The New England Holocaust Memorial
Located in Carmen Park along (most appropriately) the Freedom Trail in Boston is the The New England Holocaust Memorial, which was inspired by survivors of the Holocaust who found new lives in Boston. The memorial consists of 6 glass towers one for each of the 6 extermination camps (Aushwitz-Birkenau, Treblinka, Belzec, Sobibor, Chelmno and Majdanek). Each tower is etched with a series of numbers representing the 6 million Jews that were killed during the holocaust. Each tower contains 2 panels of glass inscribed with a quote from survivors or American soldiers recounting memories from that horrible time. The stories are heart wrenching and emotional and walking through the memorial two things were prominent in my thoughts, we must never forget this terrible time in our history and all that was lost and the hope that never again should we, as a society stand still when atrocities such as this occur in the world.
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Blue Hour Pier
I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and a terrific Mother’s Day.
Back on the fan pier in Boston this is the view directly opposite the city skyline which I posted here.
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Sixty State Street
In the heart of the financial district and next to Faneuil Hall in Boston is Sixty State Street. The building is Boston’s 13th tallest building but I was fascinated by the abstract sculpture in front of the building.
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Sunset Pier
Before I left for Boston I reached out to Boston photographer Steven Perlmutter for some tips on the best place to shoot the city skyline at sunset. If you haven’t seen Steven’s work then I encourage you to stop by his site here. Steven gave some great advice and told me to head to the pier behind the Moakley Courthouse for some great views of the city. It was a beautiful day but the sunset that evening was just ok. unfortunately the light of the skyline was nothing to write home about but when I turned around the light over the harbour was quite pretty.
This was a long exposure as I wanted to get the movement in the sailboats out on the water.
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Keep Running Boston!
It’s hard to believe it’s been 2 weeks since the Boston Marathon bombing. I’m sure that I’m not the only one who was shocked and shaken to the core by the senselessness of this act. It’s unfortunate that acts such as this is becoming all too common place in the world we live in. I have 2 teenage boys who, in their lifetime, have been exposed to the horrors of 9/11; the 2005 attacks in London, the 2012 bus bombing in Bulgaria that killed Israeli tourists, the Colorado theatre shooting and the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Should I go on? I don’t remember being exposed to these types of acts when I was growing up. Sure there were wars fought overseas, far from “home.” Whether we believed in these wars or not the reality was that it didn’t affect our day-to-day.
While I was in Boston last week news broke that the RCMP, working with the FBI, arrested 2 men with ties to Al-Qaeda. These men are suspected of plotting to derail a Via Rail Train on the Toronto to New York route. When will this craziness end?
I spend the day walking around Boston and made my way to Boylston Street where a memorial for the victims of the marathon had been growing steadily over the week. As I was walking the streets last Sunday, on what was a glorious sunny day, people were enjoying the beautiful weather, playing in the park, sipping coffee at sidewalk cafes. This is how it should be…we live our lives and enjoy our freedoms because terror cannot win.
Stars & Stripes
I flew to Boston last Sunday for a conference and was lucky to have the day to myself to walk around and explore this beautiful city. It’s been years since I’ve been there and given what was going on last week, when they locked down the city I wasn’t sure if my trip would be cancelled or not. It was a moving time to be in the city and I’ll be sharing my images and impressions over the next little while.
As I was walking along Atlantic Ave I came upon this archway which is between the InterContinental and the Boston Harbor Hotel. With the sun shining and the flag blowing in the wind it was a perfect way to start the day.
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Do you remember Uggie from my Life in the City post earlier this week? A few people asked if I got a closer shot of his face and I did. You can see it on my Facebook page here. From time to time I will post and share thing on the Edith Levy Photography Facebook Page that you won’t see on the blog. If you haven’t done so already please consider “liking” my FB page.
Have a great weekend everyone.
Along the Mississippi
I’ve always wanted to aimlessly drift along the Mississippi river on a steam boat with a large paddle wheel on the back like in the musical Show Boat. (there’s my love for musical theatre shining through again 
) Arriving back in New Orleans from a week at sea I ran up on deck to capture on last shot if this mighty river at sunrise.
