Champions

Champions. 

That is the perfect word to describe Bobby Orr and Pat Bradley whom I had the pleasure of photographing over the summer for the covers of Golf & Leisure magazine. 

Bobby Orr is an absolute legend in these parts. Whenever I told someone I was shooting Bobby Orr, it was ALWAYS followed by either,"Wow, that guy's a legend" or, "He is such a NICE guy!" I knew this assignment was magic when I got the email from editor Rob Duca to shoot it (as if any sane photographer would say no) and I happened to be at the passport office in Boston, looking down on Bobby Orr's statue at that very second. Freaky. He was an absolute pleasure, even responding to a camera two feet from his face, held by someone he just met, with a good natured: "Just don't make me look old". I could go on and on about how cool Bobby Orr is, but lets just wrap it up with this description: he is Frank Sinatra, the hilarious guy at the coffee shop that knows everyone, your big brother that will always beat you at sports, and the mayor of whatever town he is in: all in one. Basically, he's the man. 

And that brings us to our other legend, Pat Bradley. If you don't already know who she is, let me tell you. Pat Bradley is the MOST accomplished female golfer of ALL TIME. No exaggeration. She brings  me to her local course, the one and only Hyannisport Golf Club, where we park in a back lot which I'm convinced is the secret celebrity entrance (as I imagine many a Kennedy sneaking on to the course this way). She unloads her clubs, and it simply says "Hall of Fame" on the bag. If you're a real champion, you get to stitch that on your golf bag right under your name. She is unbelievably gracious as she poses in multiple locations, and talks about her days of competitive skiing. You get the feeling Pat probably could have rocked anything she put her hand to, she just happened to choose golf. She also gushes about her nephew, pro golfer Keegan Bradley. Apparently champion blood runs deep.
So here's to the champions!(raise imaginary glass) Maybe I'll, see you on the links of Cape Cod, I'll be the one in the woods, looking for my last shot...

Save the Last Shot..

There are some lessons you learn from your mentors that you never forget. When I was 16 years old I would scan the pages of the Sentinel & Enterprise everyday searching for the best photos. Julia Cheng was a name that kept popping up over and over, of someone who's pictures I loved. When I found her one day out shooting, while I was riding my bike, I was thrilled. Through this initial encounter, she became my photographic "mother" and mentor when I started working at the newspaper a year later. One of the many things she taught me, (which was a basic photojournalist rule of thumb), was to always leave a couple frames on your film as your leaving a scene. You never know what can happen between the moment you think "Okay I'm done" and the moment you get back in your car. I was shooting a session at Skaket Beach in Orleans the other night, and I was all done. But instead of packing up the camera, I kept it dangling around my neck, with room left on my memory card. On the way back to my car I shot these two lovebirds enjoying a sunset. Cliche? Yes. Glad I shot it? Definitely.

Boston Globe Magazine Shoot

I recently shot this cover for last weeks Boston Sunday Globe magazine. It is an amazing little modern beach house in West Falmouth built by my friend Ralph Cataldo, named 2011 Best Builder...in the COUNTRY, and designed by Jeremiah Eck. Our cover model Leah did the interior design, and she spends much of the summer here with her beautiful family. This also is yet another Conry/Cutrona tag team, with writer Jaci Conry putting together words to make a story happen. So proud to have 500,000 of these bad boys in circulation!

I love that Eames Chair

Those photos above her head are amazing

I went to Cannes, ended up seeing Paris...

I got back from the Cannes film festival last week, and the number one question I've been getting is "Who did you see!?!" Cannes is misleading however, because even though practically every single movie star in the world is there, they are not exactly walking down the street picking up their dry cleaning. There are many many..many yachts, and fabulous hotels, and black tie gala's that are all very private and exclusive and keep celebrities mostly hidden from the general public. But Paris Hilton however...I ran into her three times.
Yup. First at "da club", on Monday night. Then again Wednesday night (same place), and then I ran into her on the merry-go-round, with my son. Just simply stumbled upon her with my camera in hand. My wife took Stella to the second floor of the carousel, I took Rocco to the little Ferrari around the corner that he wanted to go on, got him situated and noticed a huge crowd. I look up, and there she was! I was SHOCKED!! She was wearing panties!!

She was preening for the cameras, so I figure I'd give it a go as a papparazzo. And she lived up to her end of the bargain, spotted my lens for a brief moment and worked it. Rocco, was oblivious of course. But he and Stella can always say they rode on a merry-go-round with that beautiful girl that was in that show with whats her face.

Confession: I ran over a Senator's mailbox

Time for a riddle: What do this magazine cover, and running over Senator Scott Brown's mailbox have in common?

Stumped?

Well, they were both done by me on the same day. More on that later. 

I photographed Gail Huff, Senator Scott Brown's wife and former Boston news anchor, at their home, for the premier issue of Southern New England Living. You know you're dealing with a pro, when you make suggestions like, "Can you get on the roof of a truck?" and they say "Sure!" She was absolutely amazing the way she happily jumped on top of "The Truck" that Sen. Brown made famous driving around Massachusetts during his campaign. She kicked her shoes off and her years of experience in front of the camera was obvious.
We did a few different set-ups while we were there, and I had specific instructions from the art director to photograph her against a black background. So we found a shaded area, cranked up the power of the strobe in the softbox, and sped up the shutter speed, turning day into night. This is the result:

We then did a great session with a green MG that Gail bought for Scott as a present. In the old car, I wanted to backlight her and make her look like a 1960's movie star. None of these photos made it into the magazine, because they didn't really match the look of the story, but they are my favorite photos from that day.

