Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Merry Christm-akkuh!

Jim Jackson, playing the part of Santa Claus, takes a moment to adjust his hat while waiting for children to stop by to give him their wish list on Sunday, December 6, 2009 during the Wellesley Chamber of Commerce Holiday Stroll on Central Street.


Having fun covering a lot of Holiday events and wanted to put a few up here. Hope you enjoy and that you are having a great Holiday season whatever you celebrate.


Levi Bleich, 3-years-old, has a piece of hair snipped by Laibel Karp of Crown Heights, NY, while his mother Geni Bleich lends a hand (R) as part of Levi's Upshernish ceremony which was part of the festivities taking place during the Wellesley-Weston Chabad Center Grand Chanuka Party at the Wellesley Community center on Sunday December 13, 2009. Looking on at center is Levi's 4-year-old sister Esther.


Santa Claus checks out the field of runners at the starting line of Walter's Run 5K road race on Sunday December 13, 2009.


Reva Sanders, 9-years-old of Brookline, watches wood worker Steve Wiseman carve out a wooden dradle for her on his lathe from behind a plastic face shield during the Chabad Jewish Center ìChanukah Dinner and Funî event at Wingate on Sunday December 13, 2009.


Kevin Christensen, 3 of Natick, takes a nap in his mom Jeannette Christensen's arms as his 7-year-old brother brother Josh Christensen has a visit with Santa in the background during the Sherborn Library Holiday Party put on by the library and the Sherborn Fire and Rescue on Sunday, December 6 , 2009.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Old school

I picked up a 'new' camera this summer. It is a 1950 Czechoslovakian Flexoret. It is a TLR that shoots medium format film. Up until this point my only foray into the world of medium format was with a holga. They can be fun but there is just too much guessing for my tastes. The flexoret gives full manual control but has no light meter so you need one with you. Anyway I put two rolls through it and $60 dollars later (processing - eesh) I have my results. Here are a few that I liked.


Real Rhode Island clam bake.


The clam bake master.


Maine.

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Some football

Just thought I would put up some pics. Not much to say. Hope you enjoy.


New England Patriots Randy Moss has a ball swatted from him by Falcons safety Thomas DeCoud at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts on September 27, 2009. UPI/Matthew Healey


New England Patriots running back Fred Taylor (21) is crushed by the Atlanta Falcons defense during a run at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts on September 27, 2009. UPI/Matthew Healey


Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Derrick Mason (85) rolls on his head after a 20-yard touchdown reception in the first quarter against the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts on October 4, 2009. Mason was injured on the play and the Patriots defeated the Ravens 27-21. UPI/Matthew Healey

Monday, August 31, 2009

Thank you Teddy

So I spent most of the past week covering the death of Senator Edward Kennedy. This of course was a major national news event. There are a lot of things that go on in the background that journalists need to go through in order to make the photos and videos you see. Sorry in advance for my long winded-ness but I have been thinking about this lately and thought some of my readers (all 5 of you) may be interested in learning about it.


I started by heading straight down to Hyannis Port on Cape Cod on Wednesday, the morning after he passed, to get some photos of reaction near the late Senators home. Now the Police had created an area for the photo and video crews to set up which was nowhere near the private residence, but it did allow us to see if anyone was coming by car to offer their condolences.

Just a fraction of the media gathered at Hyannis Port


I arrived at the scene above and like everyone else knew there wasn't much for pictures. But not everything is just right in front of you. Thats when you have to just start wandering and talking to people and observing. You eventually start to see things and meet people and thats when the photos start to happen. I ended up bumping into a fellow that was a house cleaner for T ed. He was holding a photo of himself with the late Senator and just sort of taking in the whole scene. From there I got word that anyone that wanted to cover the arrival of the casket at the JFK Museum needed to be there in three hours.

