Entries Tagged as ‘Rebuilding Portsmouth’

August 28, 2010

Balcony & Founder’s Lobby | The Music Hall

In another visit to The Music Hall, I wanted to be sure to capture the pure grandeur of the historic theatre.  Inside the theatre itself – there is rich color and eye candy to be seen everywhere.  From the reds and natural wood color of the seats and the stairwells to the soft pastels of the wonderfully restored turn of the century painted ceiling, to the gilding and the gorgeous proscenium.  It’s a perfect setting for entertainment of all kinds, from live music to high quality films (or film festivals including the upcoming Telluride By The Sea or the 10th Annual New Hampshire Film Festival), to internationally recognized speakers and writers.

The Founder’s Lobby (as seen below) is a very cool place as well, very avant garde and very rich in color and unlike any other room you’ll come across in Portsmouth.  I’ll let the room speak for itself….and share more details in the future.  The room definitely commands a presence…and the minute details at every corner add to the interestingness of the place. 

August 27, 2010

Construction in the City

For those of you who drive downtown on a regular basis – you know that it has been a trying summer.  State Street has been loudly under construction as its wastewater system gets an upgrade, with a new stormwater runoff separation system being implemented, along with new brick sidewalks and street lighting.  While it’s going to be gorgeous when it’s all done – the road has definitely done a number on the suspension of my car from driving home each night.  I thought I’d bring the camera along to lunch at Googie’s this week to snap a few shots of the progress being made.  It’s actually quite fascinating to peer down into the holes that are being dug in the pavement….a few of the guys told me they’d found the old wooden sewers from a couple hundred years back – and I’ve seen some brick sewer piping in one of the trenches too.

The next shot features one of the storm drains that will be a central part of the State Street system.  I can’t wait til I can feature the newly paved State Street with all of its new street lamps – and motion blur from all of the swiftly moving traffic that will return.

This shot features the Martingale Wharf building as it gets another layer to its skin…as seen from Bow Street.

August 24, 2010

Martingale Wharf | Reflections of a Changing Waterfront

This shot was taken setting out on the sunset harbor cruise on the Heritage.  I snapped this single exposure with the incredibly sharp and vibrant Carl Zeiss lens that I’ve rented on a couple of occasions – and I just loved the rich blues of the water and the sky.  I’ve always thought that the Martingale Wharf building was pretty massive when seen from Bow Street…as it takes up so much of the street front – but it wasn’t until we were heading back in from the cruise that I realized just how massive the structure is.

Seen here the water side of the building is partially covered in tarps – as construction has progressed through the summer.  If you are walking up Bow Street, you might notice the fire sealing/insulation on the interior of the structure – so I imagine it’s only a matter of time until the skeleton of the building gets its skin.  I can’t wait to see what the structure looks like when its brick facade is installed….and it will be a welcome change to this seemingly stagnating waterfront visage.

August 18, 2010

Market Street Salt Piles

Market Street received a recent facelift when the sidewalks were torn up and replaced with new brick walkways and period lighting.  I must say, despite however expensive it must have been, it’s a nice classy look for that section of town.  The salt piles look as rustic as even along with the mural of the US Coast Guard Eagle adorning the entrance to Granite State Minerals, but the walkways are looking sharp and will be well lit during evenings from now on.  Hopefully the new design will help curb the queueing up of the massive salt trucks along Market Street on cold winter mornings.

Also – be sure to check out the new “Exhibits” tab listed above the header!  I hope to use this as a guide to where you can see a display of my work in person…as long as there are exhibits to share with those interested throughout the Seacoast.

August 3, 2010

The Clocktower | North Church

It’s no secret I’m an admirer of architecture.  This has me looking up and around all the time, checking out the lighting on rooflines, down alleys, at facades, etc….and this weekend it had me admiring the light on the North Church’s clocktower steeple.  I loved the blue sky and the rich intricate details of the structure.

This was a handheld HDR shot with the 50mm f/1.2L lens that I rented last week.  The lens is so fast that within milliseconds I was able to capture the 3 exposures needed to process the shot.

August 2, 2010

Fort Stark | New Castle, NH

I was out riding my road bike over the weekend, and decided to visit a couple streets that I hadn’t been on in a few years.  I meandered down Wild Rose Lane in New Castle after spotting the sign for Fort Stark, saying it was open for the afternoon.  I decided to investigate….the fort played a fairly critical role in the Seacoast’s military history through the wars of the 20th century….and the “Ordnance Machine Shop” seen in the photo above featured a cool map with lights depicting various guns at the forts in NH/ME/MA from Cape Ann in Rockport, MA all the way north to Biddeford, ME…including how far their various weapons could fire out into the ocean to deter enemies.

Pretty darn cool to see some of the working history of the New England seacoast. One of the coolest parts was the gun propped in the middle of the Machine Shop that had formerly been fixed onto one of the cement columns overlooking the harbor at Fort Stark.