Center City
Interesting places in Center City:
the Center City is part of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.
Interesting places in Center City:
Location is derived from the great work of WikiMapia
Check this place on Socialmapia
the Center City is part of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.
Interesting places in Center City:
Location is derived from the great work of WikiMapia
Check this place on Socialmapia
Top photos chosen by u all:
To Serve and Protect
Made by eudæmon
Philadelphia, PA. Press L or click on image to view in lightbox mode. I get asked a lot of questions re. what my preference is - candid or posed? The answer, of course - it depends :) First off, the whole debate about what candid is and what it truly means, that's a separate post altogether. But let me just mention this for now: Many people conveniently confuse candid with unobserved. So, back to what my preferred street moments are: I live for those brief split-seconds in which a human being reveals a truth about themselves they may otherwise not be aware of. Think about it: when people shower, put on their clothes and leave their abodes to throw themselves into the public realm, they put their game face on to be able to deal with the trials and tribulations of the day. The things we express and do while walking around naked in the privacy of our own homes - that's candid. Once we're on the street - NOT candid. Capturing someone on the street with their game face on - that's just unobserved. But are they letting their guard down for just a second? Is there an emotional (not just situational) decisive moment that forces people to come out of their shell? On the flipside, re. posed - when people engage you completely and fully trust you, it often destroys the realness of a moment, too. When people are fully complicit with your approach, they - again - put on a persona, or worse, they start clowning around, which is not the interaction I want. For me, the type of an interaction doesn't matter - it can be unobserved, people may just have clocked you, or you may engage each other with some type of conversation. But the quality of interaction I seek is, ideally, about that second when the above-mentioned alternate truth reveals itself. And in my experience, that often happens when people are in that twilight zone between unobserved and fully engaged. In other words, they are beginning to trust, but are not fully there yet. That - to me - often generates the most honest, revelatory or, well, candid moments and that's what drives me to go shooting. I'm sure you all have your own opinion, would love to hear it!
Scaffolding: Not just for construction workers anymore
Made by kevin dooley
In complex systems science, scaffolding are those structures necessary to move from an initial state to an emerged form. For example, when recapturing an area of land and bringing it back to its natural state (e.g. prairie), you will find that certain birds and plants have to be present during the transition time in order for the old form to re-emerge. Once the new state has emerged, the scaffolding comes down... BUT, without the scaffolding, no change would have occurred. Another example: Mary Poppins. The concept of scaffolding has attraction to social scientists and educators too. From: condor.admin.ccny.cuny.edu/~group4/ Scaffolding instruction as a teaching strategy originates from Lev Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory and his concept of the zone of proximal development (ZPD). “The zone of proximal development is the distance between what children can do by themselves and the next learning that they can be helped to achieve with competent assistance. The scaffolding teaching strategy provides individualized support based on the learner’s ZPD. In scaffolding instruction a more knowledgeable other provides scaffolds or supports to facilitate the learner’s development. The scaffolds facilitate a student’s ability to build on prior knowledge and internalize new information. The activities provided in scaffolding instruction are just beyond the level of what the learner can do alone. The more capable other provides the scaffolds so that the learner can accomplish (with assistance) the tasks that he or she could otherwise not complete, thus helping the learner through the ZPD. (Image of Philadelphia City Hall. August 2007) (Explore 1.18.2008--Thanks friends!)