So I hop in the car and head up to Boston. I arrive at the museum and a riser platform has already been set up. First thing you do when you get to a riser is grab some tape and a sharpie and mark off a spot for yourself. If you are there early enough, then you should be able to grab a prime spot. I was there early enough (although in the end it didn't matter, which is good). Then I waited for the walk through to start. At the walk through we were told about the time lines and the pool positions. A pool photo position is oftentimes used at events like this that have lots of photographers but they either
A: Don't have room for them inside the venue or
B:They don't want them to be a major disturbance.
There are a few ways to create a photo pool. There can be either one photographer who is sent in to shoot. They then distribute all of their photos via an FTP website or by just handing out a memory card. The other way is to rotate photographers in a few at a time. Priority usually given to the major news wires and local papers first and then the secondary wires and papers etc get their chance.

There was a bit of a misunderstanding with the pool for this event and only 5 photographers from 5 wires/papers were allowed in and there were no plans for sharing (nothing in the open at least).

Anyway the next morning I showed up and got into my spot. I made sure it was still marked and then put down my equipment and my step ladder (very important) and then waited....and waited....and waited. Okay by 'waited' I mean I started shooting almost immediately. But I was there 4 hours before the procession was supposed to show up and that eventually turned into almost 6 hours. Again, part of the job. I was lucky enough to have another photographer sent up from Washington, D.C. to assist me on this one so we would have someone out on the procession route and I would be at the museum.

The media riser on Thursday.


I and others were all able to watch the procession on the video monitors that the TV crews have going so we know when it is getting close. We could also tell by watching the four news copters get closer and closer. This is when the nervous energy starts to take over. You know you are here for one important moment, the casket getting carried into the museum. So you start constantly checking your camera batteries, your exposure settings, your memory cards and just waiting. If something goes wrong you need to be able to fix it fast. Dead battery - new one in left front pocket...full memory card - new one in right front pocket....dead camera - switch lenses on the other one on your right shoulder - anything to keep moving and shooting. You most likely have only a few seconds for THE shot whatever it may be.


Eventually the procession arrives and I start shooting. The casket is removed by the honor guard and that is a photo. Then the family is lined up facing the media the casket is passing by and they are watching. Thats THE photo.


An honor guard carries the casket of Senator Edward Kennedy past members of the Kennedy family and into the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum for a wake on August 27, 2009. Looking on at left is the Senators wife Victoria Kennedy, daughter Kara Kennedy receiving a hug from a family member, grandson Teddy Kennedy III and son Patrick Kennedy. Senator Kennedy who passed away late Tuesday night at the age of 77, will lay in repose at the Museum for two days. UPI/Matthew Healey

The whole scene of the casket moving by the family took 10 seconds total but with only 5 second window to make the above photo or else you were too late.


Once that was done I waited a few minutes and make sure there are no other photos to make, then to the laptop to download edit and sent the photos.

After that batch was sent I went back and worked the line a bit and looked for interesting photos. At one point when I was near the media riser I noticed a woman standing on it carrying a small dog. She was bathed in some great light and just watching everything going on. I took a few pics and she told me she was just out on her daily walk but had to stop by to say a prayer for the Senator and his family. Sweet woman.



Geri Hebb of Quincy, MA stands on the media riser holding her Yorkshire Terrier 'Big Ben' looking at the entrance of the JFK Library and Museum in Boston, MA on the day of Senator Edward Kennedy's public wake.


Anyway the next day was much of the same. I went to the Library and shot a bunch and Kevin the other photographer went to the church to mark a spot for us and to pick up credentials. For credentials we had to be cleared by security the day before so both of us had to give or names, socials, date of birth and place of birth. This was because the President would be at the Church.

I eventually left the museum and headed to a shift for another client. Worked late and then got up and was at the Church by 6am next morning. Unfortunately the rain had started. Spent an hour and 15 minutes in the security line in order to access the press area. Since there were two of us we decided to split up. I took a higher position in one of the apartment buildings and Kevin stayed on the ground. We waited for the crowds to arrive and the funeral procession to enter then we filed our pics. Waited again for the procession to exit and then the crowds and then we filed again. We were done by about 1:30.

