Downtown Kingston, A different perspective

South of Cross Roads and west of  South Camp Road is the area more generally referred to as "Down Town".   A part of this area along the waterfront and north to North Street forms a almost uniform grid.  A bird's eye view reveals the dormant structures, and a potential lost. 

Ironically, even with all the "desolation" downtown remains a central hub in this land we love.  There are several corporate headquarters, Government ministries and offices, and cultural interests nestled in the grid-like conundrum that we simply call "Down Town".  

Looking north west towards Cooper's Hill.  In the middle is the Supreme Court and parking complex.  To the right of which you can see the steeple of the Kingston Parish Church,  St. William Grant Park and The Ward Theatre.

Looking north along Duke Street, in the distance lies New Kingston

Looking north along Duke Street and John's lane to Stony Hill.

Looking east over the Kingston Harbour  just before sunrise.

The eastern end of The Palisadoes at dawn

St. Thomas... a short "post op" run

So i'm back!!! Well sort of...  My post operation recovery has been a bit slow but i'm getting off my ass and starting up the vibes again.  So the crew and I headed out to St. Thomas for a short run.  After the "demonisation" of coconut oils back in the day courtesy of our friends up north this parish took a hit.  

I hope this parish makes a comeback now that we all know those claims were pretty much made with hydrogenated coconut oil not virgin coconut oil.  As far as hydrogenated anything goes they're all bad... taste good tho...but baaad!!!!  Funny enough i've found  this on amazon 

More info on coconut oil can be found here.

 

And Finally for a architect friend,  Here's the bridge.

Made in Jamaica but probably by the british...lol 

Location Serge Island.

Till nex time.. walk good...:)

The Stadium

 

With all this talk of cantilevers being old, worn down, potentially dangerous they pulled it off anyway.  No big fiasco, no parts of the superstructure falling and crushing fans or foreign talent scouts.   So that said it was well wicked... or so i heard.  From where I was  it was clear to see the police presence, both inside and out.  All

of the cycle track was littered with them (see below).

The crowd was massive although I noticed there were quite a few seats free in the grandstand on saturday night.  Enjoy the rest of the pics.

The walk over to paradise...

The day started off as most mornings do close to a court house police sirens blaring loudly over the morning rush hour traffic.  The fact that it was comming from the direction of  the Government House in Nassau pushed me in the opposite direction.  Yes towards the earth shattering sound of cruise ship horns and the smell of sun block. 

Thats just the morning and not really part of the walk over to paradise island.  I was in Nassau to shoot a wedding and the idea was to walk over to the venue for the reception (the Colonial Hylton) for a recce.  Of course things got out of hand... you walk some where do a recce try to find a store to buy a cold Heineken completely miss the liquor store across the road and the next thing you know you're 1½ miles from where you've started on a bridge headed over to the largest hotel in the Caribbean (someone correct me if i'm wrong).

On the way though me and my good friend ( the doomed groom) took in some sites.

Cathedral On George Street

Shoppers on Bay Street

 Lawyers on the way to the Court House

Shoppers on Bay Street

Rum... Heineken... Heineken..Rum ...choices choices...

boats...boats... 

 

Complex by the Paradise Island Bridge

Tunnel On Paradise Island

Funny thing about that tunnel... its below the water level (to allow yatch to pass into the Atlantis Marina)... and I think it leaks.

 Well the rest of images speak for themselves.

And the whole reason for walking over there.... well its my reason and im sticking to it....

Alas if only there were bikini clad models in the background...

Black River and the D's birthday

Andy kept it a secret way into our run up the river.  That is until his son called and gave him the big up he deserved.  Of course we were shocked that our bredren didn't tell us of his big day.   Possibly because of fear. 

There was constant talk of feeding the "white man" to the resident reptiles.  In any case there was no tossing overboard of any tourist well at least on our boat.  So big  up! Andy.

Even without any need of ritual sacrifice to the river gods we were graced with still waters and clear skies.  This was to the dismay of those who wanted a dramatic clouds to compliment the towering mangroves and dense river cane.  

 ISO 400, 1/800 sec @ f6.3

 ISO 400, 1/2000 sec @ f6.3

The day however was young and they eventually got their wish.  Large well defined cumulus clouds rolled in and the sky lit up in brilliant white.  And almost like clockwork so did the river traffic.

ISO 400, 1/640 sec @ f8

 

ISO 400, 1/2000 sec @ f7.1

ISO 400, 1/500 sec @ f7.1

Although i was not shooting with a polarizer i loved the colors.  A colleague shot with one on his lens i'm waiting to see his images.  Having shot with one before i opted to keep it off this time to get stronger relections on the water.

ISO 400, 1/1600 sec @ f6.3

 

ISO 400, 1/2000 sec @ f5

ISO 400, 1/2000 sec @ f7.1

Next  Post:  The walk to Paradise Island