Headshots and Massachusetts Icon

Have been shooting a good deal of mobile headshots lately. Have been to Health Dialog, BevNet, and Network Health. We were going for pretty standard business headshots but; as you see, I couldn't hold Network Health's Edward back.

I also got to do a group shot at O'Neill and Associates downtown. O'Neill and Associates is run by Tom O'Neil, son of the late Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill. It's a PR firm and was heavily involved with the Big Dig... hence, the Tip O'Neill Tunnel.


They stood in a small office while I shot through a double door from the board room into the office. Was definitely threading a needle but it worked. I wedged my Alien Bees lights in the two upper corners of the office and then put my two smaller Nikon remote speedlights in the board room to light up Tom and the front row. They wanted it sharp all around, and I poured as much light as I had into the scene so I could close down my aperture = more depth of field. Just got one of my favorite lenses (24-85mm) repaired and it worked great. Finally, had to make sure I had little to no reflection in the framed American Flag behind them... it was flown over the United States Capitol in 1994 after Tip O'Neill's death.

Tom and group were pretty fun and relaxed. We shot for about 15-20 minutes and got them back on their busy ways.

Photo Plus Expo

I've never made it to New York for the Photo Plus Expo before this year. Through my ASMP membership, I was able to have a portfolio review by Elaine Totten Davis. Living in New York has never been that enticing to me but visiting is always a nice time. It turned into a reunion of sorts from the Maine Photo Workshops (now the Maine Media Workshops) '02 lab intern days. I didn't know it then, but the 3 other interns I worked with would become great friends as we all headed into our photographic careers. Back then, we were mixing chemicals and keeping the lab working. Now, I'd have to review my notes a bit to make sure my developer, stop, and fixer would all do their jobs.


Anyway, the night before the review, I stayed with John, living in Brooklyn and with one more year to go in his MFA studies. He's also starting up his own BW custom lab service. One of us had to rebel against the digital revolution. We stayed up showing each other our work and talking shop over bourbon and beer. John pointed me in the right direction towards the Expo the next morning.


The right direction included passing the Adorama Store where I had to pick up a print for my review and then I walked past the B&H Store a bit later. I've done plenty of online shopping at both of these stores but never visited them in person. Wasn't sure what was more impressive, the selection or the organization of the places. Some type A's definitely had a field day. B&H has a track system going throughout the store so that as you shop your items will stack up and wait for you and your credit card at the check out counter. They are lifted out of the basement and then roll over the ceiling floor on their way to check out. This way, there's no items taking up floorspace... and all the customers get be enticed by the gear whizzing by like toy train sets.


Past B&H, I bumped into intern 3 and 4, Julie and Dutch... now married. We all headed to the Javitz Center. You knew you weren't in the typcial street crowd as you started to hear things like, (in nerdy photographer inflection) "Look at this light, it's more like afternoon than morning." We're a hopeless bunch sometimes.


The show was mayhem. All the stores and brands you've ever dealt with packed into an exhibit floor space showing off their latest wares. Sensory overload happens pretty quicly. There's plenty of marketing comedy too like photographers shooting models in cheesy set ups and poses so you can see the latest whatever at work live. I stopped by the KEH booth to talk about used SB-800 flashes, the Nikon booth to see lenses and cameras that I might rent some day, Lensbaby to see their new bendy lens, and the ASMP booth for my review.


It went well. I showed my Guatemala work to Elaine and we talked about getting more education, portrait, editorial work and taking full advantage of my new studio set up. On the way out, I picked up some business books from the Allworth Press corner of the booth. It was very nice getting to see some of the folks behind the various stores etc. I've dealt with for years but 2 hours was just about all I needed.


Got to hang out with Julie and Dutch on the Post Office building steps with tons of other people before getting on a bus headed back to Boston and my business.

Nearby Restaurants

With rain canceling a school shoot on Friday last week, I got to enjoy my first day more or less working from my studio at 46 Waltham St. It was very cold for mid October but I was breaking a sweat hustling over the W. Broadway bridge from Soutie into the South End.


Two Zagat shoots were on the docket. First stop was at Post 390. It's an "urban tavern" concept built where a post office once stood in the Back Bay. The walls were lined with wood, straight cut from trees and left with its imperfections. There were three gas fireplaces and two levels to the place. Sometimes between the South End and Back Bay, it's hard to remember there's a recession on. The fair is American comfort stuff like Macaroni and Cheese etc. Then again, with all the new restaurants serving such "comfort food," maybe that says what diners are looking for these days... maybe that's got something to do with current times.


As I shot a corner table on the second floor with views into Copley Square on one side and down to the Prudential on the other, the first snowflakes of the year began to fall.