After Hours
Made by darth_bayne
Wanted to switch gears, but keep the general city theme. I’ll be putting up the rest of my pictures from Stockholm a bit later. But for now here’s a long exposure shot that I took in Center City Philadelphia last weekend. I was actually hoping for another shot after I took this one with a different lens but I was interrupted by two shady guys in a car, who I thought was planning to rob me. The long and short of the story is that I had my tripod all set up and was taking these long exposure photos along the side of the road, when these guys in a car pulled and just looked at what I was doing. At first I thought they would drive off and would be on their way, but as soon as they drove away they quickly stopped and backed up. At the moment I thought to myself it’s time to go. The guy in the passenger seat rolls down the window and asks me if I wanted him to take my picture. I almost laughed considering that I had a tripod in my hand as well as it being at night. Forgive me for saying this but I thought to myself, “How stupid do you think I look”. Anyhow at this moment I told them I was good, picked up my gear and walked to a nearby hotel with people outside of it. The guys then sat in the car for a few minutes and then parked, with their eyes on me the whole time. They ended up getting out of the car and going in a different direction. Pretty shady eh? Anyhow, Happy Hump day everyone, only a few more days left till Friday! ***All Rights are Reserved. If you are interested in using any of my photos for any reason please contact me via email***
Philadelphia City Hall
Made by todd landry photography
3/25/2010: Philadelphia City Hall is the seat of government for the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At 167 m (548 ft), including the statue, it is the world's second-tallest masonry building, only 1.6 feet (0.49 m) shorter[3] than Mole Antonelliana in Turin[4]. The weight of the building is borne by granite and brick walls up to 22 feet (6.7 m) thick, rather than steel; the principal exterior materials are limestone, granite, and marble. It was the tallest habitable building (although surpassed by monuments) in the world from 1901 to 1908 and the tallest in Pennsylvania until 1932 when surpassed by the Gulf Tower. It remained the tallest building in Philadelphia until the construction of One Liberty Place (1984-1987) broke the informal gentlemen's agreement that limited the height of tall buildings in the city; it currently is the 15th-tallest building in Pennsylvania. The building was designed by Scottish-born architect John McArthur, Jr., in the Second Empire style, and was constructed from 1871 until 1901 at a cost of $24 million. Originally designed to be the world's tallest building, by the time it was completed it had already been surpassed by the Washington Monument and the Eiffel Tower, though it was indeed the world's tallest habitable building at the time of opening. With close to 700 rooms, City Hall is the largest municipal building in the United States and one of the largest in the World. from wikipedia.
Ivory Tower
Made by darth_bayne
A Great Big Thank You to You All!!! This definitely is a better day than the day before I posted this photo. Frontpage of Explore: Highest position #18 If anyone had as crap a Monday as I had please raise your hand. I’m so glad that day is over. It’s nothing like getting crap the minute you walk into your place of work. And the best thing is when it wasn’t something you’ve done or caused. The day only got more fun as the hours peeled away. There must be something in the rules of life that state if you have a great weekend, your Monday is sure to be jacked up. Anyhow this is why I decided to post this photo, because it reminded me of an Ivory Tower. It was definitely a place I surely wanted to be yesterday. Way at the tippy top LOL! The photo was shot in Center City Philadelphia actually not far from the place I took the last one in this series. The building you’re looking at is CityHall. The building was constructed from 1871 until 1901 and is the world's tallest masonry building. It’s definitely worth a look if you’re in Philadelphia. I’m on my way to work now, let’s hope it starts better than the last. Hope you all are doing well! ***All Rights are Reserved. If you are interested in using any of my photos for any reason please contact me via email***
LOVE
Made by ken m photography
