Also rans

Here are some shots that I was planning on posting but did not have the time.

Saturday Sept. 22nd - Groton - The USS Augusta returns to the Sub Base after its final deployment. She heads to decomissioning from here. This was a bit sad because this was one of the three submarines that I have ridden. It was the shortest trip of the bunch (lasting roughly 1 hour, but hey, it counts)

Tuesday Sept. 18th - Fishers Island Sound - Sandbaggers (1800s working harbor boats) Bear and Bull cruise the sound off of Noank. There was a third sandbagger from the Mystic Seaport which was our local link. Bear and Bull are from New Jersey. The local boat did not make the shot.

Saturday Sept. 22nd - New London - What else do you photograph at a music festival when there are no bands playing?

Friday Sept. 21st - New London - Four hours before going to the NEAPNEA banquet I was sludging my way through the storm water drainage pipes under the mean streets of New London. This is not a sewer, just storm water. They had completely filled with sediment causing mass flooding in downtown New London during heavy rains. Here is the progress that the clean-up crews have made.

We are not men, we are DEVO! The best part of the drainage pipe assignment was that I got to wear this rockin' DEVO suit! The only thing missing is the upside-down flower pot on my head. I recognize that many of you may have no idea about what the hell I am talking about. DEVO was a great band from the early 80s that wore crazy outfits, not unlike this one. For those of you who do know what I am talking about...WHIP IT GOOD!

Deuces Wild!

Friday Sept. 21, 2007

Plymouth, MA - I got me some plaques! What a couple of knuckleheads. Here is a photo of my good friend Peter Pereira, right, and myself at the NEAPNEA (New Engand Associated Press News Executives Association) annual awards banquet last night after we both took home a pair of 1st place awards. My awards were for Deadline News and Sports Feature, Pete's were for Photo Story and Portrait. Pete also took home a 3rd for Photo Story while I was part of a dynamic trio that took home the 2007 Web Site award for Special Section on our coverage of the Equality Ride. A special shout out to friends, fellow bloggers, and cohorts John Galayda, Corey Perrine, Dana Jensen, Tim Martin, Ken McGagh, Tom Rettig, Kristen Olson, and Vyto Starinskas, several of which I met for the first time last night, all of which brought home awards. Congrats! Also to Emily for smiling though the endless hours of photo-tech talk, and a really bad case of prime rib. Prime my ass!

Thursday Sept. 20, 2007

New London - A niece comforts her aunt after they escaped their burning apartment building with the aunts two infants. First it was a call for a fire. Then it was a call for people trapped and a 2nd alarm. Then the Battalion Chief came on the radio saying that ground ladders had to be used due to powerlines that would block the ladder trucks. I am unsure how many traffic laws I broke on my way to the scene. Being called to a fire is one thing, but when you hear that people are trapped, it makes your blood run cold. Most of the time they will be saved without incident. But until you get to the scene and confirm that eveyone is okay, it seems that your heart skips every-other beat.

Here are New London's bravest knocking down what turned out to be a pretty small fire. The firefighters aided the escape of the family, and needless to say that things were a little exciting around town for a few moments.

Bummer...

Monday Sept. 3, 2007 - Labor Day

New London - Yea, that's right, Labor Day, the unofficial end of summer. Gives me the blues. Pretty soon the only thing you see on this beach is sea gulls. Yes, I know that the warm weather will stick around for another month at least, but it just seems that the summer has gone by too fast. I want a do-over, try it again, maybe I'll get it right this time. Oh well, better luck next year.

Thursday Aug. 30, 2007

Montville - This is a portrait of a couple that are very likely to have their home and property taken from them by eminent domain. What you see in the background will someday be a highway off-ramp. Progress is a hard thing to gauge somedays when it is measured in displaced lives. The property in question has been in this man's family for several generations. Certainly something needs to be done with the road that the new highway is planned to help releive, and I am sure that the family will be somehow compensated. I just wonder if this couple lived in a million dollar home if they would still be packing their bags.

Now...about that raise...

Last week

Gilmanton, NH - And you thought that I only shot with a camera. Just some vacation highlights to share. You have to give it to Emily (my wife for those who are not members of my family) capturing the moment that I fired the arrow. Now that is timing!

But, yes the tables are turned. Emily centered the target with her second shot...EVER! I was teaching her archery. She has always been competitive...but YIKES!

Okay, all together now..."Awwwww". A warm and fuzzy photo around the campfire. Yes, as is always the case with a good vacation, I want to go back.

Pickin' in the Park

Tuesday Aug. 28, 2007

Waterford - Just a fun feature that I nabbed on my first day back from vacation. I choked on an earlier assignment so to save my rear-end I wanted to bring something else back to the office. Banjo in the park ALWAYS works. Once again I had to deploy an off camera flash to ballance the light.

I took this shot first as I approached the subject. He was really great to work with and allowed me to hang out a while.

One for the road

Saturday Aug. 18, 2007

Uncasville - I was at the Mohegan Tribe's annual Wigwam festival today, and I kept getting that strange feeling that I was being watched. Anyhow, on a side note I am going back to the NH woods again, away from all computers and cell phones, so I will not be posting for at least a week.

Homecoming

Wednesday Aug. 15, 2007

Waterbury - The Connecticut Army National Guard's 143rd Combat Sustainment Support Battalion returned home to the Waterbury Armory this morning. It does not matter how many times I shoot homecomings. It does not matter if I have a good shoot, or a bad one. When you are surrounded by that many happy people, it is hard to not be happy yourself. Assignments like this never get old. Even with the chaos that occurs when the soldiers get off the bus.

Tuesday Aug. 14, 2007

Old Lyme - Kayaker on the Black Hall River.

BONZIE!!

Tuesday Aug. 7, 2007

Griswold - A little rope swing action on a hot summer day. I about wanted to shed my photo gear and join him.

Slow going

Saturday Aug. 4, 2007

After a couple of days off hiding in the woods of NH, and another video assignment, I have found myself at the end of this week with few post-worthy photos. So, I went back a few weeks. Here are some photos that I wanted to post, but did not have time for.

Saturday July 28th - Old Lyme - An artist reflects on his work at the Old Lyme Midsummer Fest.

Thursday Aug. 2nd - Norwich - This is the only photo that I took this week that I felt was worthy of putting up here. Sad, due to the fact that it is a "pitcher photo", the easiest photo to take in baseball. This is not saying much for my creative spirit over the last few days.

Saturday July 21st - Salem - I dug back into the photo bag-of-tricks for this one at a horse show. Shutter speed-101, blur vs. stop action. It is one of the first assignments that every photography student learns in high school. I do not use blur all that often, but in this case I think it works.