numb

Friday Oct. 12, 2007

New London - Not numb as in stupid, even though violence certainly is. Numb as in not feeling. Working another murder scene in New London. A package store owner gunned down on the sidewalk. Not even God knows why. And I stand to bear witness to a life cut short for no good reason. EMTs in large cities will often talk of "ghosts". Not the ghosts of silly paranormal TV shows, but bearing witness to madness, and the emotional marks that these moments leave behind. Not being able to drive by a street corner without remembering what you saw there.

More than a number

Thursday Oct. 11, 2007

Norwich - I was on the fence as to whether or not to post this image. Not because of its content, more than I actually wish that I had gotten a little closer, or a bit more emotion. For a lot of people this photo may seem a little ghoulish. How can I stick my camera in someones face after they have just lost everything in a fire? For my non-photojournalist readers (ie - my family) the answer is simple. A news source will state "Five families were displaced", and you think how horrible. But what has more impact, the number "5" or this photograph? It is out of concern that I take these pictures, and I assure you it is not easy.

Power washing

Wednesday Oct. 10, 2007

Old Mystic - Amy Monk cleans apple press racks at Clyde's Cider Mill. Clyde's was founded in 1881 and has been family run ever since. Amy is B.F. Clyde's great, great, granddaughter. It seems that I always get here just in time to see the crew cleaning up. One of these days I will arrive early in the morning and watch the process of making apple cider the old fashioned way. Should be thrilling!

Autumn Artist

Tuesday Oct. 9, 2007

Griswold - This is just a found feature of a painter that I passed on the roadside today. I enjoy photographing people being creative. So much so that I think that it is starting to annoy my editors. I will not be able to submit another photo of an artist for over a month now. Maybe tomarrow I can find a musician, or someone fishing...

Might as well JUMP!

Wednesday Oct. 3, 2007



New London - Well I am learning to crawl with video. Here is my first, unassigned, shot, and edited video for The Day. It aint much, but it is the FIRST! I was the first of The Day's staff photographers to self initiate an unassigned, stand-alone video. I am currently working on a longer term video project on a Bluegrass music organization. I will probably not finish that one until next month.

Boats and Blessings

Saturday Sept. 29, 2007

Groton - This past Saturday was a busy day for me. I wanted to post a "day in the life of" and run a play-by-play, but did not have the time...go figure. Above is my attempt at a different photo of the third visit of the Explorer of the Seas, a cruise ship that has been visiting New London this year. This family is at my favorite pasta shop in Groton, Paul's Pasta Shop. Great, great, food.

Norwich - This was from a re-dedication ceremony at the grave site of a faily unknown, but historic abolitionist. Here a local minister blesses the ceremony.

Niantic - Three more payments and its all mine! If the day had not been busy enough, a charter fishing boat hit a rock and took on water in Niantic Bay. 28 passengers were taken to safety. The boat was re-floated at high-tide, and is under repair to the best of my understanding.

"Hi Mom, yea, my boat sank!" One of the passengers admires the pile of life preservers.

Friday Night Under the Lights

Friday Sept. 28, 2007

East Lyme - First football game of the season. Football is and remains one of my favorite sports to shoot. I am not sure why. Maybe it is the predictability factor. Or maybe you cannot grow up in a small New England town without having some affection for small town sports. I am unsure. I do know this however, I have a strong dislike of on-camera flash. I am working on ways to light football, and do so practically. Stay tuned in case I get it figured out.

Did someone catch the number of that bus???

Postcards from Nantucket

Friday Sept. 14th - Monday Sept. 17th

Nantucket - That's right, bag this photojournalism crap! I am opening a bike shop on Nantucket! Later suckers!

Just kidding of course. I surprised Emily with a long weekend on the island. And when I say "surprised" that means that she did not know our final destination until we were at the ticket counter at T.F. Green airport. Here we are about to board our mighty steed.

Here was our first view of the island as we were on final approach.

It is one thing for a man when your girlfriend asks you to hold her purse. But it is another when she leaves her funny looking dog in it.

Here we are hitting the wonderful island bike paths on Sunday. Mind you I had not been on a bike in over a decade, and needless to say that our 19-mile treck left me a little sore until about...oh, midweek.

She was on sale, but we didn't buy her.

Sunrise breakfast menu, and yes it tasted as good as it sounds.

Man, I guess he was thirsty! I think this should be the new logo for the island of Nantucket, what do you think?

And finally no short vacation is complete with out the romantic shot by the lighthouse. The only reason that this was not at sunset was due to the fact that our flight left at 4:10 p.m.

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.