Durfee Highschool

Durfee High is simply put the most beautiful high school building IN THE WORLD ... bar none. I'm not an architect. I'm not even a critic of architecture. You might put up a tree house in your backyard and I might tell you it has architectural merit ... but about this I'm right. It IS the most beautiful high school building in the world and there's no debating the point with me. I've made up my mind and will go into my grave believing it. There is a problem however ... it's no longer a high school. It's a courthouse. But at least it's being well taken care of.

We'd tried to shoot it once before. The light wasn't right. We decided it would photograph better mid day and once again we were right. We do have opinions at Aerial Vr, about architecture and about how to photograph it. This is a great image of an even greater building.

In closing, I won't tell you who built it or for how much money or in what style or where in the world you can find something that looks just like it. There must be a million stories that can be told about a building like Durfee High but I don't know them and time is short. I just want you to gaze up at that facade and tell me how much the people who built it cared about education (or how much money they had and how much they wanted people to think they cared about education.) You'll feel the answer in your bones.

Durfee High School - Fall River in Narragansett Bay

Fair Journey,

Brian Shriver

Aerial Vr - "Your location in high definition virtual reality." email us with your comments and ideas at btshriver@aerialvr.com & cblake@aerialvr.com For more about our services see our website at www.aerialvr.com

Return to Battleship Cove

Battleship Cove in Narragansett Bay
We took this photo in early August of 2009. We'd taken several shots of Battleship Cove before but decided it was a good idea to return to Fall River's premier tourist location when the leaves were out and the grass a brilliant green. We also decided to make it into an opportunity to use our "big rig." The big rig is our 40' tripod equipped with a robotic mount and a wireless communication device. Chris ran the robot for this shot. You can even see him down on the boardwalk sitting on a bench in a straw hat with a computer in his lap. He's the man behind the curtain here ... a true wizard of the photographic world.

Fair Journey,

Brian Shriver

Aerial Vr - "Your location in high definition virtual reality." email us with your comments and ideas at btshriver@aerialvr.com & cblake@aerialvr.com For more about our services see our website at www.aerialvr.com

Save the Bay's Vegetative Roof

Save The Bay Roof in Narragansett Bay

We took this photo in mid August near the end of the day. It's not a bunker dug into a grassy hill overlooking Narragansett Bay. It's actually a high tech and beautifully designed building which houses a world class champion of green causes, namely Save the Bay. It only looks like a bunker from this angle. It's north wall is set into a grass covered berm about 10 feet high. The roof extends upwards from there and is covered with vegetation.

It's an old idea made new. I remember a childrens' story about an old woman who had a cow on her roof. I believe it really happened! Save the Bay probably couldn't graze a cow on their roof. They might manage to nest a few birds however. Vegetative roofs have made a comeback among the green crowd and Save the Bay is certainly that. They're quite energy efficient in the summer among other things. I can't expound further without doing research so I'll have to leave it at that. If you want the full story about vegetative roofs and why Save the Bay wanted one on their new building then you'll have to visit their website and find out more.

To take this photo we set up our 40' tripod in the building's main entrance on the north side near the end of the day. Our camera was high enough to see over the top of the roof to the beautiful view looking south over Narragansett Bay. The north side has the main entrance but it's not considered the front of the building. The front faces south and looks out upon that fabulous view. How clever of that architect eh?

We intend to photograph the front of the building next .... "in the morning light" .... in October if all goes to plan. Our little sunlight study says that's when it'll be best. You'll be able to see the front of one of the most unique buildings in Rhode Island and then spin around and see their eelgrass restoration project and the dock where the mighty Alita Morris revs her engines before delivering schoolchildren to an out of classroom educational experience they won't soon forget. It's all in the plan.

Fair Journey,

Brian Shriver

Aerial Vr - "Your location in high definition virtual reality." email us with your comments and ideas at btshriver@aerialvr.com & cblake@aerialvr.com For more about our services see our website at www.aerialvr.com