131/366: Nott Shots

One of my recurring half-serious grumbles about this photo-a-day business is that our neighborhood doesn't offer a clear view of the horizon, making it impossible to get nice sunset pictures. On sunday afternoons, though, we have a babysitter come stay with the kids for a while so Kate and I can do some work, and at this time of year, that window includes sunset. And my work yesterday took me to campus, where there are much better horizon views. Of course, it was grey and dreary for most of the day, but just before sunset, the clouds to the south and west lifted a bit, just enough to be dramatic:

Memorial Chapel at Union with dramatic clouds. Memorial Chapel at Union with dramatic clouds.

Of course, I'd lose my license to take dramatic pictures on Union's campus if I didn't photograph one particular building:

The Nott Memorial with dramatic clouds. The Nott Memorial with dramatic clouds.

That's the Nott Memorial, which stands smack in the center of campus and was memorably described by one convocation speaker, the Rev. Peter Gomes, as a metaphor for a liberal arts education: tremendously impressive to look at, frightfully expensive to maintain, and nobody is quite sure what it's for.

And just so you know I wasn't lying about the rain:

The Nott, reflected in a puddle. The Nott, reflected in a puddle.

I didn't think of this myself-- I saw a student squatting down in the mud trying to get a reflection image with his cell phone, and said "Oh! Yeah, I should do that..." Sadly, I didn't quite have the right lens-- this is with the 24mm f/2.8, and I couldn't quite get the full building and the reflection in the frame together. 18mm would've done it, but I didn't have it with me.

Oh, well. I'm pretty happy with the dramatic clouds picture, so that'll have to do.

Tags

More like this

Another long photo-a-day gap, because the last week was crazy in a bunch of ways. The weather has slewed wildly between winter and spring; Kate had to go to The City to argue a case leaving me solo-parenting the sillyheads; and I've been fighting the onset of a rotten cold. That last has involved a…
Thursday was "Founders Day" at Union, and there were two major speaking events on campus. The official Founders Day address was given at lunchtime by Rev. Peter J. Gomes, the Plummer Professor of Christian Morals at Harvard Divinity School. That evening, there was a second talk, not officially…
SteelyKid missed the bus this morning-- she was dressed and ready, but I was talking to Kate, and if there isn't a person at the end of the driveway when the bus comes around the corner, they won't stop. So I drove her over to school myself (which is faster, anyway). The GE research lab complex is…
I love a lot of things about our neighborhood, which is all pleasant tree-lined streets and stuff, but it's not a great place for taking pictures of sunset-- I pretty much need to get in the car to get to a place with a clear view of the western horizon. This knocks out a big category of imitation-…