Eric and Jasmine's New Family

Eric and Jasmine have a comfy red house, a useful red barn, and an ingenious new chicken coop that's full of chickens. But this post is about their month-old son, X. Oh my! He fell asleep in my arms, which has caused a permanent heartstring attachment. I will enjoy watching him grow up.

Without further ado, some of my favorite collaborative shots:

Compliments to the Chef

In October, Jones Farm in Chelmsford, MA was the site of the Chelmsford Mothers' Club fall photo shoot. Rain was predicted for the weekend, and it rained so hard on Sunday that it snowed. So that we could be indoors, Jones Farm offered the use of one of their greenhouses. Add to that the fact that Dave from the farm worked with me for close to 2 hours to set up the hay bales and flowers, plus the fact that they offer fresh coffee and croissants in their cafe, and I've become a fan for life.

Let me offer a shout-out to Brenda Alcorn, who was the event's coordinator. She's another CMC mom, and with a 2 1/2 year old daughter at home, she somehow managed to stay on top of all of the correspondence with the farm, the photographers, and the families. Thank you again, Brenda, for your professionalism and good cheer. I will look forward to working with you again!

And Wendy said - "This year at the CMC Photo Shoot, we had Meghan Moore take our photos. She did a great job with all of us, plus the two kids. J (5 months) wouldn't look where Meghan wanted us to so Meghan worked with the rest of us so we were looking in the same direction as J. She also got some great shots of Brian holding J. We were very pleased with our pictures and would highly recommend Meghan."


Kim said - "We also had Meghan Moore take our pictures for the fall CMC photo shoot. The pictures were stunning. I would and will use her again."

The Slide & The Truck

The orange slide from Cousin Cheryl came inside for the winter. There's not as much space to slide around in, but there's Trucks!

BTW, this post's photos are about seeing the world the way my kid seems to see it: piecemeal, intense, object-driven.

Tech notes: I'm using a 50mm lens for these shots, and with the 1.62 lens factor on the dSLR, the lens is longer. I took a few frames to figure out exposure, then set it manually to f/2 at 1/60 at ISO 640. I took out some of the tungsten-yellow in post-process, but the orange of his sweater and the slide were so yummy that I didn't want to cool them off completely.

I think I wanna print out that second picture immensely large. The spray of his fingers is what gets me the most.

Bruise-Free Since 1999

Megpix Painless Portraits come with a guarantee. If they're not absolutely painless, you can pinch me. Bruise-free since 1999!

Yep, the portraits get pretty silly. The free Painless Portraits happen every month at my studio in Western Avenue Studios in Lowell on the first Saturday of every month, 12-5. These are lightning-quick, cheerful, personality-baring portraits, and in many cases, you can see and choose the photos right after the shoot.

We have 4 days of open studios in December - it's the first 2 weekends this coming month. The portraits are free, and when you find photos you like, you can purchase a download for $20. What do you do with a download? Holiday cards!

(Why yes, that is my mom and dad!)

MRT - Heroes

Merrimack Repertory Theatre is performing "Heroes". I'm told it's a French play, translated by a Brit (Tom Stoppard), and now performed in America. It takes place in 1959 in a vets' home, and 3 feisty old guys hatch escape plans while dealing with each other's wildly entertaining foibles. I enjoyed the heck out of it.

Oh, and the actors are all award winners and/or nominees (from http://merrimackrep.wordpress.com/2009/10/27/cast-crew-of-heroes-announced-merrimack-rep/):
Tony Award-winner Ron Holgate (Gustave)
Tony-nominee and Drama Desk Award winner Jonathan Hogan (Philippe)
Ken Tigar (Henri), a television regular with over 130 television and film credits

Bekah Belly

Did you see the latest postcard? Would you like to receive one? Just email me with your real-world address, and I'll send one out.

This quarter's postcard included a photo of Bekah's son J. But first, Bekah's belly before we all met J.

Bekah held her son up for me - he was 5 months old for this photo. There's a window with southern exposure to the right of the photo. And the glass was pretty dirty! So we got some nice diffusion. And to the left of the photo, behind J's head, is another window, with eastern exposure. A nice fill. Plus, who wouldn't enjoy the exit/salida sign with J's excellent expression?

Family portrait at home

Had a wonderful family portrait shoot this weekend with Tiffany, Mick and their daughter K. at their home. Ready?

And I get applesauce in my ear

C feeds the baby doll applesauce. Snuggles the baby. Holds the baby out for me to snuggle. I snuggle the baby.

Applesauce transfer complete.

Lotta Artists

Compare and contrast. A photo taken in September 2005, on the weekend of the first Lowell Open Studios that Western Avenue Studios participated in. The building had started in July 2005 with 35 or so artists on the 5th floor. And that was it. None of the other floors had been built out yet.

The second photo was taken at the beginning of October in 2009. There are over 200 artists in the building. There are 143 studios spread out among 6 looooong hallways. We have a co-op gallery. We have a goal: raise $2Million to put a down payment on the building so it will remain artist-occupied in perpetuity. And we have lots and lots of people.

For one thing, our faces are a lot smaller in the 2009 photo. And I had to stand on a ladder to take the picture, rather than putting people up a ladder. Heh.

Thanks again, John Greenwald, for pushing us to do the first picture - a historic moment! - and for pushing us to do the second picture 4 successful years later.

Oh, and here's a link I'm often asked for: Megpix:WesternAve
That's the link to pictures I took of the inside of Western Ave while many of the industrial machines were still in situ.

Flying Karamazov Page 6

There's a review in today's Boston Globe for the opening show at Merrimack Repertory Theatre, the Flying Karamazov Brothers' "Flings & Eros". Guess whose pictures are used? Mine! And guess who got a photo credit? Me! The Globe has been much better lately about photo credits, and I am thankful. MRT always insists on the credit, and the credits have been there more often than not.

What does a photo credit do? Why, it allows me to grin madly and wave the tear sheet around. Which is what I'm doing here. Virtually, of course, so you're not obligated to grin back at me. Even after 10 years at this, tear sheets are still exciting.

Here are the photos that accompany the printed article, which appears on page 6 of G, the arts & entertainment section.