Bruins Visit Melrose-Wakefield Hospital

Boston Bruins players Colin Miller, left, and Jonas Gustavsson, right, greet a hospital patient during a visit to the Melrose-Wakefield Hospital. Hallmark Health System is the Official Healthcare Partner of the Boston Bruins and every in a while I have the opportunity to document their visit for the newspaper. Being unobtrusive and making sure I have proper permission is a must for these sensitive assignments. It'sgreat to see a patients spirit lift when these athletes enter their hospital rooms.

Nikon D4s, 1/160 @ f/5.6, ISO 4500, 24-70mm

Red Card

It's not often you see a high school athlete receive a red card during a soccer game. After a scrum on the field both players from opposing teams received a red card during this tournament game. This high intensity game ended in a shoot-out with Medford beating Malden and advancing in the tournament.

Nikon D4s, 1/1600 @f/2.8, ISO 6400, 300mm

GOAL!!

Soccer is one of my favorite sports to photograph. There's always action happening somewhere on the field, which makes photographing the sport so much fun for me. I put myself in the right position to capture this Swampscott player celebrating after scoring a goal on opponent Burke during their state tournament game.

Nikon D4s, 1/2500 @f/3.5, ISO 360, 300mm

Red-tailed Hawk

I was lucky to have photographed this Red-tailed Hawk at Parker River Wildlife Refuge in Newbury recently. After a few hours on the refuge and not having seen a lot of wildlife I was headed towards the exit, but before I got there I had the privileged of spotting this Red-tailed Hawk as it was hunting.

Nikon D810, 1/1000 @ f/5.6, ISO 220, 500mm with 1.4 tele-converter, on a tripod

Farmland Foliage

One of the benefits to living on the North Shore of Massachusetts are the beautiful farms. I've photographed this farm in Hamilton a few times during different seasons and decided to see what it looked like this fall on my day off from working at the newspaper. I was lucky to have a nice sunset and some vibrant color as well.

Nikon D810, 1/1250 @ f/16, ISO 640, 24-70mm

Larger Than Life

I recently had an assignment to photograph a local resident who won a contest and has been named Master Model Builder at LEGOLAND® Discovery Center Boston in Somerville. The story and more photos can be seen here.

Nikon D4s, 1/80 @ f/4, ISO 1600, 24-70mm

Mountain Sunrise

The sun is reflected in Sawyer Pond as it rises in between Mt. Tremont and Owls Cliff in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. You really can't beat a beautiful sunrise like this over a mirror lake in the middle of the woods!!

Fuji X-T1, 1/140 @ f/14, ISO 200, 18-55mm, on a tripod

Starry Night

On a recent backpacking trip in the White Mountains of New Hampshire I made time for some astrophotography. I used a small table tripod for my Fuji X-T1, which was placed on the ground near my campfire. The main problem I had when capturing nighttime images with the electronic viewfinder in the Fuji was I could not see anything on the screen. In order to overcome this obstacle I used a powerful flashlight to help light portions of the scene to help me frame my images. The orange glow on the trees is from the light of my campfire.

Fuji X-T1, 30 sec @ f/2.8, ISO 5000, 18-55mm, on a tripod

Jumping Around

I started my photography career photographing sports and football is one of my favorites. Learning to photograph sports well can take a lot of time and dedication. This image shows a Beverly High School player leaping over downed players after the whistle was blown. It's always a good idea to continue to follow key players even after the whistle is blown. A lot of great sports moments can happen in between peak action.

Nikon D3s, 1/800 @ f/2.8, ISO 3200, 300mm

Cemetery Plot Roomate

Marblehead resident, Betsy Moment sits at her kitchen table inside her Village Street home. Betsy is looking for someone who is willing to purchase a double plot in the Waterside Cemetery with her.

One of the best parts of my job is getting the opportunity to meet new people and hear a little bit of their story. Betsy is a woman I will not soon forget. You can read more about her story here.

Nikon D3s, 1/125 @ f/4, ISO 6400, 24-70mm

Student Workshop

At the end of August students at the Saugus Middle School had an opportunity to meet their new classmates before the official start of the school year. My assignment was to photograph the students interacting with each other. In one of the classrooms the students were playing a game. Knowing this was my best opportunity to show a fun game taking place I quickly put myself into position to create this image.

Nikon D4s, 1/125 @ f/7.1, ISO 2200, 24-70mm

Bubbles

Photographing people in candid expressive moments can be challenging. Usually, once a person senses a camera pointed in their direction the moment can be lost. This image was taken at a recent outdoor town event. I was able to capture this little girl playing with a bubble wand after hanging around for a while. Patients and anticipation are key in capturing expressive moments.

