photographing paintings

My friend Becky and I are getting ready to sell our work at this summer’s SoWa Open Markets in the South End. She’s a painter, so we spent Saturday trying to get perfect images for her to make prints. I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to get well-lit glare-free images of oil paintings, but it’s not easy...

Becky stood behind the easel in case the 90-degrees-to-the-floor painting fell.

It was a strange moment for me, to photograph this painting of myself based on a photo from 3 years ago.

This one, also of me, is from January, when I had just moved back to Boston...

This one is called “Berkshire Red.”

Check out more of Becky’s work at http://beckydaroff.com/paintings/.

Walden Pond

Yesterday, what I called the “Suddenly Summer Sunday,” I celebrated by going to Walden Pond. It was busy as one would expect, but I managed to find my own quiet in the sun just the same. I slipped my tiny 7-year-old Olympus camera (an unimpressive D-540) in with my towel and water bottle. Many features on it have died, but it still takes a picture!

It was strange to be soaking up the hot sun, while being surrounded by dormant trees. But there were still many signs for the coming season!

food, food, food!

Over the past month I’ve had some great meals with great company! And I’ve snapped a new photos here and there...

First, there’s the notable Chocolate Dinner. Months in the planning Katie and Brian created an evening centered entirely around chocolate. Mmmmmmm... to begin Katie set out a chocolate platter so we could compare the subtleties of these dark fair-traded chocolate bars.

The chocolate hostess!

The chocolate host!

Apples in chocolate pudding!

Sweet potato burritos with mole (chocolate!) sauce and goat cheese and almonds folded into collard greens.

Erin awaiting the first bite.

After dinner we had chocolate mousse cakes while watching the lovely film Chocolat!

Looking back a little bit, we had planned to have a Superbowl party and serve some mussels. But instead we had a mussels party with the TV on in the background. Pete did his magic as always...



When the food came out no one talked to each other.

Last week was Paul’s birthday!

Becky, a fabulous painter, came to celebrate. Check out her paintings of people and sculptures here: http://beckydaroff.com/paintings/

art feature for Wilderness House Literary Review

A collection of 12 photographs from my documentary Ridiculous and Sublime: Life in an Inner-City Franciscan Monastery is the art feature for the local Wilderness House Literary Review online. I included audio clips from the trailer as the captions.

Check it out and read some great poetry too! The Wilderness House Literary Review.

The film is moving along slowly and surely. This week I am interviewing Brother Masseao who just joined the community this year. A novice's perspective should be interesting!

In related news, I gave my first (of many!) public talks about the film yesterday at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education. The audience was as interested in my story and process with the monastery as about the Brothers themselves, which is interesting feedback for me. The trailer and all accompanying media was well received.

photo for the Atlantic Monthly food blog

I have always believed that when we are passionate we can turn any circumstance into a part of our artistic/professional journey. Today, while selling Irish soda bread and making cappuccinos at a bakery down the street from my home, I was offered proof.

A writer from the Atlantic Monthly came in to buy bread and asked a few questions. He expressed his need to photograph the bread. I started shifting some loaves around and I said I understood because I was a photographer. He handed me his camera and said "Great, you'll be better at this." His camera and his cell phone were one in the same, so I had to work with a few technical limitations. Here it is, my first editorial shot for the Atlantic Monthly. See the article here.

new product by Michael Wainwright

law office portrait session

Yesterday I had the pleasure of photographing Doug and Pat Watson, of Watson and Watson Law Office in Newburyport, MA. I’m working with them to update their website, and new photos is a piece of this process.

Catholic mass for the deaf

This past weekend I was invited to a Catholic mass for the deaf here in Newton. The parish’s deacon is soon to become one of 6 deaf priests in the country. It was amazing to see the signs for religious vocabulary; up on the alter, the expressive language almost seems like a stage performance.

This young deaf girl is getting ready to make her first communion, and is learning about the Eucharist and goblet of wine.