LOVE Park (official name: JFK Plaza) is a plaza located in Center City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The park is nicknamed LOVE Park for Robert Indiana's LOVE sculpture which overlooks the plaza. LOVE Park is the brainchild of former Philadelphia City Planner Edmund Bacon and architect Vincent Kling. The park is across from City Hall and was designed as a terminus for the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. The park, which was designed by Vincent Kling, was built in 1965 and covers an underground parking garage. The main features of the plaza are curved granite steps and a single spout fountain which was added in 1969. What was once the city visitor center was closed down for five years, but opened up in May 2006 as The Fairmount Park Welcome Center. The park was dedicated in 1967 as John F. Kennedy Plaza after President John F. Kennedy. The now famous LOVE sculpture, designed by Robert Indiana, was first placed in the plaza in 1976 as part of the United States' Bicentennial celebration. It was removed in 1978, but the sculpture was missed and the chairman of Philadelphia Art Commission, F. Eugene Dixon, Jr., bought the sculpture and permanently placed it in the plaza, in 1978. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LOVE_Park
Masonic Temple - Philadelphia, PA
Made by todd landry photography
7/12/2010: The Masonic Temple, built is 1873, is a historic Masonic building in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Located at One North Broad Street, directly across from Philadelphia City Hall, it serves as the headquarters of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, Free and Accepted Masons. The temple receives thousands of visitors every year who visit the ornate structure including its seven ornate lodge rooms, where today a number of Philadelphia lodges and the Grand Lodge conduct their meetings. The massive granite cornerstone, weighing ten tons, was leveled on St. John the Baptist's Day, June 24, 1868. The ceremonial gavel used on that day by Grand Master Richard Vaux was the same gavel used by President George Washington in leveling the cornerstone of the nation's Capitol building in 1793. The bold and elaborate elevations of Norman architecture on Broad and Filbert Streets, especially the beautiful Norman portico of Quincy granite, make it one of the great architectural wonders of the City of Philadelphia. The exterior stone of the building on Broad and Filbert Streets was constructed of Cape Ann Syenite from Syne in Upper Egypt. On May 27, 1971, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is also a National Historic Landmark.
Love park, Philadelphia
Made by Arun Sundar
Photographed is Love Park, Philadelphia centre city. I saw one of the photographs of the Love park in Flickr last week and instantly wanted to go there and take an HDR. When I reached there, I saw close to 50 kids playing skateboards (though in the website it was mentioned that skateboarding has been banned in the park). Having no other option since there was always kids swarming around this structure, I strolled around taking pictures around the park. In about 10 minutes, I saw a cop car pull over in one of the entrances to the park and I thought it was for me. The reason is quite silly, because that morning when I walked across Ben Franklin bridge taking photographs of the bridge, a cop came up to me and warned me not to take pictures of the bridge. So, I thought this cop at the park was for me too. As I was wondering if he is coming closer to me, the place became suddenly silent. I turned over and saw that all the skateboard kids took off. Ha! Thanks to the cop. The love park was all for myself! I spent the next half hour taking photographs of the Love statue and the buildings. After spending yesterday evening at Phili centre city, I have got a new found respect/love for the city!
Sunset on Market Street...
Made by darth_bayne
I’d like to thank everyone who left insightful comments about the topic I posted yesterday and it seems like we are all on the same wavelength about what makes a great photo. I think for the time being I’ll stick to the stuff I have and work with lenses before upgrading to another camera. Although I haven’t been posting, I’ve been taking photos whenever I get the chance. So I decided one day to only shoot with my 17-40mm lens, which with a 1.6x crop turns into 27-64mm. I was very surprised to see how well it handled in the city. Although it’s not as wide as the 10-20mm sigma lens, I was able to get a lot of the scenes I wanted to shoot. It might be because of the longer focal length but it really did well handling barrel distortion in the city with all the building. About the photo: A handheld HDR taken with a canon 17-40mm lens. The shot is a vertorama composed of 6 shots. Each half is composed of two 3xp shots. Photomatix and photoshop was used for the processing. To see in Large: ***All Rights are Reserved. If you are interested in using any of my photos for any reason please contact me via email***
Creative Control
Made by darth_bayne