Nikon D4s, 1/1250 @ f/4.5, ISO 200, 70-200mm

Sunflowers

Driving back from one of my assignments I noticed Colby Farm in Newbury had its large field of sunflowers in bloom. The framing possibilities are endless and I went back to the field a few more times for sunrise and sunset.

Nikon D810, 1/320 @ f/20, ISO400, 24-70mm, HDR on a tripod

Nikon D4s, 1/1600 @ f7.1, ISO 200, 70-200mm

Nikon D4s, 1/250 @ f10, ISO 200, 70-200mm

Nikon D810. 1/30 @ f20, ISO 400, 24-70mm, off camera flash handheld

Nikon D3s, 1/125 @ f/16, ISO 200, 70-200mm

Chicken Dance

I don't cover a lot of concerts for Gatehouse Media and the hardest part of covering the assignment was being able to move around freely. Gaining access is one of the most important part of being able to properly photograph an assignment. Most of the moments I saw while covering the 92.5 Newburyport Riverfront Music Festival I was unable to photograph because I couldn't get to them in time. This image came together as I was leaving the assignment. The 92.5 River mascot was making its way through the crowd when all of a sudden a guest came up and they started dancing. This photo ended up being one of the better images my that assignment.

Nikon D810, 1/125 @f13, ISO 180, 24-70mm

Supermoon Eclipse

I was thrilled to have photographed the rare supermoon eclipse last night. This photograph was taken around 10:45 pm, at the peak of the eclipse in the Boston area. After finding a dark parking lot with a clear view of the night sky I set up my tripod and started creating images. The next supermoon eclipse wont happen until 2033, so I was glad the Boston area had clear skies last night.

Nikon D810, 1/3 sec @f/5.6, ISO 3200, 500mm with a 1.4x, on a tripod

Light Painting a Peacock Feather

Light painting is a unique way to light a scene with only a flashlight. This technique really creates a different looking and feeling image. The process of taking the photograph takes place in complete darkness. A long shutter speed is used with the camera on a tripod and trial and error come into play as you learn how much light can be used in the scene. With light painting you can really control where you light your image. This can help emphasize certain areas of your image. I used a small pen light to light this image, but any light big or small will work depending on your subject.

Nikon D810, 8 seconds @f/22, ISO 200, 24-70mm, on a tripod, lit with a pen light

Here are two light paintings I created during a workshop with photographer Dave Black.

Nikon D800, multiple seconds, on a tripod, lit with a pen light

Nikon D800, multiple seconds, on a tripod, lit with a pen light

Rowing on the Mystic River

Members of the Medford High School rowing team practice on the Mystic River.

For this assignment I was on a small motorboat with the coach. We trailed alongside the crews and I photographed whiled the coach yelled out commands to his athletes. The dramatic sky and clouds made for an interesting image.

Nikon D4s, 1/320 @ f/16, ISO 100, 24-70mm

Misty Morning

I'm not usually a morning person, but for an opportunity to capture a beautiful sunrise along the countryside, it's worth getting up for.

This image appeared before me while I was driving to a sunrise location for a morning photo shoot. While driving down a road in Newbury, MA I saw this scene as I rounded a corner and had to pull over and create some images. I used a tripod due to low lighting conditions and hope to make another trip to this location sometime this fall.

Nikon D810, 1/13 @ f/22, ISO 100, on a tripod

The Waiting Game

Members of the Medford High School golf team wait for their opponents, from Everett High School, on the 6th green at Unicorn Golf Club in Stoneham.

I usually photograph golf with long lenses, but when I saw storm clouds rolling in I turned to my wide angle lens to create this image. Golf is a great sport to be creative with. It's always fun to use a wide angle lens to capture a different angle of a more subtle moment. When possible it's a good idea to try and break away from the usual action images and look for more intimate moments.

Nikon D4s, 1/1600 @f/11, ISO 2000, 24-70mm

Cross Country

High school athletes from Peabody and Marblehead compete in a fall season cross country race.

Cross country can be a difficult sport to photograph and be creative. I've always found the start of the race to be a good time to experiment with low angles and wide lenses. When I arrived at the field and saw the setting sun I was hoping to capture an image like what I've shown below. The main difficulty in capturing this very low angle shot image was the fact I was unable to looking through the viewfinder, due to the angle being so extremely. I pre-focused the camera, held it on the ground and was able to capture this image all by pre-visualization.

Nikon D4s, 1/1000 @f/13, ISO 280, 24-70mm