View From the Chalet Roof

This Canada Day weekend was spent up at the cottage. It was one of the first night's for a long while that I have been up there and it has been clear enough to merit bringing the camera out for some night photography. The interesting thing about taking pictures is how different a scene looks from different angles. You end up trying so many different points of view of essentially the same subject, that when you finally get the "right one", you know. That is what happened with this image. The pictures I was getting from down by the dock were decent, but it just wasn't working for me. I've already taken hundreds of pictures at the cottage and I needed something different. The image below is my favourite of the evening AND it is a completely different angle from any other image I have made at the cottage. Where did I get a shot like this from? Yes of course, I scrambled with my camera, tripod and all up on the roof of the cottage to get a star trail image of the lake, boat, dock and even the group around the fire.

View of Lac Ste-Rose from the Chalet Roof

MIT and the World Shaving Headquarters

Besides sweeping wide-angle views of the city, you can still see some Bostonian specifics from the 50th floor of the Prudential building by zooming in a little bit. I only had my walk around lens (17-70mm on a cropped sensor) so I couldn't get in any further than this but I find them interesting anyways. The first image is of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Mclaurin building just on the other side of the Harvard bridge seen on the left of the image. I really liked the reflections of the colours along the bridge and the northern coast of the Charles River Basin. Next ... here is another 'zoomed' in image of the city. I really like what turned our for the car trails of head and tail lights but there is something else. The upper right corner of the image seemingly houses the "Gillette World Shaving Headquarters" ... what that is ... who knows! More night-time landscapes of Boston to come.

MIT

World Shaving Headquarters

Prudential Tower

In order to get a widescape view of the city tourists can make their way up to the 50th floor of the prudential centre. There are more of these coming, but here is the SAME pool and buildings as seen in the last post!!

Boston Night Scene

When I first got into Boston I took the first night and wandered around a little bit without my camera. This is one of those spots that I was just itching to get back to the next evening with my camera. This pool, about the length of a football field, was an amazing place for some night time photography. Playing with the reflections, some of the contrasting architecture, and the bright lights from the buildings was definitely fun. There are quite a few more pictures from the area to come but I just had to throw one up as an example of what I've seen.

Boston Night Scenery

Nightscapes of the Chalet

As promised here are the remaining nightscapes that I have from a few weeks ago at the chalet. I really need th bring/make something (barn door tracker, etc) to get a longer exposure on the milky way. I figure that option is more likely right now than getting a camera with higher ISO levels or buying faster glass! The first image below is the "standard" starscape over the lake shot. I enjoy the second image since it takes you a second to realize there is something funny going on with the "smudge" on the eight hand side. It is not in fact another smeared cloud like the one on the right but the "smudging" of the milky way from the long exposure. Finally, the third image is similar to one ( http://www.flickr.com/photos/scerakor/3789100448) taken approximately one year ago. This one instead has more emphasis on foreground elements.

Milky Way Over the Chalet


Clouds, Stars, and Milky Way Streaking over the Night Sky


Star Trailing Over a Busy Campfire