Becky's photoblog

Wandering around my favorite area of Boston, doing a little Christmas shopping 🙂
Boston Public Library (left) and Old South Church (middle)

The steeple of Old South Church lining up nicely with the Hancock Tower

Corner of Mass Ave and Comm Ave

Gorgeous little shop on Newbury Street with fabulous tin clocks

Maureen Cotton photography

With three months to go before the wedding (and six months of wedding planning behind us), we finally let Maureen talk us in to an engagement photoshoot. Thank you Maureen!! She did a wonderful job capturing us at some of our favorite landmarks in Boston’s Back Bay: The Boston Public Library, the Hancock Tower, Trinity Church and a recent favorite – the holiday lights on Commonwealth Avenue. Then she surprised us with a wonderful video slideshow!

I’m so excited about the new exhibit at the MFA! So excited that I showed up a day early … 

Today was a personal day and after a full day of errands, I had about an hour to run over to the MFA and check out the new exhibit. I guess I got my dates mixed up

But at least I was able to peak through the glass 🙂 I had a moment all to myself viewing the exhibit from a nearly empty corridor. There’s definitely something creepy and beautiful about seeing ancient works of art perfectly lit for viewing with no one looking

I couldn’t see the Aphrodite exhibit but I could visit the rest of the museum. This is probably my favorite room in the new American Wing. It’s curated to mimic the Paris Salon. Nothing beats the combination of white marble, red walls and gold frames.

Apologies for the picture quality … this was taken with my camera a few weeks ago

mmm Chihuly

I was taking a handful of shots of the Gardner Museum’s new building, but I got distracted by the gorgeous fall foliage. How fabulous is that color?

Looking at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum across Evans Way Park

The new greenhouse (slanted glass on the left), the new entrance and lobby (green panels in the middle), and the new special exhibition gallery (the cube on the right). The new building will also contain a new performance hall, gift shop, cafe, classrooms, offices and a lounge for me and my fellow volunteers 🙂


From Palace Road, you can see the new cafe, and the patio for outdoor dining. Beyond the patio, you can see the glass tunnel that connects the new building to the historic palace. Above the new cafe is the new performance hall. 

This is the view from the 5th floor of the Simmons School of Management looking towards Boston Latin (on the left) and Back Bay (on the right). I took this shot just before the lecture by one of the Gardner architects on the design, materials and techniques in the Gardner’s new building. I’m so excited about the new building – just a few more weeks until I get to see the inside 🙂

This is an oil painting of my dear friend Melissa’s grandparents, Edward and Mildred Lyman. She commissioned this painting in early 2011 to be given as a birthday gift to her mother (Edward and Millie’s daughter) in October 2011. This painting was incredibly challenging, moving, and rewarding for me, and Melissa’s mother said simply “it’s the best gift ever!”

This painting is based on a black and white photograph taken in 1949 at Seton Hall University’s Military Ball in front of the trophy case. This beautiful bright-eyed couple married in 1951 they had three children, six grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren in their 60 years of marriage. They both passed away this year, within a year of each other, and I was asked to preserve this precious moment at the beginning of their life together.

I was so nervous that I might not be up to the task of capturing this moment, but then I thought about how nervous Edward might have been when he brought such a gorgeous date to the ball, and my own fears melted away with a smile. I spent the last several months looking deep into the eyes of this confident young couple, wondering what they might have been thinking at the age of 20, dressed up in their finest, at the very beginning of the relationship. This might have been the first time they ever posed for a photo together, and I wonder if they had any idea that they would stand side-by-side for the next 60 years.

They got married about a year after this photo was taken, and I’m getting married next year. Working on this project in the year before my own wedding filled my head with notions of the past and future. Thoughts about Edward and Millie’s life together mixed in my mind with my own wishes for my future with Brian, and the hours passed as I painted. Brian’s opinion about my paintings have become invaluable to my process and Brian and I spent quite a bit of time staring at Edward and Millie together: a strange confrontation of two couples across 60 years.

Melissa asked me to paint this portrait of her grandparents after the death of her grandfather, and by the time I was able to start the project, Melissa’s grandmother had passed away as well. It broke my heart to watch Melissa, my roommate of five years, cope with the illness and death of both beloved grandparents. It was incredibly challenging to accurately capture their bright smiles and the light in their eyes while knowing how their lives came to an end.

I’m humbled by the role I got to play in memorializing this beautiful couple, and I’m extremely moved by the experience of identifying with these 1949 twenty-year olds. Thanks Melissa for letting me be a part of the story of Edward and Millie.

Our friends got married and every single detail of their gorgeous Autumn wedding was picture perfect. Their photographer was none other than my favorite wedding photographer, Maureen Cotton, maureencottonweddings.com, so I only snapped a few photos and left the rest to the professional.

goofballs

Another groupon … we took another incredibly pleasant cruise around Boston harbor during a beautiful foggy sunset.

The USS Constitution marks every dawn and dusk with a canon blast. Remind me never to move to Charlestown, but it was a lovely little ceremony.

Looking towards East Boston and Logan Airport during the whole to our cruise we had a great view of the hotel where we’re getting married next March.

The fog really started to settle over the city as we headed further away from downtown towards the Boston Harbor Islands

My second favorite shot from this group: the ocean meets the sky and both seem endless

Turning around to head back to the city, which we can barely see.

