These are some children having fun in Rings Fountain, part of the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, which, as part of the Big Dig project, replaced a truly hideous elevated freeway that sliced through the heart of Boston.

This is part of the Greenway know as the Great Room, which has at its core a "lighted, choreographed fountain shooting 30 to 40 feet in the air designed by Wet Design. The 64 nozzles are set in three circles of rose-colored stone inlaid at surface level. Since each nozzle works independently, there are innumerable design configurations possible with the jets of spray. The fountain is air powered vs. water-pressure powered, so the result is a light spray." More info available here in this PDF.

Taken as part of the one-year anniversary photowalk of the Boston, Massachusetts, Flickr group. (Thanks to Greg for organizing this!)

I really love the details brought out by the light reflected in the water. Kind of a cool effect, I think.

Taken on the commuter rail platform at the MBTA’s Porter Square station in Cambridge, MA.

This was at the end of an afternoon-long photowalk wandering around Cambridge, near MIT and the Charles River, on which I was feeling a bit down on myself about my photography, but I just kept on shooting, even when I felt like sticking the camera in my bag, and I eventually came out of it. Nothing like actually making some photographs to bring you out of a creative funk.

Hadn’t pulled out my 50mm f1.4 lens for awhile, and I’d forgotten how much I like the way it forces you to zoom with your feet and get in there close.

One thing I really liked about this shot was the contrast between the colorful, sharp words on the sign with the almost ghostly figures on the platform — something that I actually set out to achieve with the shot from the start (rather than just discovering that it had happened randomly only after I had gotten all the photos uploaded to my Mac.)

A shot of a random commuter waiting for an an MBTA Red Line train taken on the platform at Alewife Station in Cambridge, MA, with my iPhone camera. There’s something about this shot that I find appealing, but I can’t quite put my finger on it. Maybe the sort of haunting feeling of isolation it evokes? Not sure what it is, but it pleases me.

If you’re interested in seeing some other shots I’ve experimented with using my iPhone camera, see a small collection of my photos on The Best Camera site, which posts only photos taken with an iPhone.

This is a shot of some people milling about in the warm steam rising up from a grating behind the ice skating rink on Boston Common. I liked the sort of eerie, ghostly feel the scene had and tried to capture that feeling with my camera.

This is another photo from my stroll earlier this week around Walden Pond in Concord, MA.

Besides being a serene and peaceful place all year round for hikers, Walden is tremendously popular among local swimmers (and fisherman as well) because of its calm, relatively warm waters and because only non-motorized watercraft are allowed.

I was just sitting next to the water watching the swimmers go by in the falling light, and this swimmer just seemed to have a such a smooth, non-hurried stroke that I just started snapping away. I especially liked the V-shaped ripples in the water left in the swimmer’s trail combined with the autumn colors of the trees in the background.

OK. I was up before dawn this morning, photographing the sunrise, and it was 10 degrees Fahrenheit. So what did I do when I got home? Started processing photos of Cape Cod from last summer. Makes sense, I suppose. This is one of those photos.

Had a lot of fun with this one, deliberately breaking the "rule of thirds." To me, "rules" like this exist more as handy guidelines to get me going than hard-and-fast rules.

Runner Crossing Bridge at Sunset, originally uploaded by briburt.

I took this shot on the banks of the Charles River on the Boston side while heading toward the Charles River Esplanade for some night shots. The sun was just heading for the horizon, and the bridge made a nice silhouette with all that brightness behind it. It just so happened that a runner was passing by overhead, so I quickly snapped off a few frames to see if I could capture this moment without overexposing the sky. Well… this was the only one that really turned out OK.

I think I like best the balance between a kind of a zen-like serenity and the movement of the runner headed toward darkness on the other side of the bridge and the golden energy of the blazing sun reflected on the water.

This is an evening shot taken on the Charles River near the Harvard Bridge and MIT campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.

It is a fairly long exposure, and I was lucky the guy on the bench didn’t move a muscle the whole time.

Fishermen at the Water Taxi Pier, West Seattle

Originally uploaded by briburt

Well. I had quite a time a week ago Friday hanging out on the fishing pier where the West Seattle water taxi comes in from downtown. I had intended on getting only some twilight skyline shots, but the fishermen and the water taxi were there and so I turned the tripod and got a few shots there as well. I think they were fishing for salmon, but no one seemed to be catching anything. Still, they all seemed to be relaxed and familiar with each other.

Processed this as HDR in Photomatix Pro initiially from 3 exposures, and then edited in Photoshop and Lightroom. This one took more work than others, but I like how it turned out.

I’m really having a blast these days making these photos, and have found Flickr to be more and more inspiring. I feel like I’m finally hitting my stride and taking this stuff seriously, even though every time I feel happy with a shot, I just start looking around Flickr, and it ain’t long before I feel utterly humbled.

Sunset Walk on Kalaloch Beach

Originally uploaded by briburt

Had a lot of good light out at Kalaloch on the Olympic Peninsula. It’s quite a dramatic place no matter what the weather, and I tried to capture this feeling in all of the photos I took on Kalaloch Beach, Beach 4, and Ruby Beach.

This photo is of my wife and son walking up the beach at sunset. Hope you all enjoy it.

Click here to see more of my photos from the coast.