Mission Statement

Not too long ago (okay, it was months ago), I watched the documentary Bill Cunningham New York on Netflix. The film follows New York Times fashion photographer Bill Cunningham as he watches the streets of New York for...well...whatever he likes. He takes pictures of all clothes trendy, distinct, personal, and expressive. Most incredibly, he does it without putting anyone down.

And that is the whole point of this post. As I walk around Boston, I see plenty of things that I like -- and I take pictures of those things. So those are the ones I'll share, taking care to withhold the lengthy criticisms, diatribes, and the like for those items that I am not so fond of. I'll leave those to the actual architects and critics. This really isn't that far off from what I do already, but it will hopefully keep me more focused. It also doesn't mean that I fancy an unfeatured building as ugly; I probably just haven't gotten to it yet. I do only have two feet and one camera, thereby limiting the amount of Bean architecture that I can share.

As I pass these pictures along to you, I'll also keep up with the blog "experience," detailing any trips, events, visits, etc. in the Bean. Yee-haw!

Some firsts:

One of the formative moments in my love of design and architecture came in 2008, when I visited York Minster Cathedral in York, England. This was my first up-close experience with detail -- the kind of detail that seems impossible. Scenes from the Bible were carved into blocks no larger than a square foot and surrounded the two main doors. And that was only the entryway! (There were still stories and stories of building above!) It was unbelievable to me that such minute detail could cover such a huge construction.

So it comes to pass that I am now a sucker for ornamentation, and I think that this building on Commonwealth (left) and the detail just outside this window of the Landmark Center (right) are fine examples from the Bean. 

Til next time!