This one is for me.....BRAGGING RIGHTS!

OK, ABSOLUTLEY NOTHING TO DO WITH PHOTOGRAPHY HERE, BUT.......HOW AWWWWWWESOME IS THIS!!!

Eat your heart out Dad!

One 1972 Boston Bruins Stanley Cup Ring!!

A co-worker brought this in for me. His Grandfather worked for the Bruins back in the day (Orr, Cheevers, Cashman, Esposito, the original "Garden", no helmets).
He was there when they won their last Stanely Cup...1972.

My dad and I used to watch them faithfully. We would even get to a game every now and then. Good memories = ).



So it was just too cool to slip this ring on during what will be without question their most unbelievable season EVER! If they do it this year, it will make this moment even sweeter.
Thank you Ryan!

Boston Rock Gym's HEART OF STEELBoludering CompetitionWOW....WOW....WOW...

OH MY MAKER (trying to be P.C. here)
The moves we witnessed this weekend would not be believed unless seen.

Check out this slide show for a peak at the day...

and/or check out the gallery for images.


The comp was a huge success. Our hats off to Gavin, Chris and the whole crew at the Boston Rock Gym in Woburn, MA. The gym was full of vendors and a car from Woburn Scion no less. Life Under Sun, JRA Cycles, REI, Northface, Mantis Collective, Totally Sweet (Vegan cookies ROCK! I can say from personal experience), WFNX, and of course yours truly, were all on hand. Hiking gear, camping gear, climbing gear, etc...and Money! Money! Money! was won and raffled off at the event.

The day ended with the final rounds where 3 male and 3 female climbers had top two routes, having 8 minutes on each. A new twist that the BRG put on this comp was taping money along each route.

One of the female climbers lifted the money up ever so gently with her toes, reached with one hand down to her feet and plucked the cash off the wall--all while hanging by one hand! Another just did a double toe pluck!


On the final men's route, a pole was hung out over the top of the structure with a hundred dollar bill attached (nice tape job Chris).




The final male climber topped this route with the crowd cheering him on. The crowd EXPLODED as he pulled off some absolutely INSANE moves and swung to the top to claim the Heart of Steel 2009 title.



I present to you the comp winners! Make no mistake about it, these climbers are nothing short of Olympic atheletes. What they can do is simply amazing!


For the first time Gail and I modified our wedding display to be a bit more on the hip side as we knew prospective brides were not likely to be looking for us there.






In preparation for this event, I spent more than a few dust hours last week balancing precariously atop the climbing walls (where no one goes normally) vacuuming chalk dust to make my day of crawling around up there and shooting a bit cleaner (and it was). Totally worth my time by the way. The last time I tested out these angles I was a human chalk ball in minutes.













My goal for the day was to try and catch it. When I say "it", I mean that moment...that moment when you think you are about to reach beyond your personal ability...stretching, reaching...RISKING. That moment where failure and falling is a real possibility, but, if you don't reach for it you can never advance. I think I caught a few of those moments and more. I've been a member of the gym for a over a year now and I think that definitely helped me connect visually with the climbers... though I could not keep up with half of them = ).












ASA's Tales of the Traveling Tattoo got some new photo entries for the Facebook account as we had a few climbers sporting them during the day...

How psyched were Gail and I to see one of the female finalists walk up to the wall with and ASA Photographic tattoo right across her chest!


















We also got some cool images that were just screaming for an artsy twist. This has to be one of my favorites. I think I will print it out and see if I can hang it in the gym. Sweet wall art!

The great thing about climbing though is that you don't have to be an insane boulderer/climber to feel that risk and payoff. Pushing the bounds of your own skill level is what it is all about. You push, you risk, you fall, and you keep on working the problem until you get it. I have said it before and I will say it again: climbing is one of the best forms of personal training...mentally and physically. Gail and I have been taking the boys and letting them go at their own pace.

In with the New Year.....I need to catch up!

So at last entry, fall was coming to a close. This meant the end of our oldest boy’s Pop Warner football season. Though we miss watching the kids play, this opened a huge part of our crazy schedule. As an annual tradition, the “A” squad (the oldest boys) play the youngest kids. The big kids are forced to play on there knees in efforts to even the odds a little. It is cool to see how great the older boys are with the young kids. Gail snagged this AWESOME shot of one of the older boys walking with Matthew back to the line.






We had our last wedding of the season with Gerry and Hanna.


So here is a great Wedding story. Gerry and I knew each other back in High School. After graduation,
I would have to say we had not seed each other for 7 or 8 years and then he started popping up at wedding jobs that we were shooting for other clients. It became a running joke between Gerry and I. I used to tell him that one day if he was lucky that I would shoot his wedding. Then it happened. Gail and I were shooting Gina and Geoff’s wedding and there he was again, except…..wait a minute…who is that with him? Hannah was as nice as she was beautiful. I remember telling Gerry specifically “don’t let that one get away”. Fast forward about a year and the call came in. We were excited that they chose us to shoot their wedding.


Hanna was absolutely stunning in a dress that was no doubt made for her. Not to be outdone so easily, Gerry went and topped our “Best Enterance by a Groom” category by landing on the lawn of the Castleton in a helicopter. Once the helicopter left though, it was all Hannah again (sorry Gerry).

They were also officially our first Bride and Groom to sport our new ASA Tattoos. They have officially kicked of our “Tales of the Traveling Tattoo” Tour. There are a few more out currently that we are hoping will come back with a picture.








Our last few Seniors of the year came through the studio. This included our first Billerica Student. We have been able to get more photo props in as well and we have been having a great time getting creative with them.
I feel like it and so much more dimension, style and attitude to a shoot. So when we ask you to bring something like this, please do it! I tell everyone whatever will fit through the door will work if it has some significance to you.







We also saw our first hometown Senior and I was able to try out some of my new image templates to pull together a custom composite.









New couples on the marital countdown…












Soon to join our photo family are two more great couples. As always, we have fun bringing them into the studio for an engagement shoot.






















Stock site starting to Ramp up…At LONG LONG last I have been able to start adding images to the Stock site. I am trying to get all the older slide work uploaded first, though some of the newer images have been sneaking in as well. I can not wait to get all of them up. To be able to shoot and upload my images right away will be awesome. Check them out and let me know what you think. You can browse them by content, location, or popular New England location by using the menu tree on the upper left or use the keyword search box. They are available for download. I will most likely get some sort of promo going and send out coupons just to get some site traffic.





These images are from my “White Dress” series. When I was younger and had a little more time, I was able get more creative then time has permitted me in the last 8 years. It will come around again.



Check out some stock images from all over New England...


















Another Theater Season off and running…
Kicked off by a King Stag double header, BMHS and Westford academy
Westford














BMHS




















Superstar productions Followed with a very cute rendition of the Jungle book at the Harvard Elementary School.




















MCC
In another great transformation of a limited performing area, MCC kicked out another great performance with “A Mid-Summer Nights Dream”.




















Are into Facebook?
So without me even knowing, Gail has got us rolling on Facebook. You can check us out here. I don’t know the first thing about it, but guess it is the “in” thing now.