many places in the US and some major cities in Canada and western Europe. The Metro Boston area remains one of my favorite places in the United States. Contrary to many misconceptions Boston and Massachusetts (MA) have some of the lowest sales and state income taxes (no county and city income taxes) and generous tax deductions. [Where in the US or anywhere in the world would you be given outright deduction of your monthly rent, for example, but in MA.] But, there are more reasons why I like Boston, so much.
MetroBoston is one of the oldest metro regions in the US and this is evident in its architecture and culture. However, it is also home to some of the greatest universities and colleges, as well as the best hospitals and biomedical research centers in the world.
As such, it is a very vibrant place and the city of youth -- with their dreams, and daring & adventure, and follies, and whatever you may think of the young. Like many university towns, there is always the desire of the more staid members of the community, the "townies" or those who are not associated with the aforementioned endeavors -- to tame the unbounded spirit of the young, at times for a reason as events during the recent years have indicated.
What many people in the community forget though is that the Metro Boston area would have ceased being one of the major vibrant cities in the world -- were it not because of its young population, well at least the usual 18-45 yo bracket.
N.B.
The image was uncropped. Except for "unsharp image" and the automated resizing and "screen image optimization" to reduce the diskspace usage, no further image manipulation was done.