A fog of Macbeth/Shakespeare/Weird-Sisters-level strangeness descended on Hartford last night.
Category: Hartford
Exam Dawn
Waking pre-dawn to be sure an NSF Major Research Instrumentation grant and a Statistical Mechanics exam are both finished when they need to be turns out to have some upsides—namely, this gigantic panorama of an incredible Hartford dawn. (This one is definitely worth clicking through to Flickr and further clicking to zoom to 100% scale.)
Stinky But Beautiful
The bright yellow leaves of this female gingko tree almost make it worth the really shocking smell of butyric acid that issues from the decay of all of the fruit it drops.
Summit in the Fall
Incongruously warm summer afternoons are the stuff of college campus perfection, and Trinity College’s Summit dorms don’t let the day down.
Mist River Connecticut
Low clouds over the Connecticut River add extra autumn crisp to the day.
Empty Hartford Parking Lot
Spot the steeple of Trinity College’s chapel on the distant horizon.
Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch
Something about the texture of autumn trees in a city park during the blue hour makes the perfect compliment for the rough-hewn stones of a big monument.
Wall Beyond Pulaski Circle
Downtown Hartford jumps into view like a cliff of buildings, connected to the riverside interstate (at least for now) by a tunnel beneath Hartford Public Library (still lit with orange sodium vapor lamps, see right.) Traveling through that tunnel and out into the city proper always feels a little like Batman emerging from the Batcave, if I’m honest.
LSC in Black and White
From a circa-2008 view to the present day—just before the construction fences came down—we see the progression of LSC through time.
Trinity in Late Afternoon
Far away over Frog Hollow, the towers of Trinity College jut out from the autumn foliage.
LSC Panorama
Looking back for images of Trinity’s Life Science Center (LSC) prior to some recent renovations in the area, I found a set of early digital camera pictures I’d taken that happened to form the components for a panorama. The idea of compositing images to a panorama wasn’t one that entered my brain back in 2008, and yet I had chanced into capturing just the right combination to do so 16 years later.
Stegosaurus and City Hall
A bird’s eye view can shrink the impact of many human-made objects, but Calder’s “Stegosaurus” (1973) jumps from the foreground not only not only for its color, but also for the way in which it breaks the symmetry of the square in front of Hartford’s City Hall.
Fall Flying in Hartford
Halloween season brings the most New-England-y aesthetics to New England, and nowhere more than in a city park. The foliage adds a perfect contrast to blue-hour colors, and the park lights (as in the foreground) highlight the evening walkers.
Pristine Soccer Field
Summer efforts brought a beautifully pristine soccer field to life at Trinity. From above, I appreciate even more the gentle slope of the hills that arranges the rest of campus in the background. The little chimneys of Northam peak up on the left side of the image in a way I find particularly appealing.
Concrete Jungle Upgrades
This dense assemblage of dormitories at Trinity College was long referred to as the “concrete jungle”, but it’s now getting a major upgrade and the majority of the concrete for which it was named is missing. Will it return? I’ll be curious to find out!
Decaseconds 