It was a foodie kind of week

So last week, I ran part one of Mark's 8th Annual Teen Photo Workshop. I think I may have had more fun than some of the kids.

Day one was spectacularly up my ally - we toured local restaurants in Central Square to photograph and talk to their owners and chefs. This first one is my favorite photo of the whole week.

Steve Johnson, owner and chef of Rendevous on Mass Ave. He was amazingly sweet, and very funny.

Tony Maws, founder and chef of Craigie on Main. I noticed he had a rubber duck sitting in the kitchen, and of course, with my penchant for duckies, I could not pass up the opportunity for this photo:

We also very serendipitously ran into Gus Rancatore, founder of Toscanini's ice cream (which, I have to say, has the most amazing spicy mango sorbet I have ever had in my entire life).

The next day, to continue with our food trend, we had the privilege of touring the Equal Exchange factory in West Bridgewater, MA.

"Equal Exchange has created Big Change since 1986. Our founders envisioned a food system that empowers farmers and consumers, supports small farmer co-ops, and uses sustainable farming methods. They started with fairly traded coffee from Nicaragua and didn't look back."

Our wonderful tour guide of the day, Brian:

I also loved all the crazy machinery everywhere, use to grind coffee, sort coffee, test for quality, etc.

This is a view of the sheer size of the place. Imagine how caffeinated you would be working here:

And lastly, some of my girls with the new line of Equal Exchange mini-chocolates:

I think they make good product models, don't you?

I think that will conclude this particular post. Things to look forward to: portraits of my wonderful interns, kids, and various accosted subjects; outtakes from the workshop; and, of course, a sampling from the beautiful mock wedding and engagement shoot we did.

Til then!

Puppy Love

Here is Jenna and the new(ish) pup, Maya!

These were taken at the Tufts Vet school field in Grafton - absolutely beautiful.

I'm posting this one large because I love it so much:

See the rest on my flickr!!

This post is a little rushed. I am currently working for my old boss this summer - the esteemed Mark Ostow - and this week I am running his 8th Annual Teen Photo Workshop. And when I say I'm running it, I mean, I'm running. All over the place. It's hectic and stressful, and at the same time, rewarding and so much fun. Today we photographed chef owners of local restaurants in the Central Square area (coordinated by yours truly!) with a few serendipitous encounters along the way. Those photos are what I'm currently involved with. Expect more soon!

Oh, the kiddies...

Cadee turned 2 last week, and of course, a barbeque was held in her honor. I wasn't able to get a portrait of the birthday girl because - naturally - she was in high demand, but here are some of her adorable guests:

It's not my party, but I'll still cry if I want to

Aaaaand... I'm taking bookings for the summer! If you want adorable photos of you or your kids, let me know!

Hampton Beach

I kept saying I was going to get up to Hampton before it got busy, just to get some really nice landscapes, and of course I slacked and slacked and then mistimed the trip so it was too dark by the time I got there. Oh well.

So these were just bonus shots:






And now I really need to do a sensor cleaning.

Boston Marine Week

So after shooting with Mark on Tuesday, I spent the rest of the day wandering around the Downtown Boston area, just looking for people to photograph. Turns out that May 3-6 is Marine Week in Boston, with a concentrated focus in Faneiul Hall. They had dozens of marines in dress uniform and not, a a half dozen guns and trucks that I can't even begin to name.

Also, how entertaining is it to see tiny kids on gigantic armored trucks?








And of course, the marines themselves.










And this is Sergeant Timothy Hubert, who was kind enough not only to pose for a portrait for me, but also very patiently attempted to explain the huge gun to me which, of course, I attempted to process but did not retain. He was very sweet.

God bless in all your travels, Sergeant.

Backwards Glance

Quick update for real.

Day two of assisting Mark. This was for Technology Review Magazine, an article on Danah Boyd, social networking software engineer. Possibly one of the more fun and carefree people I've ever met on a shoot. But here's a glimpse of what my life was like before I was a child-chaser:

And then, me, as a stand in to test lighting before Danah arrived:

A genuine Mark-test-shot. Though back in the day, it would have been on a polaroid. Oh, technology advances.

This was all shot in the Microsoft headquarters on Memorial Ave - possibly one of the most colorful, eccentric and fun office buildings I've ever seen. But now, I've been on my feet for almost 17 hours, so I'm going to collapse. Look forward to more later.

May Day Monologue

Just a quick update:

Actually assisted on a shoot today, with my old boss, Mark Ostow. I'm not saying that I don't love my job right now, because believe me, I'm thankful everyday that I can be a photographer and be getting by, but today reminded me of why I truly, TRULY ever considered going into photography professionally.

I think I have been a photographer my whole life. Long before I ever picked up a camera. (And yes, I stole that from Sabrina). I have obsessively documented my life as it happened, since I was small, in the form of journals, letters, memorabilia, and, of course, photographs. So in some ways, I think, I was always meant to do this job.

