new blog

Great news! I’ve started blogging directly on my website at maureencotton.com/blogging

Visit me there! I’m very excited about this so I feel a bout of blogging coming on; join the RSS feed.

acupuncture photoshoot

This week was photoshoot number two for Central Path Wellness. The challenge was to represent acupuncture in a way that won’t disturb people who don’t yet know that acupuncture needles are nothing like medical needles, in fact it’s an incredibly relaxing treatment.

Owner of Central Path and acupuncturist Brendan Carney.

Brendan and Abbey.

candid wedding photography

A photographer takes hundreds of photos at a wedding these days, editing them down can be a real challenge. I always find that my favorites are the candid emotional moments, so here’s a few from last Friday.

other side of the lens

My good friend and fellow photographer Rick Colson recently commented on the lack of professional portrait on my facebook page. This soon lead to him shooting me. It was a good experience to be on the side of a pro lens so I remember what I’m putting people through.

business card design

Last week I finished a business card design for Christina Marie who is starting her own interior design business. She does beautiful watercolor renderings of her designs. I thought that was unique and intimate, so we used that feel and color scheme to get started...

herbal shoot

A fabulous new wellness studio, Central Path Acupuncture, has opened around the corner from my house (on Moody Street, Waltham). I’m working with the owner, Brendan Carney, to create imagery for the website. Yesterday we began with photographing herbs.


These 5 herbs represent the 5 element of Chinese medicine, which then correlate to an organ, color, etc.. Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water.

mo and the monks

Yesterday Becky D and I led the monks through the Museum of Fine Arts. Afterward we discussed art, beauty, divinity, and pop music over dinner.

All photos by Becky Daroff.

See the whole story on Becky’s blog.

best-sellers

"Mr. Gotsill's Tree," Yarmouthport, MA

This summer has been my first time participating in an art market where I put my personal work out there for others to purchase. It’s been eye-opening talking to people about my photographs and discovering what images appeal to them and why.

This is a collection of the best-selling images so far. A lot of black and white, all but one originating from a 35mm negative.

Sinking bike near a river, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

View of the Golden Gate Bridge from Berkeley, CA

St. Marc’s Square, Venice

Venetian Staircase

“Best view of Boston,” Charles MGH subway stop

Moss Staircase, County Clare, Ireland

island adventures

I spent last night on Grape Island in Boston Harbor, where my sister is a park ranger.

She lives in a yurt.

This is bittersweet.

“Bittersweet limbo” she does with the kids who visit the island.

She lead me on a “wild edibles” tour. This is milkweed. Don’t eat it unless you drain the “milk” out.

Milkweed flowers.

This kids wandered over from his Outward Bound campsite and Ranger Val showed him some of the island’s treasures.

See urchin.

Lobster claw.

Bird egg on the dock.

Even though it was wet and freezing we continued on to do some tide-pooling.

Since it was a new moon Low Tide was the lowest it ever is.

We picked up this little periwinkle...

and hummed to him so he’d emerge.

It worked!

In fact, he loved my hand so much he either laid eggs or defecated on it.

A mussel freshly eaten by a sea gull.

Dead skate. In the shark family.

Val suggested that we cook up some of these mussels and clams for dinner. Until...

she reach into the water and found...

this. A group of mussels that she guesses is infected by the bacteria they call The Red Tide. Or something else equally gross.

So we lost our seafood appetites and cooked a can of beans.

Lowest of the low tide.

Dock at night, lit by the town of Weymouth.

Elliot is the island’s other ranger who lives in the yurt with Val.

Elliot snapped this one of us o’natural.

We also went kayaking and some other things that were either too wet or too fun to take pictures of. I might go back with my camera waterproofed so stay tuned.

cuteness attack!

Today my roommate stopped by with the little girl who she nannies for. This little firecracker took over the house instantly.

She had never seen a big camera before and was taken aback for a moment. But just a moment...

Then she wanted it.

Then it was sippy-cup time.

SoWa success! selling photos at an art market

My painter friend Becky Daroff and I teamed up to be vendors at SoWa Sundays, an artists’ market in Boston’s South End. So far we’ve have two great days! This past weekend was a beautiful day and the market was bustling. Becky snapped this photo of me in our tent.

Come by next time: July 26, August 16, or Sept 27. It’s free, from 10am – 4pm. It's a great way to spend an urban summer Sunday! Learn more at www.southendopenmarket.com.

Becky posted many more photos on her blog.

cherry picking and wine tasting

Part 2 of the Berkshires last weekend included cherry picking in Ghent and wine tasting in New Marlborough.

Aaron and I tag-teamed it: one on the ladder, one catching the fruit.

At Les Trios Emmes winery a $5 wine tasting includes a tour of their family-run facility.

"No one really knows exactly what happens in the aging process," he told us. It's just a delicious mystery.

The tasting also includes food pairings for each of the 5 wines you taste.

The ladies with their local goodies.

I just could not get enough photos of Sara P rockin’ the vintage glasses. Do you know Sara P? If not you should visit her blog to see her cakes, clothes, drawings, and many other creations.

Aaron snapped this one with his phone after catching me in the act!

a little Berkshires beauty and a little hike

I spent the 4th in the Berkshires with a handful of my favorite people.

We were lucky enough to stay at a beautiful house in Copake. View from the back porch.

This is my little sister and she will kill me when she sees I posted this photo. It interests me as an experiment in using flash to balance the exposure of foreground and background.

Sara agreed to hike Laura’s Tower with her accordion!

Our friend Elena makes these Accordion Back Straps for good back support while playing. It is an essential component of hiking with an accordion. Check them out at accordionbackstrap.com.

It was Aaron's first time seeing the Berkshires from the tower.

Valerie's first time up there too!

Music atop the tower!

Sarah absorbs the music and the sun.

We all took turns carrying the accordion.

Success!

My artist friend Becky was also there and posted photos on her blog.

business portrait

Barbara Bonner is returning to running her own consulting biz and needs a new headshot for the occasion. We worked together last week to get the right look.

WaterFire

Last weekend was my first time experiencing WaterFire in Providence where they light fires that float all along the river. You can sit in one spot and take it in, or follow the river like a bread crumb trail.






There's room and a good spot for everyone to have an outdoor fireside evening. Even though there were hundreds of people, the atmosphere was slow, calm, meditative. It’s happening through the summer so check out waterfire.org.




I went with my friend and fellow artist Becky Daroff who also posted a photo blog about the evening!

Venice

Preparing photos to make prints and note cards (to sell at SoWa Open Markets this summer) has led me into my European archive. I’ve been looking at photos I haven’t thought about in years! Including these from a high school trip to Venice.

It snowed on the first day of Lent (how perfect after the big party of Carnival!). They say it snows about once every 5 years or so.