Pretty hectic few days. Being in work mode didn't really allow me to reflect on how big of a deal it was but talking to some of the folks coming out to pay their respects definately opened my eyes. Ted certainly helped out a lot of people both directly and indirectly.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Reveah Beach

Spent some quality time at Revere Beach the past few days. Hadn't been there in ages and have to say it looked nice. Nice and clean, groomed sand. Nice crowd for a weekday. I was shooting a sand castle contest and was asked to shoot a feature at the beach too. Came across these guys. Hope you enjoy.


(071509 Revere, MA) Revere residents Anthony Spagnolo (L) and Paul Fresco (R) have a chess match while Robert Malerba (C) looks on under an umbrella on the sea wall at Revere Beach.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Scenes from the Seekonk Speedway

Had the privileged of photographing the Boston Pops Fireworks spectacular at the Hatch Shell over the weekend. I got to cover the rehearsal on Friday and the big show on Saturday. Sunday Christine and I ended up checking out the Thrill Show at the Seekonk Speedway. It was an awesome weekend. Hope you enjoy.

Sunday, June 28, 2009

'I AM PROVIDENCE'

Came across this um 'art installation' when I was making my coffee run this morning. Went home, drank a half gallon of coffee and decided I need to walk around the corner and and shoot it before it gets thrown out. Timed it right as a gentleman who told me his name was Pena, was out cleaning up the sidewalk in front of the apartment building he lives in. Talked to some folks at the bus stop and they didn't know who put it there but think it was some local drunks. Most folks weren't too pleased with the concept. Which I can understand.

Carnival time

From back when there was sun. Seems so long ago now.


Amber Rheaume, bottom, and Amanda Morriss both sixteen-years-old of Manchester, NH take a spin on one of the rides at the Boys and Girls Club carnival in the Omni Foods parking lot on Sunday June 7, 2009.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Scenes from Fenway

Got to photograph the Sox as they took on the Marlins last night. Decided to try and chase the light a bit as the sun started to set across the park. Let me know what you think.


Florida Marlins relief pitcher Matt Lindstrom (22) warms up his arm during batting practice before the game against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts on June 16, 2009.


Fans watch as the Boston Red Sox take on the Florida Marlins at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts on June 16, 2009.


Fans watch as the Boston Red Sox take on the Florida Marlins at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts on June 16, 2009.


Boston Red Sox catcher Goerge Kottaras heads to the dugout before the Sox take on the Florida Marlins at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts on June 16, 2009.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Minor Leagues

PAWTUCKET, RI - May 21, 2009: Pawtucket Red Sox fans look at the day's line up posted inside McCoy Stadium before the Paw Sox took on the Scranton Yankees.

I recently had the pleasure of shooting a Pawtucket Red Sox game for a feature article for a paper. That meant, I didn't need to focus too much on action and instead had to focus on the experience of attending a game. The best part of the the Paw Sox games is the light. It just streams into the park and just looks fantastic. Thought I would share a few pics now that the story has run. Hope you enjoy, and feel free to leave a comment.

PAWTUCKET, RI - May 21, 2009: John Healy 9-years-old of Seekonk (L) and Shawn Cullen 8-years-old of Turners Falls lower a baseball glove towards the Pawtucket Red Sox dugout in the hopes of having some of the players autograph it before the start of Paw Sox game against the Scranton Yankees at McCoy Stadium.

PAWTUCKET, RI - May 21, 2009: Billy Pomfred (L) 17-years-old of Plainville and Sean Coleman also 17 of Plainville take in a Paw Sox game as the team takes on the Scranton Yankees at McCoy Stadium.


PAWTUCKET, RI - May 21, 2009: Pawtucket Red Sox starting pitcher Kris Johnson hurls a pitch against the Scranton Yankees at McCoy Stadium.


PAWTUCKET, RI - May 21, 2009:A group of young Pawtucket Red Sox fans move from their seats during the game against the Scranton Yankees at McCoy Stadium.

