I had a different shot in mind as I drove down Benefit Street this morning, however when I passed The Athenaeum seen in today's photo, I noticed that the street lamp in front was still lit. The orange glow was perfect for the type processing I had in mind, so I quickly reversed course and took this shot. The Athenaeum, built in 1836, is a landmark in Providence and is associated with both H.P. Lovecraft and Edgar Alan Poe. Lovecraft's visits were frequent, and the location likely inspired several of his tales. As to Poe, it was here that he met his final love interest, Sarah Helen Whitman. The two met here quite often during their brief and tragic courtship. It was in an alcove in this library where, on December 23, 1848, an unnamed individual encountered the couple and handed Whitman a note that prompted her to immediately end her engagement to Poe. Whitman rushed out of the library and never saw the poet again. Poe, for his part, resorted to heavy drinking and was dead within the year.
Post processing turned to the creative side, as befitted a subject dear to both Lovecraft and Poe. I started with some heavy processing in Redynamix. There I adjusted the gamma and brightness to darken the shadows, lowered the color saturation, and lowered the dynamic light radius. I also equalized the green tones to return the shrubs to a natural color. In Photoshop, I adjusted the levels again towards the dark side, and lowered the saturation a touch further. The orange light, however, is not doctored, and is what drew me to the photo in the first place.
@janets@lyoungs1023@agavegirl13 Thanks, everyone! Yes, it really is a tragic story, although there's more to it than is written. The note she was handed told her Poe had broken a promise to her and had started drinking again. It also turns out that she was not Poe's only fiance at the time! He actually had another girl in Boston.
Karuna, thanks for the fav! I'm really enjoying your flower shots.
July 13th, 2012
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Karuna, thanks for the fav! I'm really enjoying your flower shots.