There's a moment after you leave a great shoot when you take a deep breath & think "that couldn't have gone better". Beware of those moments... that's when you run over a mailbox. Yes, after an amazing shoot , I reward my gracious hostess by backing into her mailbox on the way out. I completely knocked it over. The amazingly strong mailbox left it's mark on my bumper, a nice scar to remember it by. My bumper surprisingly didn't leave a scar on the mailbox. So, I did what anybody would do. I looked around to see if there were any witnesses, raised the mailbox back up, and pounded down the cement around the mailbox post into the ground. 

Thank you Gail, you were amazing. And sorry about that mailbox debacle...

I put a lot of pressure on myself to try and write a clever entertaining blog post every time. The problem is, that whenever I go to do it, I say to myself, "No, no, now is not the time. This has to be something special. Something that will make people stand up from their desks and start an 80's movie "slow-clap"when they are done reading"

But I'm going to stop thinking that, and start posting more frequently instead. You know what they say, More is More. It has been a few months since I posted, due to a VERY busy summer. My last post was actually taken down because of a friendly, but stern letter from Wes Andersen's production manager, as they were filming in Rhode Island. For those of you that read that post before it was taken down-good for you.

Speaking of concerts, I haven't been to one in a while, and am considering going to see Lee MacDougall in Boston Thursday night. I photographed him last winter for the Pattinson Post, since he is a buddy of the freakishly famous Robert Pattinson. He played at Club Passim in Cambridge, and before the show we were able to spend about 15 minutes in the alley outside for a speedy photo-shoot before the performance. He was a  truly gracious subject, standing in the FREEZING cold for the sake of the shot. It was interesting photographing someone before you even know who he is, and later becoming a huge fan of his music. He put on an amazing show, and his CD(Yes, I still religiously buy CD's instead of downloads) has been on heavy rotation for months now. Here are some of the results. For you photo geeks out there, since time was of the essence, it was a very simple set-up--single 580EX, off-camera on a light stand fired by a Pocket Wizard(I NEVER really trust Canon infra-red) Maybe I had a Fong diffuser on it? Enjoy! And if you want to check out Lee, Thursday, September 29th at Market in Boston. Tickets are only $8 bucks.

What kind of camera should I get? That's easy..

With summer rolling around, I suspect that there are a lot of people buying new cameras in preparation for such an event. Why do I suspect this? Is it just a hunch? A feeling in my bones? Or is it a consistent stream of people texting and leaving messages for their photographer buddy Dan, that usually go like this: "Hey man, I've been thinking of getting a camera. What should I get?" So instead of having this conversation, over and over...and over, I will from now on refer you to this blog post. 
To a me as a photographer, the broad question "What camera should I get?" has one simple answer:

This

A 40 Megapixel Hasselblad that's only $29,999. And it's a limited edition "Ferrari" edition, 1 of 499. It's freaking awesome. This is the camera you should get.

Now that I got that off my chest, we can move on. 

I always tell people, that the best camera is the one you have with you. The smallest, slimmest camera that you can fit in your shirt pocket, is better than any sweet DSLR that you left at home because it was too big.

There are so many cameras out there, it's impossible to narrow it down to just one (except the Ferrari Hasselblad) Here are some simple guidelines that can make it feel a little less daunting. For a point-and-shoot camera, don't worry about megapixels. Just about everything now is over 10 megapixels, and anything greater than that, is much more than a small camera can handle. Do not base your choice on whether one camera is 10MP or another is 14MP. If it is a point and shoot camera, you will not notice the difference.

Do you go to the beach, or like to drop things?

Try this: Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS3 It has a Leica lens, it's small, waterproof, shockproof, and costs $375. There are cheaper versions of the similar camera as well. Avoid the Olympus all-weather, I've heard multiple complaints about picture quality.

Are you not concerned about all weather, and want something a little thicker than your shirt pocket, but has more manual controls and shoots RAW?

Try This: Canon PowerShot G12 It also has a hot shoe for an external flash. Nikon has a similar model. I've personally had the rock-solid G9 since 2007. $499

If you like shooting video, and want an interchangeable lenses, but don't want to go with the size and expense of a full blown SLR there are a lot of "mirrorless" cameras like this:

Sony Alpha NEX-5 Interchangeable Lens

These are cool. They have sensors the size of most SLR's= great quality photos, stuffed into a tiny little body. However the protruding lens takes away from the true "compactness" of the body. A friend of mine shot this video with this camera. There are also many brands with similar style cameras. This one is $699

The options are endless. I didn't even get into the traditional looking SLR cameras. Which nowadays can be had starting at $450!!! Like this 

Nikon D3000 

Bottom line is get into a camera store, and put your hands on some cameras. You will know which ones are clumsy, and which ones feel right. Just don't be too pre-occupied with megapixels and how far one zooms. If a camera feels good, good enough that you end up taking it with you places, and it makes sense to you, and it makes you take more pictures-- THAT is the camera for you. I'm going to get back to work so I can save up for my Ferrari. if I know I can never have one in my driveway, maybe I can have one in my camera bag...