Monday, May 11, 2009

MBTA Crash

I was in Somerville waiting for the start of a Janeane Garofalo show. I get the call from the desk that there was a train collision on the MBTA tracks and that I need to get there like 15 minutes ago. So I run to my car put on the scanner and call the desk again. They tell me where to go, I got there in record time (safely) and pull up to see more fire, police, and EMS vehicles than I have ever seen. I find the Government Center entrance push through the crowd and start shooting. After five minutes the police pushed the police line way back and that was all she wrote for good photos. I ran back to my car, filed four pics, drove back to Somerville and caught the last 5 minutes of Janeane Garofalo. Hectic night.

Turns out there were nearly 50 injuries but none of them life threatening. I believe the woman in the photo has a broken leg though. She was just heading to a Sox game. Oh and Janeane was hilarious for the four minutes that I got to see.


(050809 Boston, MA) Boston Fire and EMS move an injured woman out of the Government Center MBTA station after a train collision. Photo by Matthew Healey.

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Fire in Charlestown

This was from a three-alarm fire in Charlestown last weekend.


(050209 Boston, MA) Boston firefighters look up to 106 High street as they were working to extinguish a three-alarm fire at 106 high street. Photo by Matthew Healey

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Baseball season

Picture from the end of a Little League parade in one of the suburbs of Boston. The paper ran it really well. I like the way it turned out.

Ryan McNeill, 11, of the Major League Braves looks across the field at Memorial Park towards Twins dugout before the the two teams took the field for the first Little League game of the season at the conclusion of the Little League parade on Sunday April 26, 2009.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Road Race

From the B.A.A. Invitational Mile starting line.

Competitors in the men's elite B.A.A Invitational Mile leave the starting line on Boylston Street. Photo by Matthew Healey

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Fish on

Not really. The guy didn't catch a thing, but it made for a nice feature, I thought. I don't know if it ran because, let's face it, silhouettes are played out, but I still get the urge every now and then. So here you go.

(032709 Milton, MA) John Szymczuk of Quincy casts for trout at Houghton's Pond. Photo by Matthew Healey

Friday, March 13, 2009

MFA Opening

I had the privilege of attending an opening at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Here is a photograph from the event. Enjoy.

(030709 Boston, MA) French Consulate General in Boston Francois Gauthier takes in the opening of Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese: Rivals in Renaissance Venice exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts.

Friday, March 6, 2009

Two sports photos and one well

Just felt like posting a few pics from the past month. I hope you like them. Captions should explain what is happening. Not much new for me. Trying to work as much as I can, also trying to drum up new clients. Dealing with car problems and camera problems. But reminding myself that I have a real honest to goodness vacation coming up very soon.



(020709 Boston, MA) Lindsey Gallo (L) of the United States celebrates as Mestawot Tadesse of Ethiopia (R) looks on after the two placed first and second respectively in the Woman's Mile at the 2009 Reebok Boston Indoor Games inside the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center. Gallo finished with a time of 4:27.90 for a meet record.


(02289 Boston, MA)Northeastern junior guard Matt Janning makes passes the ball off mid air while under pressure from Old Dominion freshman forward Chris Cooper in the first half at Matthews Arena.


Harvard University freshman dressed in drag Ryan Halprin (R) stands off to the side as some of his colleagues pose for a photo at left before the parade honoring actress Renee Zellweger as the 2009 Hasty Pudding Theatricals Woman of the Year in Cambridge, Massachusetts on February 5, 2009.

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Getting lazy

Lazy about this blog. Sorry for being a slacker. Here is a photo of a skateboarder. Thats all I got. Well not really but, just wanted to put something up. Color is a little washed out for some reason, but other than that I like the pic. It was just a feature hunt.


Darnell Gibs, 12 of Mattapan ollie's over a trash barrel at the Hyde Park Skate Park as Matt Schnorr (R) looks on.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

I've got a brand new pair of (hockey) skates...

012409 - Montreal, QC - The NHL Western Conference All-Stars line up at the start of the 2009 NHL SuperSkills competition at the Bell Center.

