ADOBE SMART OBJECTS CLASS - HOO RAW!

Another great day with one of my favorite teachers/instructors, Ted Dillard. Nobody I know can physically show the importance and advantages of the RAW workflow like he can.

It also show me that Adobe is starting to give Photoshop users the same RAW power that is Lightroom users have. Sweet.


A lot of the Smart Object interfaces are similar to the Lightroom controls.

We raffled off another Hunt Photo and Video card to a lucky winner as well as one of Ted’s RAW Pipeline Smart Object books.


And yet another big thank to JB from PPAM for letting me steal a couple of class pics off of him. He always has his camera at the ready.



As good as the class was I, as a host, got started off with yet another example of good old Murphy’s law in the morning.

This pictures shows both of the projectors I had on hand and that box in the middle is an extra bulb.

The night before I had BOTH working in that very same room with a witnesses. What could go wrong?

Take a guess what happened. The Epson lamp did not turn at all and the extra bulb I had was for the other model.

The other worked on my PC but did not on Ted’s Mac, where all the training material was.


GOTTA LOVE THAT! I was quite literally ready to bite my way through a freaking tree.

My last saving grace was our neighbors upstairs at Prize de Fer fencing club. The lent us there LCD TV.

Another BIG thank you to them for saving the class. A thanks goes out to the class as well for dealing witgh that situation.

Needless to say one of the class surveys asked for “better A/V prep”. Not to disagree from their perspective. I would have wrote the same thing, but damn it! From my perspective I could not have done anymore than I did. Two projector and an extra bulb! What the F&@#!

Once we were up and running it took me an hour and a half just for my blood pressure to return to normal. Another good war story I guess.

Another Theater season starting to wrap up…

A one-two punch at Tyngsboro…

The Middle School preformed “I Never Saw Another Butterfly” then the High School picked up part two of this story in “The Terezin Promise”.



Back to back shows that depicted the lives of Jewish youth during the Holocaust.





















John from John F. Schreiber Photography was there with me to get a taste of the Theater Photog life. He nailed some great shots!







Middlesex Community College's “Cabaret”

Shall we say… a little risqué = )

MCC once again transformed their compact performance area in to a swanky little German night club.








Westford Academy’s “Rent”

Everything is Rent!

The kids at WATA cranked out yet another BIG musical this year with “Rent”. Incredible set and lighting work and some unbelievable vocal performances put this show over the top.



Kudos to all the cast and crew!

Sam’s Back! - Don’t hit me Mr. Chicken!

Last year after Sandy Puc’s seminar, Gail and I took the big step forward and got into our new studio. Gail especially was affected by, if you will, “Puc Power”..OK, that’s bad.


Gail was also truly moved by Sam’s co-founding of NILMDTS and joined the local chapter shortly there after. NILMDTS is network of photogs that donate there time and work free of charge to parents of newborns that never make it out of the hospital. Very tough work, but extremely important to the parents that need it and ask for it.


Honestly and truly passionate about what she does, Sam is very easy to draw inspiration from, but foremost actual usable techniques and advice. I have been to other seminars that are full of hot air and I am p*&%!d off when I leave. This has never been the case with Sam and that is why Gail and I love her some much.

As for the chicken...to long of a story to type for me right now. Call me, I will tell you about it.

Shooting for the Stars!

What does an Attorney, a Photographer, and a Pop Star have in common?

Sounds like a Lawsuit doesn’t it!

Lucky for us, this is not the case, because we were the photographers.


We spent all of last Saturday at the Woburn Hilton taking pictures for Pop Star Parties.



This was one big party where kids get to be treated like Pop Stars for a day. They could walk the Red Carpet with Miss Massachusetts & Miss Teen Massachusetts, learn dance moves from Suzanne's Dance Connection of Burlington, Sing with music teachers, get some fun jewelry to wear, perform a music video together as a family and of course get photographed by yours truly.

















James Haroutunian (of Haroutunian Law Office’s),his wife Amy, daughter Isabel and son Jack were responsible for bringing this day into reality. A great cause benefiting the Burlington, Billerica, Wilmington, Melrose, Stoneham, and Wakefield public libraries.



We had a GREAT time. Some of the lovely young ladies felt the need to get me involved and adorned me with some lovely accessories.


Go ahead, make your comments…..I had a good time!

Here is one of my favorite shots...

...though second only to OUR OWN COUNTY BOY!

And here is another entry for the “Tales of the Traveling Tattoos”…..very sheik = )










You can read more about the benefit here.

On Guard! - Prise de Fer Fencing Tournament

Our first First Fencing gig...in the bag!

Prise de Fer Fencing Club, our neighbors upstairs at the studio, recently held an all girls tournament down at Dana Hall in Wellesley. WOW what a beautiful place!


Dave and Ariana gave us full access to the event (and a couple of free goodies at the snack bar too = ). The two of us had a GREAT time watching and shooting creatively.
I am hoping the next one happens to find an open slot in our schedule. I want to experiment with more angles and approaches. You can check the other images out here.











I have to say that Fencing is one of those sports that doesn’t get a lot of primetime coverage, but if you get a chance to see it up close and personal, you must take it! I have seen it only rarely on the Olympics, but standing along side one of the dueling lanes, I got it. It is in an Art form. Fencing is truly a culmination of body, mind, and spirit as well as physical ability, strategy and risk. Combining all these into one activity is about as healthy an activity as you can find out there for body, mind, and soul. Team sports, though fun and have there place, don’t keep you focused like this does. You can’t rely on your team mates to pick-up the slack for you. It is you and you only. You must demand more from yourself.

























and Oh Yea....GREAT SOCKS!

You won't find this kind of "girl" flare at an all boys comp!

Fifteen Minutes of Fame?

Gail and I have been fortunate enough to be featured in the new members' profile of the Professional Photographers Association of New England April 2009 Newsletter.

This is the most accurate bio to date that we have on the two of us...I think???

Go to Pages 13 and 15
Check it out!

Chaulk one up for Gail!

Every year it has been a Billerica Pop Warner Tradition for the “A” squad (BIG kids) to play a game against the smaller kids. Mind you, the big kids have to play on there knees! It is just a fun night for all and the big kids really are great sports about the whole thing. Every so often they do throw a little guy or two over there shoulder, but they are very gracious to say the least.












So Gail was shooting at last years match up and NAILED this shot. It just so happens to be very own number 30 in the picture.



Truly a perfectly captured moment!






She was insistent on processing this image so I gave her the wheel for this one.

So at the awards banquet this past February, she thought it would be nice to give the parents of the “larger” boy a copy. In doing so the gentlemen from Pop Warner saw it and told her that they wanted a large copy for the club house! Well, she did that and more. She enhanced the presentation and then perfectly named the print “Brotherhood” in big text across the bottom.

When she unveiled the print in the clubhouse during sign ups, she got the reaction every photographer works so hard for! A couple of the ladies were misty eyed and even the guys were set back. “I have goose bumps” one of them said.

Billerica Pop Warner has one of the largest programs Nation wide! The people there work very hard at what they do and are passionate about it, as we are about our craft. I think for them, having an image like this embodies why it is they volunteer so much of there time and is very vindicating. The image is just so powerful on so many levels and at the same time fun. GREAT JOB BABE!

I was very proud of her to say the least and happy for her as well. I just knew it was going to hit a chord or two so I made sure to bring our little camera to take a few pics.