5/9 Mother's Day photo shoots comin' up

Just a quick shout about the Mother's Day fundraiser photo shoots coming up soon.

On Saturday 5/9, I'm charging $150 per shoot (wicked discounted) at the Lowell studio as a fundraiser for the Friends of Western Avenue Studios, who are raising money to buy the Western Avenue Studios building so that artists can always do their artwork there at way-below-market rents.

Was that a run-on sentence?

Anyway, there are some spots left to fill. The session go for a half-hour for up to 5 people (or pets!), and in that time we do a really fun, intensive photo shoot, then you get to look at the photos and choose which ones you want to take home.

Here's the postcard, for which I thank Suzi and Dashiell - they were extra-cute that day:


Email me for an appointment and I'll get you set up. Ask me about clothing choices too if you wanna.

Stories from the Shelter

Stories from the Shelter is a benefit event for the Lowell Humane Society that's coming up at the studios. It's on Friday evening May 15th from 6-9pm. I'll be showing a bunch of images of 9 of the shelter cats, plus a rabbit named Sadie. Here's a sneak peek:

From the postcard:
"The artists at Western Avenue Studios have partnered with the Lowell Humane Society to create an exhibit inspired by the animals, volunteers and staff at the Shelter. We invite you to join us at a benefit for the Lowell Humane Society as we unveil the results of this collaboration."

Tickets are $20 and 100% of ticket sales go directly to the shelter. You can call the Society at 978-452-7781 for tickets. I think they'll be available at the door too.

The benefit will be held at Western Avenue Studios, 2nd Floor of the A-Mill, 122 Western Ave., Lowell MA 01851. Directions are at www.westernavenuestudios.com

Here's the front of the postcard, with images by Adrien Bisson (the people and the ferret) and me (the 2 sets of cat eyes and the puffy tail).

Moon for the Misbegotten

Merrimack Repertory Theatre has "Moon for the Misbegotten", a Eugene O'Neill play, up for the next several weeks. Definitely worth a gander: great set (the stage - it's raked!), great lines, and best of all, great actors to fill the parts. Very enjoyable.

Here are the pix Jamie and Tom chose for the press.







Edward Morgan directing, Kate Udall as Josie, Michael Canavan as Jim, Gordon Joseph Weiss as Phil, Karl baker Olson as Mike, John Kooi as Harder.

Kristen & Margaret

Thank you, Kristen and Margaret, for bringing your cute, cute, cute boys in again. I love seeing you every year, and I look forward to next year already. There's something amazing and very humbling about seeing how much bigger and more mature they are each year.

Here's our favorite photo, for all to enjoy.

Art of Sacrifice + Theater Mania

I have a google alert set up to let me know when Megpix photos are used with publications (or at least carry my tag-line, not necessarily foolproof). Just received an alert for Theater Mania, which published the "Art of Sacrifice" publicity shot.

The article.

The photo.


Actors Nesbitt Blaisdell and Jeremiah Wiggins posed for the shot and performed in the play.

Not long after the shot went out to publications, the publishing company for the play contacted me and bought rights to use the image on the front cover of the playbook. Yay!

Ice cream face

First taste of ice cream. OK, actually, it's maybe the 3rd taste. When I really knew he didn't like it but I just had to take a picture.

Micro-pocket

There's a micro-pocket near the back door. Which isn't as exotic as it sounds - no star fields, no warp drives. No microwavable sandwiches.

But it is exciting to this winter-weary soul. The micro-pocket is an area of garden that's more protected than the garden by the street or out in the back behind the barn. It's in an ell of house angles. (I think that may mark the first time I've used the crossword-friendly word 'ell' in a real sentence). And what's in the ell? Crocuses!


The fall of 07, I went a little nutty with planting bulbs. I was a couple of months pregnant, and looking forward to the spring, and I figured I'd be too big to do the bending and kneeling that makes up the major part of regular gardening. (I have a fond memory of digging in the garden with Rebekah W several days after my due date - so much for expectations!)

So that fall, crocuses, tulips and daffodils were planted in profusion with the help of one of those step-on-it bulb planters. And the crocuses have come up faithfully since then. Special bonus this spring: Yellow crocuses as eye candy for young C, leaning his forehead on the window to gaze at them.

Bad Dates at MRT

And here are the photos from the new show at Merrimack Rep - Bad Dates. Elizabeth Aspenlieder plays Haley Walker in a very energetic production. The play was written by Theresa Rebeck and directed by Adrianne Krstansky.

Here's the quickie synopsis: "A hilarious and touching comedy, Bad Dates follows the story of Haley Walker, a single mother with a teenage daughter, a screamingly stressful job, and a collection of 600 pairs of shoes as she tries to find love in the big city."

And pix! A pair of Jimmy Choos figured large.

Theater photos

So I've been taking photos for the Merrimack Repertory Theatre since, like, forever. OK, maybe since 2003 or 2004, but those 5 years have gone by slowly/quickly. You know how it goes.

The MRT has 6 shows a year, and I photograph them the night before press night - the dress rehearsal. They give me the run of the house, and I take photos of individuals, interactions, scene-wide shots - and it often adds up to something like 600-800 photos per show.

Sounds kind of like... a wedding! It's essentially the same skill set, only done in the dark. I've got to anticipate the right moment and be there with the right lens, angle, exposure, etc. But the theater has done the trickiest part - the lighting!

After the show, Marketing looks through the images and in remarkably short order comes up with choices to send out to the press. Here are the photos they chose from the last show, Tranced. Tranced was written by Bob Clyman, directed by Kyle Fabel. Azmera was played by Zainab Jah, Philip by Mark Zeisler, Beth by Kimber Riddle, and Logan by David Adkins.

The Mad Hatter

Diana Coluntino came into the studio for photos of her creations a while back. She does beautiful and sometimes dangerous-looking sculptures, whimsical hats, and 2 1/2 dimensional paintings. Fantastic, energetic work.

At the end of our shoot, I asked if we could make an artist portrait, and this is what we did.