However, I've always been something of a self-centered (or maybe, more appropriately, self-centric?) person. I've lived my life trying to figure out who I am, what I really believe, how I work, what makes me tick. But a life like that is lost the moment it ends, because, unless you were truly a person of some significant historical value, who will remember you? Cynical, yes, but true, is it not? Therefore, all this self-analyzing and collecting (or hoarding) and documenting becomes turns to dust when I'm gone.

Photography, for me, became a way of wriggling myself into other people's lives. Portraiture, by nature, is interactive - you cannot help but affect the subject in some way, and vice versa. Maybe this is something I've rationalized retrospectively (after all, hindsight is 20/20), but I believe all the projects I've endeavored on has, in a way, been a means of making people a part of my life permanently, to get into their personal histories, perhaps as a result of being a person who doesn't tend to maintain long-term friendships very well. Photographs as proof of momemts and memories.

This was still about me. However, when I started working for Mark years ago, I think that was the first time in my life I truly felt a part of something bigger than myself. We were constantly running around photographing people for magazines, and naturally, we went to each shoot prepared with background information on each subject, why they're being featured, etc.

However, far beyond that, the manner in which Mark interacts with people simply makes them open up, and we came away from each shoot knowing much more than I suspect the magazines ever divulged or even cared to think about. In order to capture what she considered their "true" selves, photographer Diane Arbus would torture her subjects - enduring them to sit through hours of painful, boring sessions or literally shoving her camera in their faces. Take the torturing aspect out of that (or maybe not - I feel people often feel enduring a photo session some sort of tortue) and thats essencially what we endevoured to find.

Often, far more fascinating even than what they became famed for, were the minute, mundane details of their lives which they have become so routinized to - things everybody does, but everone experiences so differently. Family stories, plights, meals... and to watch each person's face change, the manner in which they would emote, as they explained these mundane happenings - that is what I became fixated on, that I wanted to capture and convey to the rest of the world. I've never loved staged photography - never really thought anything you could paint should be taken in film instead. Photography as a means of capturing the world as it happens - the world and all of these people in it.

So maybe it still is about me. Maybe I want to inextricably tie myself to the world by hoarding other people's stories, remembering what might be forgotten about them if they, like myself, are doomed to be historically insignficant. And maybe, if I can remember them, and have other people remember them, then I myself won't get lost in the web.

Adendum, because my lovely manager just berated me for implying that children are not people. I do take joy in my job now for some of the same reasons. I went through a mini-crisis about year ago because I began to think that what I was doing was lost in the mother's looking for inachievable perfection in their children - a fact that bothered me all the more, being the type of person that relishes in other peoples chaos and flaws. I lost the love of what I was doing in my generalization of the achetypal "Mom" that comes to studio, as well as the routine of the job - a sort of they're-not-really-interesting-they're-just-a-paycheck type deal. I have, however, in the past months, come to listen more carefully, pay more attention, and have found a new love for my work with children and families - maybe that's why my sales got better :) Just kidding.

So the following photos don't REALLY have anything to do with any of that - this is just bonus, since it is a photoblog.

And, hey, its children. Some beautiful children at that, *wink*wink* to the lovely Miss Crystal.

Not really a quick update. I'm exhausted and I guess I got a little carried away - so I'm not sure any of that even made sense! Haha.

6:30am wake up call for tomorrow's shoot, so for now, I bid you all, adieu.

HONK! Festival, 2009

"First and foremost, they honk their horns – or beat their drums, or wave their flags – to enliven and embolden their audience. Members vary widely in age, class, ethnicity and background, and although they often wear some kind of uniform, there is also always an emphasis on individuality and a “DIY” (do-it-yourself) sensibility to their instrumentation and attire. These bands play music that is by, for, and of “the people.” The distinction between performer and audience, just like the distinctions between different musical genres, is just one more arbitrary social boundary they aspire to overcome. Spectators often think “Hey, I could do that!” and, indeed, these bands often recruit new members right off the street." (From About HONK!)

So these, again, are from a couple months ago, but I only just got to them. The HONK! Festival in Davis Square happens every October, and it's a day I high anticipate every year.

These two are my absolute favorites of the day. This first one because of how precious this lone child appears, enthralled by the performers:

And this one, because it harkens back to my first favorite portrait, taken at the HONK! 2007 festival:

Its more or less why I ever considered pursuing photography :)

Newport, RI

Just a day trip to Newport. It was cloudy, but I have a newfound love of arcades :)

Of course, token water shot :)

Rockport, MA

Hours have been scarce at the Portrait Simple front, and with so many days off, some of the girls and I decided to go on what will hopefully be the first of many photo adventures. This one took us to Rockport, MA.

There were way too many photos to choose from, so here's a little sampling:

And, of course, portraiture! Because, really, I am a people person at heart :)

Chrystine, Liz and Jenna choosing cupcakes at Rockin' Cupcakes.

Our wonderful, and very patient, cupcake guy.

Jenna and cupcakes!

Chrystine and cupcakes!

There was a beautiful and random tree formation on a cliff, so of course, we had to make use of that.

Jenna on the rocks. Like a margarita :)

Chrystine on the rocks. More like, tequila :)

You can find the rest on my flickr!