From Post 390, I was off to the studio for a bit and then a quick walk to Ginger Park on Washington St. I shot this space when it was Banq about two years ago. Still about the same on the surface although the wall behind the bar has been removed opening up the entire restaurant but there's a new chef in town. Patricia Yeo came up from New York to make a menu of what I understand to be kind of Asian tapas. Banq was going well but the owners couldn't say no when they heard she was interested in leaving New York for Boston. On a visual note, I really like this space. It looks like a cave kind of and reminds me of wooden dinosaur models I used to play with as a kid.


I find it funny both Banq and Post 390 named themselves after the function of the building they've replaced.

Faith and Education

I kicked off Thursday last week working at Jewish elementary school for Coffeepond. We set up to the children reciting passages in Hebrew. Later that night I worked the Adopt a Student Foundation benefit dinner for Cathedral High School who I'm now a neighbor with my studio just across Washington St. in the South End.

I particularly enjoy working for schools and helping promote education through my pictures. I enjoyed seeing how the two faiths worked into the educational environment in both these institutions.


Cardinal O'Malley was there and the Boston businessman Jack Connors gave a keynote. Connors was very inspiring talking about the Catholic faith and what drove him to help rebuild some Catholic schools in the Boston area. Interesting fact, the Catholic Church is the biggest buyer of duct tape in the United States because of all the boiler rooms they keep running in schools which still educate over 2 million students in the country. Jack talked about how the point of the school was to educate not indoctrinate and that originally the students were mostly poor Irish Catholic. Now it educates the some of Boston's current less fortunate classes such as blacks from Roxbury, hispanics from East Boston, and Asians from Chinatown.



Afterwards, Ernest McNeil gave a speech about his early years and his paternal grandmother becoming effectively his mother. I got the chance to meet Ernest a few weeks ago when I shot his headshot for the brochure. His focus and drive helping him move forward from where he started were very admirable. I had no idea of these things as I shot his picture. It reminds me that you never know where someone is coming from or what has or is happening in their life. But, the person can always put forward their best foot.



Cathedral did a wonderful job of using my images from my previous shoot with them a few months ago. Large photos were in the reception area and there were banners behind the stage. Very nice brochures had been printed up and the photos were in a video / slideshow shown that night. It made me proud my images were representing the school to so many people.

Lots of money was raised. I've never seen an auction like it. They pretty much said "this is what we need" and asked who could write a check for this much... then this much... then this much. There were no prizes or things to bid on or auctioneers working bidders over. After 5 minutes, we were done.


At the end of the night, I arranged a group shot with some Cathedral students and some of their teachers and benefactors. Bill Brett, who has covered all things Boston his entire career, showed up and as I set them up said, "I'm just watching you work." I was happy to have him shoot a few over my shoulder.

Maine Wedding

Went up to Maine to shoot the portraits for a friend's wedding this summer. It was a beautiful backyard wedding, and the rain held off. We were so close to the water you could hear the foghorns and at one point in the ceremony fog rolled in so quickly and densely, I thought it was the cleanest smoke I ever saw / smelled.



Anyway, the bride and groom looked wonderful and were so relaxed. It was fun all around.

Wine Riot II

Have been off the blog wagon for a bit here... can you see me running and pulling myself back on? A few weeks ago, The Second Glass had me and my instant photo booth back for Wine Riot II at the Moakley Courthouse down on the waterfront. Luckily the guards were very good with passing a carload of equipment through the x-ray machine. This time I introduced a new wireless system into the mix for getting the photos directly to the computer for quicker ordering and big screen viewing. Ah, for all the headaches technology can cause there are times you just sit back in amazement at what is possible these days. Also used a few new light modifiers from Honl which were awesome, and Mere made a rich blue background from a fabric store for bazillionith of an official photo background. It's fun improving this system each time I do it.

It was another great 2 days of folks being way too forward in front of the camera thanks to my disarming coaxing... and a whole lot of alcohol but I'll let the photos do the talking.

By the way, Tyler from the Second Glass threw a few Yellow + Blue wines my way. Don't let the Capri Sun packaging fool you. It's really good and has a bunch of green philosophy (who remembers their color wheel?) behind it. Enjoy.

A Fun Portrait Shoot

Went to Fuller Crafts Museum to shoot pics of Executive Director Wyona Lynch McWhite. We set up lighted stations in two rooms (one devoted to shoes and one to Korean silks) and one hallway and finished outdoors.


The trickiest one was the Korean draped room but I'm glad we stuck with it because it turned into my favorite. Wyona was lots of fun keeping things nice and light which is impressive when you've got a camera and lights all over you.


Check out the Fuller if you can down in Brockton. It's worth it.