Have a wonderful weekend everyone.
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Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee
Here’s one more from Falmouth, Jamaica. Oh and their coffee was quite good. If you look behind the palm tree you can see the ship…larger then any of the buildings in port (or the city for that matter).
Have a great weekend everyone.
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Patty Port
A couple of exciting things happened yesterday that I wanted to share with you. Imagine my surprise when I received WordPress’ Daily Post email, Phoneography Favorites, and last weeks, iPhone Friday – A Visit To Western post was among those that were featured. Thank you WordPress.
I wrote an article for the April issue of Denise Ippolito’s Creative Photography eMiniMagazine which was released yesterday. You can check out “Early to Bend (not really) Early to Rise (yes really) in NOLA here.
Now on to today’s image. This is another one that I took while meandering around the port area in Falmouth, Jamaica.
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Johnny Rockets…at Sea
You can’t possibly go hungry when you’re on a cruise. Restaurants and room service are available 24/7. One of the fun things about the ship we were on, The Navigator of the Seas, is that it had a Johnny Rockets, complete with singing wait staff and very yummy burgers & fries.
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Follow The Light
This is just outside Cafe du Monde in New Orleans. I was finishing off my sunrise shoot and going in to grab a cup of coffee and beignet when I realized this was a perfect spot to take one last shot. After I took this, I zoomed in to get a tighter shot and just before I could fire the shutter the lights automatically turned off. The lights made all the difference.
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A Street Car Named….
….ok it’s not desire but it’s the riverfront street along the river walk in New Orleans.
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French Quarter Vespa
I just loved everything about this little scene… the green shutters, the moulding around the windows, the Vespa with the stuffing coming out of the seat. It was just yelling at me to take a picture
On a side note have you heard about HDR Tennis on Facebook? HDR Tennis is a friendly game where the administrators of the page (all photographers) work on the same set of brackets that is provided by one of the admins. The different versions are then posted and then the public gets to vote on their favourite version. The brackets are also shared with the public who can download them, process the image using their own HDR tools and putting their particular spin on the final image. The image is then shared and voted on. Game 31 has just been posted and yours truly supplied the brackets this time around. The Admins provided some fantastic and inspirational final images. Check it out and have fun.
I usually share HDR Tennis announcements and images that I don’t post on my site to my Edith Levy Photography Facebook page. If you haven’t yet come on over and “Like” my page.
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Jazz It Up In NOLA Travel Poster
I was going through my New Orleans images, looking for one that really embodies NOLA, in order to create a unique travel poster. A jazz club, Bourbon Street, French Quarter Architecture…what more could I have asked for.
You can have a look here at some of the other posters I’ve created.
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Weekly Photo Challenge – Lost in the Details
I was going through some of my Italy images and realized that there are still a few that I’d never posted. Strolling through the streets of Florence not far from the Pitti Palace I came across a row of parked Vespas. What drew me to this scene were the subtle details…the way the Vespas were all lined up, they way they’re all pointing in the same direction, the shadows that the over head trees cast on the wall. They all work together so well.
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iPhone Friday – The English Pub
Back on board the Navigator of the Seas for today’s iPhone Friday. Right along the Royal Promenade on deck 5 is the Two Poets Pub, an old English style pub that serves imported beers & ale.
All images taken with my iPhone 4S and processed with Snapseed, PhotoToaster and/or Glaze.
NOLA
I’m Back! Happy New Year. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and hopefully some time off. I must say that it was wonderful to be away. Every so often I get the travel itch…okay I always have the travel itch…so of course we planned a family vacation in order to reconnect with the kids and have some R&R. A vacation for me is not complete without some photography involved and there was a lot of that so all in all a success.
We spent a few days in New Orleans (a city which I’ve wanted to visit for some time) and it did not disappoint. The people are wonderful and although I didn’t get to explore as much as I wanted to due to lack of time the French Quarter was all I had heard it to be. After a couple of days in NOLA we boarded the Navigator of the Seas and set sail for the Caribbean. I opted not to purchase the WiFi package and totally disconnect for 7 days. Well once I got over my withdrawal symptoms I must say it was rejuvenating. If you haven’t completely disconnected from your email, internet, blog, text messages then you really must try it some day. Hey…I survived and not only did I survive I actually enjoyed not having the “pressure” to answer that text or email or tweet.
