Old State House, Boston.

I’m going to put out a photo book called “Places Without People.”

2012 Boston Marathon, mile 24. Beacon St., just east of Coolidge Corner.

I had a nice photo of the women’s race leaders ready to go until another spectator stuck a camera in front of my face. Kenya’s Sharon Cherop and Jemima Jelagat ran next to each other during the final several miles and Cherop ended up beating Jelagat by a mere two seconds.

A recent photo shows the façade of 15-17 Essex supported by temporary bracing. The façade of the adjacent building at 11-13 Essex, site of the former Woodbine Café, has been preserved and will be restored as part of the Hong Lok House expansion.

I noticed this façade when I walked through Chinatown a few months ago. At the time it was still surrounded by bracing. It’s striking to see it standing alone without anything behind it like one of those fake Western towns in a Woody Woodpecker cartoon.

Outside of Boston I’ve seen nice views of downtown from the Blue Hills, the Arnold Arboretum in Jamaica Plain (technically part of Boston), a few parks in Brookline, a small tower at Mount Auburn Cemetery, a park in Arlington, a hill on Route 2 while driving eastbound towards Alewife, and another tower overlooking Somerville’s Union Square. It’s even possible to make out the skyline from the top of Mt. Monadnock in southern New Hampshire.

One of my favorite views is from the roof of the Tisch Library at Tufts University, not far from where I live.

The Angel of the Waters, an easily overlooked sculpture in a corner of the Boston Public Garden. It’s by Daniel Chester French, who is best known for the seated Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C.

It’s hard to tell from my shot that the angel is cradling a basket in her left hand. One way to deal with the limitations of a smartphone camera is to intentionally expose for the lightest parts of the image and make it a silhouette. That’s one of my favorite ways to put a new spin on a familiar scene.

Toy View Boston by Ran Allen.

Taken about one week ago. I love the straight lines of Comm. Ave., looking very Champs-Élysées here, and the way the Mass Pike just disappears around the corner.

In the 4912 x 2760 original (!) you can easily spot the ice skating rink on Fenway Park’s infield.

You may want to skip this door next Halloween, kids.

Thanks.

The Zakim is your standard elegant cable-stayed bridge. It’s next to the TD Garden, where the Celtics and Bruins play, and yes, it carries Route 93 across a tiny span of the Charles River. I appreciate the bridge more for its contributions to the Boston skyline and the way it resembles the Bunker Hill Monument than its utility.

Here’s a photo I took of it on a cloudy winter afternoon:

And one that makes the bridge look even shorter than it is:

I’m digging through some old photos from the past year and posting them outside the Instagram ghetto.

I took this one on a ferry in Boston Harbor. I just noticed how, from this angle, the Old North Church and Zakim Bridge look like they’re right next to each other. They’re not quite that close.