India Point Park

Author's Comments

Most people in Providence drive past this park without ever stopping. That is part of what I like about it. India Point sits at the seam where two rivers meet, and the city skyline rises across the water with the Hurricane Barrier crouched in the middle distance like something built for a different century. It is not a famous view. It is not even, by some measures, a beautiful one. The barrier is concrete and unsentimental, and the park itself is modest. But at blue hour in late October, when the city lights come on and the water goes still, the whole composition resolves into something I keep wanting to photograph. The western edge is where I set up. The reflections hold there in a way they do not elsewhere along the waterfront, and a long exposure smooths the river into something closer to glass. Skyline on the right, barrier on the left, the confluence opening toward the bay behind you. It is a quieter image than the postcard view of Providence from the east side, and I think it is a more honest one. Summer evenings here are difficult. The mosquitoes are serious and persistent and they will end your shoot before the light does. Spring and fall are kinder. Winter is best of all, when the air goes hard and clear and the skyline reads sharp against a sky that is somehow both dark and not yet dark. Come on a weeknight. You will likely have the bench at the western edge to yourself.

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