Tag: gallery

Categories
Travel and places

Sunrise photowalk along the new Modiin city center boulevard

Exploring our new city center

Years under construction

I’ve been watching the Modiin city centre slowly take shape over the last four years. I captured the development’s progress on and off in my photographs, many of which are on Flickr

Taking shape

My favourite feature of this boulevard is the center section that runs from the top opposite the municipality, and extends all the way to the bottom where it intersects with another road. It’s a really comfortable space to walk along, and there are water features, seating, and smaller buildings for coffee shops, restaurants, and bars.

Even though the center section seems mostly complete, the buildings on either side are still very much under construction, and it will probably still be some time before those are completed, and occupied.

Although the boulevard seems to be open to pedestrians, it’s still closed to cars (although that didn’t stop a few people from taking a drive through this morning).

Closed for cars

I like this sort of space in a city. It feels more open, comfortable, and I’m looking forward to seeing which stores open there. Mostly, I’m hopeful that we’ll have a few places open on Saturdays when stores are generally closed here in Israel.

I have a few more photos in my Flickr album, here:

Click on the collage to see my full album on Flickr
Categories
Events and Life Travel and places

A trip down memory lane to Stonehenge

Stonehenge by Henry Gressmann on Unsplash

My daughter and I watched this Vox video about Stonehenge over lunch today, and it reminded me of my visit to the UK and Ireland in April 2004:

I found my photos from way back then (in full 640 x 480 resolution), and was able to impress my daughter by showing her my photos of some of the places we saw in the video. I thought I’d dig out my photos, and reminisce a little …

Collage from my UK and Ireland trip in 2004

Albums like this remind me that it pays to store archived images in the highest resolution you can manage at the time.

unsplash-logoFeatured image by Henry Gressmann
Categories
Travel and places

The iconic Modi’in Dimri Tower

I had to do a follow-up to my last set. The sun was out and I felt like I needed a sunnier set.

One of the iconic features of the Modi’in Maccabim Reut cityscape is Dimri Tower. I think of these structures as Dimri Towers, in plural, but the official name appears to be in the singular. This is a little odd when you see them.

Dimri Tower comprises two sections of 4 connected residential towers in one section and 5 in the other, containing about 455 residential units, running along one of Modi’in’s main roads, HaHashmona’im Avenue. The complex was built by י.ח.דמרי although I haven’t been able to find construction or completion dates.

My usual perspective of Dimri Tower is from street level, usually walking up or down HaHashmona’im Avenue but, now and then, my travels around the city present me with different perspectives of these striking structures.

A classic view of Dimri Tower is this view from Nahal Sorek Street. I hadn’t been up there long enough to take photos until this last week when my morning commute took me along that road.

I made a point of stopping on two occasions to capture that view I’d seen online and it was worth it. From there you have a panoramic view of the mall, Anava Park and Dimri Towers a little way off in the distance.

It is a spectacular view that is going to change a lot in the coming years as the city builds a new university and city centre complex on two sides of Dimri Tower.

I’m a little envious of Dimri Tower residents. They, literally, have a front row view of the construction of the city centre. I can see a long term photojournalism project being pretty interesting as the land is built up and the cityscape utterly transformed in the process.

I remember how that land looked shortly after we arrived. It was relatively wild and overgrown. I’m sure the new city centre will look amazing (it will certainly open the city up to new businesses and growth) but I think I’ll always miss the way the city looked when we arrived.

That said, I can already hear older residents talking about how the city was largely a series of sand roads between construction sites. Touché. 🙂

Categories
People Photography

Motion

The Flickr blog has a blog post linking to a gallery of photos that capture people in motion using different styles, which I really like:

Capturing movement in our photos can be challenging, but it’s a great way to convey emotions. Here is a selection of some wonderful shots that capture motion in creative ways. To see more photos and share your own images, visit the full gallery on Flickr.

Here are two of my favourites:

summertime by Aurora Demasi

https://www.flickr.com/photos/aurorademasi/4897330846/

and

Ipanema Beach by Oliver Astrologo