Our New Camera

Our parents generously donated a Sony WX-300 to help us photo-document the coming year. I took a bike ride yesterday beneath a foreboding sky (which finally broke into sun showers) to give the camera a workout and take a look at the neighborhoods I grew up in before settling on a new continent for a year!

You'll notice that I went a little nuts with the "Watercolor" feature on the camera. Vintage-y filters are all the rage these days and I normally don't have much patience for them but this Watercolor effect (one of many baked into the WX-300) affects the picture at a deep level and turns it into something fresh and new.

I had a lot of fun shooting these which hopefully means I can foster a habit of frequent photography when we're abroad. Enjoy!

Prince st: It cuts around Jamaica Pond but above the main thoroughfare. I always bike this route home even if it's a little out of the way. Woodsy, quiet, beautiful.

Harrison st: The street I grew up on! On the right you can make out the fence of Northeastern's football field which we got very good at scampering over as kids. At the end of the street is Lawrence school were I went from 3rd to 8th grade.

Community garden and mural at the Lawrence School

The field behind the school

That fountain is where "circle soccer" was born: the sport of choice for all Lawrence school kids...even if you didn't want it to be.

Trying out the High Dynamic Resolution feature. Brookline recycles!

Sidewalk sunflowers

Another quiet street in Brookline, all watercolor-y

I climbed a tree on the Longwood Mall to get this so you'd better believe it's getting posted

The far end of the Longwood Mall: these trees have been here since the Civil War 

Some apartments nearby: through the portal you can just make out the steam tower that sits in the center of the Longwood Medical Complex. More on that later...

Along the Muddy River pathway

Muddy River

More of the paths along the Muddy River 

Construction near the Museum of Fine Arts

More construction on one of Boston's many sports fields

Beth Israel Hospital and the heart of the Longwood Medical Center; Harvard Med School is a few blocks down and Joslin Diabetes Center (where my mom works) is across the street

The steam towers that power the hospitals. When we first moved to Brookline I got lost walking around by myself but I spotted this tower on the horizon and used it to retrace my steps back home

Geese along the Riverway which connects Brookline down to Jamaica Plain

Houses and art along the Riverway

I dropped the bike to grab for the camera many, many times. This time the sun was peeking through the branches

Jamaica Pond: our neighborhood body of water. Minutes from home and the rain just started!

We canoed to this island with Gina and Daniel last summer! You can see the pond boathouse on the far shore