Garris

Thanks! I enjoy sharing these. It also encourages me to photograph more. I'm eager to get suggestions as to how to improve my photos, so any suggestions are welcome. Here's one of Downcity Providence in the dead of night from Waterplace Park. This is one classic view of the city that won't be altered by the G-Tech building. Also, I'm thinking of going to Newport next weekend for the first time to take some photos. Anyone have any suggestions as to where to go and what to photograph? - Garris

Hi everyone, Well, being stuck at work in the hospital for days and days on end and being on-call during a holiday weekend has me off my posting schedule somewhat, but I thought I'd make up for Thursday, Friday, and the holiday weekend with some photos taken at work today. Perhaps the most beautiful building in the otherwise uninspiring RIH complex is one invisible to most people, as it's located behind the bland Main Building and the positively depressing, concrete Ambulatory Care Center. It's the elegant and regretably decaying Southeast Clinic Building. It'll probably be knocked down someday, as it's already essentially condemned. Every day I enjoy its timeless spires framed against the sunset outside our windows, so today I decided to break out the camera and share the view with you all. Enjoy! BTW: I believe the castle-like building outlined in the distance is the Cranston Armory (we're looking West) Here's another view from earlier in the evening: This photo is regrettable ruined by the lens flare fragment in the center (can anyone tell me how to PS erase this?): One more view: Here's the classic Southern view of the classic Providence skyline, also from RIH: Here is a link to a huge panorama of Providence I put together tonight from the hospital (too wide to display here): http://img208.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img208&ima...norama357jn.jpg Enjoy! Until tomorrow. - Garris

A slightly artistic look at Downcity from the RISD campus on College Hill. Have a good Thursday everyone! - Garris

One more of the Capitol, then I'll move on to something else tomorrow. I tried to perspective correct the wide-angle approach, but it changed the nature of the building too much, so I left this one as is. It's slightly over-exposed on the dome, but the blue sunset sky looked so nice this way :-). Have a good Wednesday everyone! - Garris

Some more of the capitol building, this during a gorgeous sunset last summer. Have a good Tuesday! - Garris

Yes, it will. It's going to change the view from Prospect Park substantially since Memorial Drive is the clearest aspect to see from there. Care to share how to do such things? That's the big reason I started this thread, to give myself (and by extension everyone else) a chance to teach and learn how to improve photographs. I'm not sure it's come along much since October. I may very well be wrong on this (and if I am, Cotuit will correct me :-) ) but didn't the College Hill Neighborhood association file a lawsuit that halted construction sometime in October or November? On a completely different note, filling a request from earlier, here is a shot of the Capitol dome. Have a good Monday everyone! - Garris

Ok, here are two photos for Friday and Saturday: Do you wish it were summer? I do, and I'm sure the woman in this photo looking at Providence from Prospect Park does as well. Here is another summer shot, this one not from Providence, but from Rhode Island's Block Island resort community, only a quick drive and subsequent ferry ride away from the Renaissance City. Enjoy the weekend! - Garris

Ok, ok, I know I'm falling behind, but one last shot for now of Thomas Street before heading out for the weekend. Pics resume on Monday! Have a great weekend everyone. Enjoy! - Garris

I love the Canon A-line... They can be had for around $250 and are powerful, with features and adjustments that can only be found on cameras hundreds of dollars more. Important for cityscape shooting, they have relatively inexpensive lens add-on attachments that allow for shooting (with some distortion) at a 35mm equivalent of 24.5mm, pretty impressive, and around 250 mm zoom. I current use a Canon Digital Rebel with 12-24mm Sigma, 18-55mm Canon, 50 mm Canon, and 70-200mm Canon lenses. - Garris

Well, I stand humbled... Your shots are gorgeous. How are you getting such a super-saturated look? Are you cranking up the contrast and brightness in Photoshop? Is that just a result of setting the camera to take black and white? How do you get that artistic "sheen" to them? For your info, my photos are a mix between my previous camera (Canon A70) and my current one (Canon Digital Rebel). - Garris

mikepl, Feel free to join in! Your shot is really nice. Did you take it from Benefit? Any technical info on the photo or any mods to it? Please add any additional shots you'd like. As for me, I'll add one more scene from Benefit today, and then maybe shift gears somewhat. Enjoy! - Garris

