Vancouver: Gastown HDR 23/52

Gastown is a national historic site (since 2009) in Vancouver, BC located in the northeast area of downtown Vancouver. It was named after Jack "Gassy" Deighton (wonder how he got that nickname), a steamboat captain who opened the area's first saloon. Gastown soon became a center for trade and commerce for fishermen and loggers alike. At one point, Gastown was scheduled for demolition to build a major freeway, but local businessmen and property owners fought to have the area preserved as a historic site. Today, it is a thriving contemporary area with nightclubs, bars and fashion stores. It's famous landmark is the Gastown steam clock which was built to harness the steam power from Vancouver's steam-heating system and supposedly to prevent bums from sleeping on the grate during the winter.

F-11, ISO 200, 1/40, 1/25, 1/10 sec exposures.

Vancouver: Olympic Cauldron HDR 20/52

I will be starting a series of Vancouver, Canada over the next several weeks starting with the Olympic Cauldron which has now become a permanent landmark on the Vancouver waterfront. If you don't know already, Vancouver was the host city of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. With the Winter Games now complete, the chain-linked fence (source of controversy during the games) has now been removed and visitors are now able to take a closer look at the cauldron. Despised by some and loved by others, it's five flame concept was considered unique.

Acadia National Park: Thunder Hole HDR 16/52

Last one from Acadia National Park (I promise Sandy). Thunder Hole, an area carved out by water, is supposed to make a loud thundering sound at mid-tide.

I just installed Photomatix and I've been fiddling around with some of it's settings for making HDR images. This image was made from 3 images -2EV, 0EV and +2EV using Automatic Exposure Bracketing (AEB) which can be set on most DSLR cameras. There are some halo areas that I'd like to avoid and I've read that you can blend the HDR image with one of the original images, but I haven't tried that yet.

Thunder Hole (F-10, ISO100, 1/100, 1/25, 1/6 second exposure in order below)

Institute of Contemporary Art 8/52

Another one of KL's friends came to visit Boston recently and we've been trying to do different touristy things with each visitor. This particular friend liked art, so off to the ICA...In addition to displaying a lot of interesting art, the ICA is one of the most interesting architechtural buildings in Beantown. Sadly, we weren't allowed to take pics of any artwork which included a section displaying Obey art. The indoor pic was the only area where we could take photos and it overlooks the Boston Harbour. We were lucky enough to have gone on a Thursday when it is open to the public for free between 5-9 PM.

ICA exterior: HDR, F-16, 15 second exposure, ISO 100
Indoor: F-14, 1/60 s exposure, ISO 400