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.

The Lost Sock

The lost sock. Off it goes, baby-style.

In the summer, I photograph flowers using a macro lens. I try to think like a bug. This winter, I took some photos of my son with a macro lens. I'm not sure I wasn't thinking like a bug.



This was from a shoot this past weekend at the Lowell studio. I find myself conserving effort where I can, when I've got my kid along. For example, I usually set up a couple of lights for a studio shoot. With C along for the ride, I let the natural light win.

The studio's 4 windows face south, and depending on the time of day and the cloud cover, the ambient lighting can be cool, warm, or weird. The lighting that day was fairly cool, with some bright blocks from the sun shining directly on the backdrop paper.

Chasing an active 8 month old around with a macro lens is an exquisite combination of joy and frustration.