Good weekend

13 assignments in 4 days. 600 miles or so on the car.

Not too bad.

Covered everything from pro beach volleyball to a pro-Jesus beach baptism. (see below)

QUINCY, Mass. August 18, 2007: Todd Rogers dives for a ball during the AVP mens final match at Marina Bay against Matt Fuerbringer and Casey Jennings. Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser defeated Casey Jennings and Matt Fuerbringer in two games.

The volleyball was fun. Good light, great action, got to sit right down on the sand. Wish I could have covered the women's final too. Above was one of my better shots although its not as sharp as I would like it to be. Something to work on.

MILTON, Mass. August 18, 2007: Patrick Ross Neal, left of South Boston, and Dennis Peter St. Rose of Brockton, smile after being baptized in Houghton Pond

This was a feature that I was sent to. There were actually two baptisms going on at the pond this morning. One was a large group of people. The second was the one I was assigned to, just the two gentlemen above. The Pastor was a bit strict with his rules on what I could do and how close I could get. I was hoping to get in the water with him but he wasn't letting anyone else in the water. This moment above was when they walked back to shore and were just standing there smiling. They were both so honestly happy. Regardless of my religous views it was a nice moment to see these two grown men just beaming with joy. Wish I got more of them in the frame but I was already lying in the sand on my stomach and the trees are just below the bottom of the frame there. Oh well.

Feeling inspired

Well I am up looking at blogs from other photographers and I was inspired to change mine a bit. Okay, all I did was change the name of the thing. The old name just annoyed me, but in my defense I was trying to be clever. I am also just considering what I should be writing on here. I would like to include some more stories about work and maybe some helpful tips or something about photography.

I am including a bunch of pics from the past year or so that I dug up while searching for photos to enter for an upcoming contest. So have a look and I hope you enjoy. To make up for the lack of names in the captions I will try and write about the photo a bit.

Skateboarder
This was for an article in the Allston Brighton Tab. The story was about a large group of early teenagers that skated in and around Allston Brighton. They were interested in getting a skatepark built in their area because the places they do skate are technically off limits and they always get kicked out. The kids were showing off for me jumping this little gap. I was having a blast, I love shooting non-traditional sports. I went for the sillouhette as you can see. Its an easy shot but I am still a sucker for them. And yes the photo is straight from my camera so that is dust that you see in the sky.

Tennis Feature
Feature, Found Art, Enterprise photo they all mean the same thing. Its when your editor calls you up and says 'Go find me something in (insert town name).' In the above case it was Newton. I and many others, struggle with feature photos. If you are smart (sometimes I am) then you will keep a notebook of ideas for features that you can use when you are called upon to find one. I did not have ideas and had to rely on my trusty map book. I pulled it out, found a big park and drove there. I think I got a shot of some kids playing soccer, and then I walked down to the tennis courts and found this boy playing with his dad. I scaled the fence and started shooting.

Hockey
One of my better hockey photos. CM player on the right just snuck one past the Malden Catholic Goalie and raised his stick right in front of me.

Ice Menorah
A girl admires a giant ice Menorah on Needham Town Common.

Dancing
Same event as above. They had one work light lighting the whole event. You can just work it out in the background there. This family was dancing under the light. I was standing on a bench.

Manger Scene
Another feature photo. This time in West Roxbury. Found this guy taking down his large Manger scene from his front lawn and getting many hands from his children. After I photographed him I asked for him and his children's names. Turns out he had been in the media a lot because someone stole baby Jesus from his lawn. He was even on the Today Show. My editor was annoyed by it because we had already covered him I guess, but they still ran the shot.

Hero.
Former fire chief in Watertown. Happened to be in Boston during the infamous Coconut Grove fire. He personally pulled six people from the inferno.

Some a dis some a dat

I have exactly 5 minutes to kill. So I am putting up a few shots from here and there. First one is from a trip to Vinalhaven Maine that Christine and I took. It is a photo of the harbor taken from the ferry over there.




The next group of photos are all from a little league game I covered a week or two ago. I have kind of hit my limit with little league games so I get bored quickly. This one was wrapping up right around sunset. Just a few patches of golden hour light were hitting the field here and there. So I used it in a few photos.

Newton, Mass - July 20, 2007 - The umpire of the Walpole vs Parkway Little League playoff game stares off into the sun during a lull.

Newton, Mass - July 20, 2007 - Fans watch the Little League game from the outfield.

Newton, Mass - July 20, 2007 - A Parkway Little League player stretches for a ball during a playoff game against Walpole.