Drove up to Montreal yesterday to cover the NHL All-Star weekend. As I was driving I watched the outside temp reading on my car go from downright tropical 38F in Providence to a balmy -1F at the Canada border. Glad I came prepared.

Anyway last night was the NHL Skills competition. They test the skills of the best in the league starting with speed, breakaways, first year vs second year mini game, shot accuracy, shot speed, and then the final elimination shoot out. It went alright. My shooting locations were pretty limited but I made the most of what I had. Now that I have a better idea of the layout of the rink I think I will have it pretty well dialed tonight. I have two spots to work with, one of which is in a luxury suite, so I can just sit there and file as I am shooting. The other is against the glass, which gives a different angle, which is good, but it's not in the corner, which is bad. I'll make it work though.

Thats all I have for now.


Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Inauguration Day - 012009

(012009 Washington, D.C.) Fruta Abdush-Shahid (L) and Faiz Adbush-Shahid of Baltimore, MD watch the inauguration of President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden on a large screen near the Washington Monument on Monday morning. Photo by Matthew Healey

Okay so its a day late but I have been busy, trying to make up for the total lack of sleep in the past 6 days. We hit the pavement at 6am for the Inauguration. It was cold, windy, dusty, cold, and cold....and worth every second. Here is a quick slideshow I just put together. The photos are pretty much in order of the day. Let me know what you think.


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Inauguration trip - January 18, 2009

(011809 Washington, D.C.) Ludwing Rivera of Silver Spring, MD throws his arms up in the air as President Elect Barack Obama is introduced at the Opening Ceremonies of the Presidential Inauguration on Sunday January 18, 2009. Photo by Matthew Healey

So the website I had been hawking on here before is finally live. So head on over to http://mediasoup.net/ and have a look at some of the work that we have put together so far. Leave a comment on there and let us know what you think. Anything we are missing, anything you would like to see? Or feel free to drop a comment on here too. Or send me an email.

Putting this up....

Frankly because I can. It didn't make the edit from my friend but I don't care right now. So hope you like. Some other pics are up on my flickr site. Have a look here!

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Inauguration trip - January 17, 2009

So we are in D.C. and have hit the ground running. Or walking really slowly cause I am carrying too much stuff. At any rate, most of my day today was spent working for Suffolk University. They have a bunch of students in town for a symposium that started seven days ago. Today a group of them were headed out to the Newseum so it was my job to tag along with them and document their day. It was pretty cool, a great museum, some very involved government students, some cool pics.

After that I met up with Dave and Meghann and made some more photos. Going to post one up here right now. The full gallery should be up at Media Soup soon enough, once that goes live I will edit this post with a link there. But for now have a look at the President Elect mister Barack Obama (in cardboard cutout form).

Washington, D.C. - January 17, 2009: Nimi Dvir of Silver Spring, MD carries a life sized cardboard cut-out of President Elect Barack Obama on the corner of 14th Street and Constitution Ave. Dvir along with a friend were out offering photos with the cut-out to passer by's for two dollars.

Friday, January 16, 2009

Inauguration!



So I am heading to the Obama Inauguration with some fellow journalists. Partly to work and partly to just have a chance to document a fairly historic event, okay, really historic event. I left Providence at around 2:30PM on Thursday and arrived in Philly, our first stop at around 8PM. I am driving (being driven) by friend/mentor David Gordon and fellow journalist Meghann Ackerman.

We have been trying to talk to people on the way down about the Inauguration and have had some decent luck. Putting up a photo right now of Dave and Meghann (above) holding the camera, along with Colleen McEnttee (sorry if I got that wrong my notes are messy) who worked at the bar we stopped at. Colleen, who works with immigrants hopes that Obama will be able to bring about immigration reform.


Okay not much, but it's something. The three of us plus hopefully Christine and her friend Kim along with at least one other hope to post to a new entity launched/created by Dave called Media Soup. The website when it launches in the next day or two will be Mediasoup.net. It will include written stories, video, photos and sound of people involved in the Obama Inauguration. So keep posted here or at the new address for more updates.