The lights start to break through the clouds and the city comes into view …

This is unedited you really could see a clear line between hazy fog and crystal clear water

Pulling back into Long Wharf

My perfect little studio, with perfect late-afternoon fall light, and the perfect fall flowers B gave me the other night 🙂

On our way home from visiting B’s family in Stamford and Fair Haven, we stopped at the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford

I would have paid the price of admission a few times over just to see this painting. Orazio Gentileschi’s Judith and Holofernes.

Hurricane Irene turned out to be relatively unexciting for us, except for a big tree down behind the house. Our apt stands next to a big hill about the same height as our building, and a tree near the top of the hill was totally uprootd. The tree had the courtesy to fall neatly alongside the back of the house rather than directly on to the house – a difference of a few degrees. 

This is the root of the tree that fell. This is near the top of the hill, so this is about the same height as our roof. 

The view behind the house from the back patio – this is the top of the tree, right against the side of the house. 

My kitchen window

My living room window – the root of the tree is out of the shot, further up on the right. 

This is NOT near my house, and this is NOT our car. B took a walk to check out the neighborhood, and this is down the street from us. 

Met up with an old friend for dinner at the Prussia, and wandered around Christian Science Plaza before and after dinner. This is the Mother Church of Christian Science reflected in the pool. I love this area of Boston!

Best way to beat the heat

Best way to catch up with an old friend: take laps around a gorgeous reflecting pool as the sun sets, then head to Newbury St for ice cream. Thanks for a lovely evening, my dear!

I love my new camera. And this church. This is the First Church of Christian Science  (or the Mother Church), with the old church (the tower in front), lining up quite nicely with the new church (the dome and the bigger building in back). I highly recommend checking out the interior of both, and wandering around this Plaza at night. 

See what I mean? This is the Mother Church on the left, the Sheraton  (in red in the background), the Prudential Tower (with the yellow lights at the top) and the 101 Huntington tower 

We took a quick little get-away to The Porches Inn, in North Adams, MA spent a lovely evening by the pool, and then enjoyed gin and tonics, the globe, rocking chairs, perfect weather and (you can’t see it in this shot) big pink puffy clouds at dusk on the porch.

“The Ceramics Program of the Office for the Arts at Harvard announces its annual Holiday Show and Sale May 14th – 17th at 219 Western Avenue, Allston, MA.” http://ofa.fas.harvard.edu/ceramics/

Every year on Mother’s Day weekend, Harvard’s Ceramics Program hosts a spring sale, and the incredible talented artists put their wares on display. Brian ‘discovered’ this a few years back, and we’ve gone to the show together every few years. I’m re-posting these photos from 2009 in 2014, after visiting the spring sale this morning in it’s new location.

We also went in 2011, and purchased 3 gorgeous pieces for his mom, my mom and my grandmother, and gave them their gifts later that afternoon. HerMy grandparents were in town for a few reasons, so Brian’s parents had come up, and we spent a very memorable afternoon with all of our parents and grandparents celebrating mother’s day, my 30th birthday, and our recent engagement.

Here’s my photos from our visit to the Harvard Ceramics Program spring sale in 2014.

The Porches Inn, in North Adams, MA – I can’t recommend this hotel enough. It’s 5 Victorian houses connected and remodeled with a long porch running along the front, and incredibly cozy and perhaps even somewhat decadent decor.

Brian and I took a daytrip up to Maine to see an exhibit on impressionist landscapes, which was wonderful. This is the view into the special exhibition gallery from the 2nd floor.

I love this room – and this brings me back to my very first photoblog post (10/13/07). This is the sculpture gallery at the Portland Museum of Art.

very cool rock sculpture thingy. brian took this shot through a wreath in the window

a few rooms in the PMA, looking towards a portrait of Isabella Stewart Gardner’s nephew

After we had our fill at the museum, we headed in search of a good meal, and found exactly that at this place – i think it was called Bull Feeney’s. This shot doesn’t do it justice, but the light coming through these huge windows was really amazing. For the record, the authentic Maine seafood chowder and parmesan crusted haddock sandwich with citrus aioli sauce was also really amazing

gratuitous silverware still-life

Long Wharf

This is Brian with a licorice pipe after we stopped at an amazing candy store in Kittery on the way to Portland.

This doesn’t do it justice but the sunset as we drove back was the bluest blue, the orange-est orange and every color in between.

Gwen and I visited Harvard’s Fogg Museum, which will close very soon for 5 years of renovation – it’s one of my favorite museums in the world (and that’s saying a lot, if I may), and even tho parts of the collection will still be on view for the next 5 years, I will really miss this incredible space.

We stayed at The Porches Inn in North Adams, right across the street from Mass MoCA – this place is six renovated Victorian-era row houses that once provided housing for the city’s millworkers. Absolutely fantastic place – we really loved it. It was 50 degrees on Saturday night, but that didn’t keep Brian from the hot tub, while the sun started to set behind the hills in the distance – a perfect evening.

Brian and I got out of town for the weekend and visited some museums in the Berkshires. We went to the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, then the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, then stayed the night at The Porches, then we went to Mass MoCA.

In honor of my birthday, we did what we do best – we ordered pizza, we made alcoholic smoothies, and we hung out on the porch.

Cinco de Mayo was an excellent excuse to host a few friends on a Monday night. My roommates provided tons of delicious Mexican food and a case of Corona, and I helped by eating.