April 2023

Similar to the color photos, there are also neat Black-and-White photos in the same Back Bay and Beacon Hill areas. I loved the #67 squat, wide doors. The second photo is a bit odd. On one multi-million $$ townhouse 1/2 up a hill in Beacon Hill, there were 6 heating oil spouts, one for each unit, I guess. The last one is of that increasingly rare sight, phone booths. It’s over just east of the Boston Public Garden in front of a random building. I loved the symmetry.

During Marathon weekend, spent time walking from Back Bay to Beacon Hill. The alleys in Boston are rich sources of urban forms and patterns, in my opinion. Lots of neat stuff back there. In Beacon Hill, the colored door and upscale house fonts are also nice. I loved the neat vine growing on this $7-9M townhouse. Ditto the wonderful yellow door. The last one is from an Alley. I have no idea where this goes. The red circle in the 3rd photo is the ubiquitous fire alarm on so many Boston buildings.

This year, my favorite photo venues have definitely been urban areas. I’d love to go in more run-down areas, but these days, safety is a real concern and I almost always photograph alone, so those two things don’t go together. An upper-middle-aged white guy driving a nice car in a run-down, urban neighborhood with a camera. That just a recipe for the small chance encounter that I don’t want to have. So I will wonder around nice, Northern NJ towns and take photos of what I see. The best stuff, as I’ve said elsewhere, is not the front of the