New empty today

Orange line, Chinatown Station

The Chinatown phone booth cover up

A mysterious veil of color...

Who done it?

Winter air (potw returns)

Temperatures drop

Like sharp tips from icicles

Clinging to summer

Thistle

I took this photograph tonight at Pics in the Parks, a six-week workshop I am leading for Boston Parks and Recreation.

I have been a busy bee this summer. The blog pause is not for lack of content, I have great stories and images to share from two weeks in the UK, summer in Boston, and our move from Brighton to Lower Allston.


In the meantime, see more photos I took at Pics in the Parks.

Boston Blackout

Much of downtown Boston was dark for four days after a fire in Back Bay two weeks ago. I took a fancy to this here massive generator, which buzzed safely in the rain on Dartmouth Street for several days:

Next time there's a blackout in Boston, I will:
a) Post images while they're still relevant. (Forgive the old news.)
b) Get a shot of Boston from across the river in Cambridge while a "wide swath of the city is plunged into darkness". (Bravo, Boston Globe! A poetic headline, indeed.)


Let there be Light,
Sarah

Crash Course in Art Crime

This week I finished reading The Art of the Heist, Confessions of a Master Thief.  In this book Myles Connor Jr, a real Masshole, explains his long career as art collector and art thief (from the MFA, MET, Children's Museum, and Smithsonian among others).  He also describes his life as a bank robber, drug dealer, and inmate of numerous county, state and federal prisons in New England, and eventually across the U.S.  Needless to say I developed a crushlette on the guy who is now in his late 60's, out of prison, and living in MA somewhere.

Myles spent time at Charles Street Jail, which he recalls as being "in a state of putrid decay, the first floor perpetually covered in several inches of standing water, the upper floors infested by giant rats and waterbugs the size of a man's fist... In fact the place was so squalid that the United States Supreme Court eventually ruled imprisonment there to be a violation of a person's basic civil rights."

Now the jail is the luxurious Liberty Hotel. Beth Greenfield reviewed her stay in the hotel for the NYT in 2007, and described her room as "cozy yet airy, with exposed-brick walls and floor-to-ceiling windows that offered river and city views.  The modern furnishings included an off-white divan, black lacquered desk and dresser and an earth merino throw at the foot of the plush white bed."

Greenfield's experience of the place was as cushy as mine. I shot a gorgeous 50th Birthday Party on the 3rd floor rotunda and also attended a screening of a movie in the hotel's outdoor courtyard last summer... the space holds a whole new meaning now after reading Myles Connor's memoir.

...But I digress.... 

I was so disappointed to have finished The Art of the Heist, that I quickly picked up Priceless: How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World's Stolen Treasures.  The author is Robert Wittman, founder of the FBI Art Crime Team.  

I am only 40 pages into this book and have lined up the third book in my Art Crime crash course already... Chasing Aphrodite: The Hunt for Looted Antiques at the World's Richest Museum.  This book captures the countless stories of illegally traded and looted antiquities brought from other countries to the beloved museums of The United States.  

So I'm going into the minds of the criminals, the agents, the curators, the investigators, the art scholars ... probably only to learn, once again, that we are all the same.

Budding on a Snow Day

Hustling through Boston's South End on my way to the office this morning, I noticed this gorgeous maple. I had to stop and admire its brilliant yellow buds, dangling low.  Poor thing is likely covered in snow now. What a strange winter it has been.

Hello??

It called me again

Underneath the city streets

The empty phonebooth

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

I visited the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum this week to celebrate the opening of the new wing. Here are some images (captured with my phone) of the new wing in the areas where photography is permitted. I especially enjoyed the living room with its rich warm tones, vibrant orchids growing, and birds chirping. It is a place for people to come and feel at home at the museum... I didn't expect such an amazing museum could get better, but it did! Can't wait to go back and put my feet up in that living room after taking in Ms. Gardner's impeccable collection again.

Happy 2012

First day of the year

Continuing tradition

Colors on the shore

Wishing everyone a year of contemplative walks, good company, and lovely things to look at.

Gallery Reception for Solo Show- FEB 23, 2010

In December I hung my first photography show in the Boston area! One dozen photographs taken during my time in France are on view at the Boston University Metropolitan Gallery through March.

The reception will be held on Tuesday, February 23, 2010 from 4-6pm.
755 Commonwealth Avenue, Suite 103

T: Green line to BU Central
Parking: limited metered parking on Commonwealth Ave.

Home again :)

Today is the second time I reached home safely from a trip when home is Brighton, Massachusetts. I moved here (my apartment pictured on the left) almost 2 months ago, and have been to Long Island and Ottawa to see both sides of my family since then.
Today, from my seat across from the propeller of the De Havilland, I admired fiery reds cresting a rim of yellow on the early signs of forests in fall. Harvest time from the sky is something I'm sure I've done before, but today I really took joy in it. About 20 minutes before we reached Logan International Airport, I remembered a conversation I had during high school in Rome with a friend who was missing the New England autumn. As I got closer to Boston, I saw rivers, the ocean, farms, and forests that I want to learn, at least by name. Land passing beneath me in the warm glow of early fall.
I watched the wheels lower and soon after felt the welcome home thud of runway. I was lucky with my connections to the airport shuttle to the T with my connection from the blue to the green line... I took the D this time.
I moved to Brighton at the end of August and I'm still learning things. One of the most handy thing I've learned about my place is that the B, C, and D lines are all within a 15 minute walk, the closest being about a 45 seconds away. Along with my new (and only electric) mode of transportation, I've learned many of my immediate neighborhood's commercial stops. Recognizable standards (like my bank, Whole Foods, CVS, Chipotle...) are all easily walkable, as are a number of good finds. In a 10 minute radius, I can walk to Spanish food, 2 Thai restaurants, great pizza (there IS a difference between good pizza and pizza that misses the mark), a couple decent bars, and a dangerous frozen yogurt place. A neighborhood best for enjoying Boston in the fall - The Chestnut Hill Reservoir. The oldest "large scale public park" in Boston, two miles around the water, and two blocks from home. I saw it on a map while I was apartment hunting and decided on this place partially because of the nearby water. Now its my favorite spot. Not as quiet as Lake Braddock, but I can get a good walk in and be around trees, the water, and a little history now too- the waterworks- a beautiful building founded in the late 1800's sits by the water. Its now condos and part if it is actually slated to open as a museum in 2010.
Of course, I've looked outside my 10-minute radius and found solid connections (and re-connections) to people, amazing restaurants of all kinds, a Synagogue I can grow in, a sweet bead shop, and lots more. I've been to Fenway Park (the Sox won), the Museum of Fine Arts and a couple galleries.
I have sold some jewelry, secured a show at the Metropolitan Gallery (November, more to come), and picked up a photojournalism gig on Boston Billboards for Boston24.com.
I'm LOVING learning Boston and looking forward to more. I think the next few weeks will be a bit hectic- I want to explore the city and surrounding areas before winter hits, since I imagine the cold will dampen my tourist spirit slightly. I am really enjoying this season, and I know that someday, should I be somewhere other than the North East in fall, I will miss it too.

Shana Tova, keep in touch, and ENJOY AUTUMN!
Sarah