I take requests :-). It's not just of the Fleur de Lies house, but it's pretty close. This is Thomas Street, which connects the downtown to the above depicted Benefit Street and is itself one of America's most beautiful blocks (in my humble opinion). I'll have more of Thomas Street to come later on. For now, TheAnk, enjoy! - Garris PS: Any other requests? Anything anyone would like to see? I'm also looking for some good photogenic towns nearby. What do folks think? How do Newports, Jamestown, and some of the other areas look in the Winter?

Continuing the Benefit Street theme for a while, here's another image. - Garris

Today's topic: Benefit Street Providence's "mile of history," this is a narrow street lined with gas-lamp style lighting that is chock full of homes dating from the colonial period to the late 1800's. From Georgian to Greek Revival, every classical architecture variant is represented and every residential type from sprawling estate, to apartment building, to row house is found. This is one of the many impressive homes on the street, this particular one belonging to Brown University, whose campus is adjacent to this district, along with RISD (Rhode Island School of Design). This shot is with a wide angle lens, perspective corrected in Photoshop Elements. Here are some colonial era townhomes/row houses, a home type that except for some examples on Benefit Street, is actually quite rare for Providence, unlike Boston. Unlike some cities where an area like this is far from the downtown, Benefit Street is just 2-3 blocks from "Downcity," which it parallels. Positioned slightly higher than the city, the West side of this North-South running street has panoramic views of the skyline (and home prices to match). Entry level 1 bedroom condos tend to run about 300,000 - 500,000 dollars, and 2-3 bedroom condos and individual homes (especially with city views) tend to run 500,000 to 1,000,000 dollars (although values can be found). For this reason amongst others, Benefit Street is often called Providence's equivalent of Boston's Beacon Hill. While far from my favorite photo, this is the only one I have that gives a sense of the closeness of the downtown. It is taken in a break between two Benefit Street homes. Until tomorrow! - Garris Providence, RI

Hello! I thought I would share some of my photos of Providence with everyone here. I'll try to post at least one or so a day. I'm hoping that this will accomplish several goals. First, I hope it familiarizes everyone a bit more with Providence, one of America's most beautiful and interesting small cities. Second, I hope it will encourage me to take more photos regularly which, given my often 14 hour per day job, is often very difficult. Third, I very much want technical feedback from everyone here in the hope of improving my photographic abilities. Lastly, I would like to share through photography what I find so interesting about urban living and about many of the wonderful environments our society has created. My biggest goal: Hopefully, you see one or two photos of a place and say, "Wow, I've never seen a photo of [insert city name] like that before!" I won't limit this threat entirely to Providence. I'll throw up photos from Rhode Island, other locations in New England, and other photos from around the nation I've taken. Of course, all photos are copyright of myself, and are not to be used, distributed, copied, or replicated without my expressed persmission. Without further delay, here we go... Providence from Prospect Park at Sunset, from Downcity to the capitol (super wide angle lens, not a panorama, perspective corrected in photoshop elements, no color alteration) Providence from Rhode Island Hospital, all downtown regions (Capitol, Downcity, Jewlery, East Side) (a panorama of several different photos stitched together, slightly color altered to correct for the odd color effects of the RIH windows) And from other photos in my collection, Madison, WI from across the lake during a rain storm (a city very similar to Providence, actually, no alterations) I welcome feedback! - Garris Providence, RI First question: Does the size of the images work for everyone here? What size width wise does everyone recommend?

I just finished living in MN for 4 years. I firmly believe that the "mill region" near the river in Minneapolis will be absolutely, hands down, one of the hottest urban neighborhoods in any city in the U.S. by the time they are done with all of those developments and the light rail. I used to drive around there amazed by that place's potential, and I have to admit, the stuff they are planning and building is better than I ever could have hoped for. Rather than blatantly exploiting the area, they are doing it right and planning terrifically. - Garris Providence, RI