These are my favorites among the thousands of photos I took in the past year in New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Florida. To make the cut, the subject of the photo had to be significant for me, and the photo had to be nicely composed and lit. All photos are copyright © 2023 Dianne L. Durante. To see favorite photos from previous years, click here.
This post is available as a video at https://youtu.be/Uqrd79n7msM .
New York
I moved out of New York City in 2019, and I don’t regret it … but sometimes I miss buildings with character as unique as these.
Or these.
A house with a view over the Hudson River: Frederic Church’s Olana, in Greenport, New York. Church was one of the leading painters of the Hudson River School. The tour of the house and grounds is wonderful. Blog post coming eventually.
Connecticut
Roseland Cottage is a Gothic Revival summer home in Woodstock. We toured it with a docent who had helped in its restoration 20 years earlier, and knew a fantastic amount about the original building and its furnishings. Roseland is under the care of Historic New England. A membership in HNE gets you admission to homes such as Beauport (Gloucester, Massachusetts) and the Ca d’Zan (Sarasota, FL).
Massachusetts
Beauport, a.k.a. the Sleeper-McCann House, was home to one of America’s first interior designers: more photos here. Like Roseland Cottage, it’s run by Historic New England.
Dining room looking out over Gloucester Harbor. What a soothing color!
Back of Beauport, facing the harbor.
Mt. Greylock, on the Appalachian Trail, is the tallest point in Massachusetts. The sunset was so beautiful that I couldn’t choose just one photo for this post.
Love the way the mountains fade into the sunset.
Florida
In Clearwater / St. Pete: a sand-sculpting festival. This section is for the decade of the 1970s.
What a combo! Wesley Chapel, north of Tampa.
Annual Chalkfest at Safety Harbor, near Tampa. Each artwork must be completed within a day.
Museum of the American Arts and Crafts Movement in St. Petersburg. If you like Arts & Crafts, Louis Sullivan, and/or Frank Lloyd Wright, it’s a great place to visit. Blog posts coming eventually.
At the Miami Open: the Hard Rock Stadium is very photogenic!
Well done on the height of your toss for the serve, sir.
Flagler College in St. Augustine was formerly the Ponce de Leon Hotel, built by Henry Flagler, one of Florida’s most tireless promoters in the late 19th century.
When you arrived at the Ponce, you really felt you’d arrived.
Part of the facade of the Lightner Museum in St. Augustine, once part of the Ponce de Leon Hotel.
The Lightner is a museum of oddities more than fine arts, but fascinating nevertheless. Here’s a plant stand by Carlo Bugatti, on loan from the Chrysler Museum for an Art Nouveau exhibition.
Final stretch of this year’s favorite photos: Busch Gardens Tampa Bay. I don’t ride roller coasters, but damn, they make for fine photos.
I always thought flamingoes were solitary, one-legged, plastic critters.
Next week: Favorite Sunday Recommendations from 2023.
More
- For other posts on favorite photos and favorite recommendations, see the Favorite Recommendations and Photos tag.
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