Actually I was so relaxed that I didn’t do anything (blog/photography business related) that I had planned to do. I was going to write some articles; do some pre-work on a few projects that I’m planning but I was having so much fun relaxing that I didn’t do it. I guess we all need to really take time off sometimes and recharge our batteries and that’s exactly what I did.
Now that I’m back I need to start processing all my images but here’s one from to start off the new year. The best time to photography the French Quarter is at sunrise. The streets are quiet with the exception of a few street artists staking their little piece of real estate in Jackson Square. I was walking down St Peters Street when I came across this little side street just steps from Jackson Square.
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A Year in Review – 12 From 2012
Welcome back. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. Well it’s that time of the year again. Time for me to sit down and have a look at the images that I’ve taken and posted this last year and try to narrow down my favourites from the year. This is a very tough exercise indeed. I tend to be very critical of my own work but the following images that I’ve selected really speak to me either because of the place itself or from a technical stand point, I tried a new technique that I’ve never done before.
So before we get to the images I just wanted to say a big THANK YOU! Whether this is your first visit or you follow this blog I’m extremely grateful of your continued support and visits. I know that there is a lot of content on the internet, many wonderful sites and blogs and you taking the time and interest of visiting my little space on this world-wide web is very much appreciated. I hope to also post a recap of my iPhone images by the end of the week and then I will be taking some time off until the beginning of the new year for a much needed vacation. If I find myself with internet access I will try to provide a few updates here and there.
You can click on the images to see the original post. So without further ado…My 12 of 2012….
Portland Wharf
Brrr…it was a cold weekend in Toronto. We didn’t get any snow in the city but winter was definitely in the air.
I had a client who contacted me over the weekend who was interested in a couple of my images but wanted to know if I could convert them to B&W. I was more than happy to oblige and have added them to the gallery which you can see here.
I also spent some time over the weekend trying to catch up on processing my images. I’m a little backlogged but I’m getting there. This image was taken this summer in Portland. This is one of the wharf’s where the lobster fishermen come in to deliver their catch.
This image was processed in Photoshop and converted to B&W using Topaz Black & White Effects. If you haven’t tried Topaz B&W Effects you can find it here. Remember you can 15% on all Topaz products when you use the code “ELPhoto”
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Puddled Reflections
Here’s another image from Little Cove in Bruce Peninsula National Park. The ripples you see in the dolomite bedrock are called conchoidal fractures. Conchoidal fractures are a curved breakage on the surface of the bedrock which occurs over time from the crashing of the waves. The resulting effects are ripples in the rock that create pockets of water.
Tobermory – Black & White or Colour?
I took this image last month while attending Ethan Meleg’s workshop in Tobermory. This is a single exposure shot with my 10 Stop ND filter. I processed it initially in colour (which I was pleased with) but thought it might work well in B&W. Now I can’t decide which one I like better. Or really the question should be “which one works better?”
Would love to hear your opinion.
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Weekly Photo Challenge – Silhouette
I took this a couple of years ago while in Israel.While doing a jeep tour in the desert around Eilat we stopped at sunset to build a fire in order to brew some tea and make some pita bread. This fella showed up, probably hoping we’d leave something behind. We had a bit of a stare down before he scampered off the other side of this ridge.
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A Montreal Landmark – Welcome to Schwartz’s
There are so many things to do and see in Montreal. Having grown up in this city I can appreciate its people; it’s neighbourhoods (some trendy, some not); its European flair and fashion forwardness. It’s a city rich in history and at times in political turmoil. I love it. It’s home, even if I haven’t lived there for years. So what does an ex-Montrealer do when they go back to their old hunting grounds? Go to Schwartz’s, of course, for the best smoked meat sandwich one will ever eat with fries, a dill pickle and a cherry coke to round off this gastronomical feast.
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