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Artist James Ossi () has his art work, “Soap bubble machine sculpture” installed in Building 6. The machine pumps air into a soap chamber, producing bubbles between two large glass panes. Carefully placed bulbs reflect light off the surface of the soap bubbles, creating vivid, mesmerizing colors. This picture was taken with a macro lens oriented towards the glass plane such that the stray reflection from the glass plane itself is minimal, which would spoil the shot. The photographer also covered the gap between the lens and the glass plane with a dark cloth to reduce unwanted reflections. This trick comes in handy when a photo needs to be taken through a glass plane, such as from an aircraft window. Additionally, keeping the aperture large and getting close to the glass pane diminishes the visibility of any dirt on the pane.
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In winter, melting snow reveals a layer of rich food mainly consisting of insects. This is an open invitation for the geese that have gathered at Briggs Field to take advantage of this delicious opportunity. While this is a feast for the geese, they make a mess on the field. Coyote decoys are occasionally installed to drive away these geese. This picture, taken in the winter of 2010, show geese alerted by the presence of a photographer.
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The roof of the Green Building (Building 54) offers a unique view of MIT, Boston, and Cambridge. The evening sun beamed light through the thick clouds, lighting the dome above Lobby 10 and creating a stunning view. The mountainous, green horizon separated the sky and the city. In post-processing, a graduated neutral-density filter was applied to balance the dynamic range.
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Orange skies in the early morning are a spectacular view. In the month of June, the sun rises over the dome, while in the winter, it rises between the Hancock Tower and Prudential Center — quite a dramatic shift. The key challenge while taking this picture was the dynamic range — the sun is much brighter than its surroundings, and even more so when it rises higher. With a few iterations in the manual mode (and the knowledge of post-processing freedom), one can take a picture that is uniformly illuminated.
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Dazzling earthlings with a stunning view of the moon, the Boston skyline glittered with its jewel. Occurring every 18 years or so, an astronomical event called Supermoon (or more accurately, Perigee-Syzygy) was witnessed on March 19 around 7:20 p.m. in Boston. The Earth, Moon and Sun are in line, and the Moon is in its nearest approach to the Earth, thus appearing about 14 percent larger in size, and reflecting about 30 percent more light.
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Drawing a lot of attention because of its architecture, Simmons Hall is one of the most expensive dorms on campus. Unlike other MIT buildings, Simmons always reminded me of a Lego model house. I wanted to create a photograph to capture this aspect of it — the miniature look of a Lego model.