My week or so

Long time no post. Have been fairly busy with work lately (ahem - surfing), but could always use more. When there is surf I am trying to take advantage of it, if my budget allows. And there has been surf the past week or so. I only got out a couple times. It was okay not as big as I had hoped. Also think I was in some pretty foul water on one of the days. It was the day after the storm and I was antsy to get in the water. I intentionally went to a spot that was away from more populated areas. From what I have read some of the more popular beaches down here have some major pollution problems, old septic lines that cant handle storm runoff and it all ends up in the water. So I went to surf near some farm country. The water was still brown and smelled like....hmm not sure what, but the waves were nice, and I had the entire beach to myself...literally. Not one other person around. Well there was a couple that walked by with their dog, but that was it. That doesn't happen too often once the warm weather comes back. Especially considering that the beach I was at was a high falutin private beach in a rich neighborhood. I probably wont even be able to drive down the road to get to it in the summer.

I actually havent worked too much since the Marathon, and after looking at my archives it just dawned on me, I better start getting some more jobs. Anyway I had the pleasure of covering a few pro sports for UPI last week/this week. On Wednesday I had the Celtics game against the Pistons. Was a great game for the Celts, fun to watch. The Pistons put on a bit of a show when they were coming my way in the second half, which made my life a lot easier.

Detroit Pistons forward Amir Johnson hangs on the rim after dunking while Boston Celtics center Kendrick Perkins looks on in the second half at the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston on April 18, 2007. The Pistons defeated the Celtics 91-89.

On Saturday I had some work for CNC. First two jobs involved the kick off of 'Science Week' in Cambridge. The first part involved going to MIT to get some shots of families participating in an 'Augmented Reality Game'. Which was essentially a real world mystery that you played by walking around campus with a handheld computer and a GPS tracking device. At certain locations shown on a live map you would discover information about the mystery. Cool concept, much better than a traditional video game and the weather outside was fantastic which just sweetened the deal.

Michael Kiang, 8, and his father Douglas, of Dedham pause to look at a map for help as part of an Augmented Reality game on the MIT campus on Saturday April 21, 2007. The game was just one of the events taking place for Science Week in Cambridge

Next up was the actual kickoff ceremony and science booths (read PR booths) at City Hall. The highlight being a large scale human powered hamster wheel. Sounded fun, but it was hard to shoot. I'll spare you.

After that I was off to Brookline to the Larz Anderson Auto Museum annual classic car auction. This happens every year at the park but I had never been. Turns out its not easy to photograph people looking at cars. It could have been if there were more people walking around browsing the cars, and then I could have just gone unnoticed and fired away. But the actual auction had started so most of the bidders were seated in the auction tent. The few who weren't bidding were just wandering around and kept apologizing to me for getting in my shot. I spent a lot of time just waiting....and waiting....and waiting. It happens. I eventually found a few folks who knew I was photographing them and didn't care. I tried to avoid the standard people standing in front of a car looking at it shot and played around with some reflections. This was one of them, not sure if it works but whatever.

Steven Gerrone, right, 17, of Methuen and his father Arthur Gerrone, are reflected in the body of a 1958 Formula 1 race car, while attending the annual Bonhams & Butterfields classic car auction at the Larz Anderson Auto Museum on Saturday April 21, 2007.

On Sunday I got to photograph the Red Sox/Yankees matchup for UPI. UPI had been trying for awhile to get myself or my friend into one of the games in which Matsuzaka was starting. They finally granted us a credential two days before the game. The media were out in full force for Dice-K. I got a spot in the first base photo well, the second row. It was actually a pretty good system. The first row was down lower and the second row had stools, so no one got in any ones way, unless you were trying to photograph the dugout. And the seats were all assigned so there was no jockeying for a spot. I even had a second stool to put my laptop on, which I took from ESPN after Peter Gammons used it for his on field live shot.

A Boston Red Sox fan holds up a sign for starting pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka (18) of Japan in the first inning against the New York Yankees at Fenway park in Boston on April 22, 2007.

That's all I got for now. If you would like to see all my shots from the game click on the link to the right for UPI.