With this next post I’d like to dedicate this to . Alex thank you for writing my very first Testimony here on Flickr! Thank you for writing such kind words, I’m grateful! Please if you have time check out his gallery :-) About the photo: This was taken on one of my city walks a few weeks ago here in Center City, Philadelphia. This shot is my first attempt at DRI (Dynamic Range Increase). DRI is more of a blending technique which allows you to take more control of the exposure in your photos. In addition to this it gives your photo a more real appearance than a traditional HDR. I original intended it to be an HDR, but photomatix created a monster, a much more noisy photo with unbalanced light. It definitely was much more fun manually blending the exposures together, but it did take some time to get the hang of it. This Vertorama is a combination of 6 exposures and was stitched together in photoshop. Both top and bottom exposures were taken at (EV +2..0..-2 EV), 0 EV taken at ISO 800. ***All Rights are Reserved. If you are interested in using any of my photos for any reason please contact me via email***
St George Greek Orthodox Church
Made by ken m photography
St. George is an historical church located in the Washington Square district of Philadelphia. Built originally as St. Andrews Episcopal church by the famed architect John Haviland in 1821, the church was purchased by the Greek Orthodox Kathedrikos of St. George in 1922. John Haviland (1792 – 1852), was an english born architect who is majorly responsible for the American Neo-classic movement of the 19th century, and one of the most successfull architects in American History. He is buried in a family vault St. George's. Some of his designs: The Eastern State Penitentiary - considered one of America's most historic former prisons open from 1829-1971. This prison served as the ideal model of penitentiary design for over 300 prisons worldwide. The Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia - Oldest continuously-operated theater in the in the English speaking world. Pennsylvania Fire Insurance Company in Philadelphia. This building was to be demolished to make way for a modern skyscraper. The Egyptianesque facade of the building was save and incorporated in the modern skyscraper.
Shadows of the Past...
Made by darth_bayne
Hello everyone! Wow it feels like it’s been forever since I’ve posted anything here on flickr. I definitely have a case of having too many hot irons in the fire right now. Haha and balancing my tasks and time have never been a strong suit of mine. Anyhow, hope you all have been doing well and I’m off to visit your photostreams to see what I’ve been missing. Have a great rest of the weekend and a great start to the new week. About the Photo: Since it’s summer and the sun is shining, I’ve decided to take more IR photos before the sun goes away and the cold weather creeps back in. I took this HDR IR at City Hall in Philadelphia. It’s a long exposure shot of the scene since my camera is not modified to shoot solely in infrared. As a consequence the exposure times are much longer than that of a camera that is modified. Modified cameras are able to shoot in IR at handheld speeds. ***All Rights are Reserved. If you are interested in using any of my photos for any reason please contact me via email***
Standing Tall....
Made by darth_bayne
Hello peeps, got some more time today and thought I post this shot that I took this past spring. It’s been so long since I’ve really had the time to process anything so I had to go into the archives for this one. This was taken on one of my walks around philly on what remember to be the first warm day. It was actually the first time I started to experiment with vertoramas. oh btw the tall building in the photo is the Comcast center in Philadelphia. So for the next picture or so I’ll be putting up shots from this walk. I hope to be visiting your photostreams very soon. Have a great rest of the day everyone! About the photo: This photo is an HDR vertorama composed of 6 shots. Three for the top half of the vertorama and three for the bottom half. For each HDR, I used +2ev…0ev…-2ev. Photos were then processed in photomatix and photoshop. To see in Large: ***All Rights are Reserved. If you are interested in using any of my photos for any reason please contact me via email***
10 Avenue of the Arts
Made by rastajellyfish
Always Better on BLACK! This wonderful building was designed by one of the most prominent architectural firms in Philadelphia in the early 1900s, McKim, Mead, and White along with Frank Furness, another prominent architect of the time. The building was completed in 1931, one hundred years after Stephen Girard. After completion the building was used as the Girard Trust Company Building as a part of Stephen Girard's banking company. Stephen Girard is renowned for personally saving the United States economy during the War of 1812. Today, the building is the location of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. The well-known restaurant 10 Arts is located here. As well as the Richel D'Ambra Spa & Salon. I love the old Greek-inspired architecture of Philadelphia! Number Highest Position on Explore and Front Page! Thank you everybody :)
Alone Amongst the Giants...
