Re: [SI] Steeples -The 'Duck Comments
 

On Mon, 11 Feb 2013 22:37:15 -0800, Savageduck
<savageduck1@{REMOVESPAM}me.com> wrote:
: ‘Duck comments:
:
: SI-Steeples; http://www.pbase.com/shootin/steeples
:
: Bob Coe:
: Steeples-01:
: I like the idea of contrasting the old with the modern, but with this
: shot, from this particular camera position, the spire is blanketed by
: the building in the background.

Ah, but the important point about that picture is that the building in the
background (the "Manning" building, an apartment complex for disabled elderly)
is a crucial component. Indeed, the presence of the spire is incidental; the
actual subject is a wi-fi antenna (the antenna farthest to the right), which I
had earlier helped install on the Manning building's roof. (Full disclosure:
Though I was the lead system engineer on the wi-fi project at the time,
hardware people did most of that installation. My main role was to photograph
the proceedings and try to keep from falling off the building.)

Since the picture shows neither the antenna very well nor how scary it was to
be up on the Manning summit, it would probably have been a throwaway. But I
liked the way a single beam of sunlight happened to illuminate the spire, the
statue, and the flag; so I cropped it a bit and included it in my slide show
of Cambridge pictures. And when the mandate came up, it seemed natural to
submit it as a counterpoint to the relentless group of postcard steeples we
were sure to get.

Just for perspective: The antenna is about 1200 feet from the camera, and the
church with the spire is a couple hundred feet nearer, just south of Central
Square. All this can be seen on a Google or Bing map of Cambridge. I was at
831 Massachusetts Avenue, and the Manning Building stands next to the Central
Square library, between Green and Franklin Streets.

Let's see... Our next mandate is "Looking Up and Looking Down". I did get a
fairly decent picture looking *down* on that spire from the Manning roof.
Hmmmm...

Bob