Made by darth_bayne
I hope everyone had a great weekend, I know I did. Saturday was a beautiful day for a photowalk. So I decided so get some snaps around Philly as well as enjoying being outside (and without a coat for once). About the Photo: I decided to continue on with the black & white theme and post this photo. I took this photo in Center City Philadelphia. Luck with definitely with me when I took this photo. When I started to take it this guy walked out the building on the right and then stopped to play with his cellphone, just long enough for me to get the shot. Btw, I have to say now I’ve officially jumped on the “Vertorama” bandwagon and I have to admit I’ve totally fallen in love with it. More of these shots to come… Have a great start to the week everyone! ***All Rights are Reserved. If you are interested in using any of my photos for any reason please contact me via email***
Comcast Center, Philadelphia
Made by anadelmann
Probably nobody noticed it but we lost our internet connection for three weekends in a row. Last weekend we spend in Philadelphia, PA and I think I know the reason for our internet disconnection: Our internet-provider. Comcast Center is a skyscraper in Center City, Philadelphia, PA. The building officially opened for business on June 8, 2008, and its primary tenant is Comcast. The building is the tallest building in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania (975 feet, 297m on 57 floors). It was designed by Robert A. M. Stern Architects. Owing to the terracing and idiosyncratic notch, the Philadelphia Inquirer has joked that Comcast built a giant USB memory stick (Source: Wikipedia). I had difficulties to decide whether I should post the square or the landscape version. Below is the other one plus two more shots. What do you think?
Forever...
Made by darth_bayne
Well peeps I’m back from my great trip to Chicago. I had a really nice time and Chicago is a great city. I can’t believe I never visited it sooner. I took tons of photos but I haven’t gotten around to processing them yet. Haha, I still haven’t finished processing the photos from San Diego yet either :-P So for now I’m going to post an infrared shot from earlier this summer. Hope you all have been having a great week thus far! About the Photo: An HDR IR photo shot in Philly. The shot is composed of 4 exposures. three for the HDR and one color shot. The color shot was blended with the IR shot to give more color to the merry-go-round. Processed using Photomatix and photoshop. To: ***All Rights are Reserved. If you are interested in using any of my photos for any reason please contact me via email***
Strange attractor?
Made by kevin dooley
I have been posting, and will post several more Philly shots. This one is too, but what the heck, it's the weekend, so why not go AbStRaCt. The pattern has a weak fractal form, and is made interesting because of the quasi-periodic loops. If we consider the way it was made, it can give us more general insight into how certain patterns come about... The picture was made by moving the camera in a fast, circular motion while aiming at street lights below my hotel window. The rectangular regularity of the street lights induced self-similarity amongst the loops, and the jerkiness of my motion made the loops less-than-perfect. While not technically a chaotic strange attractor, it depicts a low dimensional nonlinear dynamical system, so that's close enough... #348 in Explore, 8.11.2007
At The End of the Tunnel...
Made by darth_bayne
I can start to see the light at the end of the tunnel again and I really can't wait to be done with the stage of my academic career. It's definitely not fun, I can tell you that. But once it's over, it's over and I'l never have to deal this stuff again. But I must say it feels good to be almost done. Anyhow just a quick post between writing, hope you all are doing well! About the Photo: I took this shot on a short walk around Philly last year. Nothing really fancy done processing-wise. Just a single shot, converted into B&W via photoshop. Details: Camera: Canon 350D Lens: Sigma 10-20mm Av: f 10 Tv: 1/100sec Iso: 400 ***All Rights are Reserved. If you are interested in using any of my photos for any reason please contact me via email***
{4/52}
Made by Caroline Twohill
Not sure how much I am liking this photo. Seems pretty boring and ... just boring. Sorry guys, this past week has been hell. I came down with a head cold that nearly put me in the hospital due to the pressure and congestion in my head and lungs. Im still building my paper cranes for an upcoming week 52 shoot I plan to create, so that is a positive. If I have time I might take this down and re-shoot. Like I said, nothing great.. sorry. Thats my film camera. I want to start shooting with him again. Yes, haha its a boy in my eyes. I need to get the battery for the light meeter replaced and get new film, which is easy. oh and p.s. i hate the way my hand looks in this, haha.
