retrofocus ramblings.

I really do miss my good buddy.
Her name was Pepper. Born November 1996, died October 2009.

There’s a rap out there that the “media” is full of bad folks.
Not true. There are some, just like anything else.

And some really good ones too.

I follow this photographer on Twitter.

This was a rough one.

http://blog.chasejarvis.com/blog/2010/02/to-shoot-or-not-to-shoot.html

In my 16 years behind the camera for newspapers I covered more than a few local and statewide political campaigns.
That was fine with me as Political Science was my major in college.
Anyway, by now a good portion of the English-speaking world knows the name of Scott Brown. The state senator from Wrentham MA who defeated the Attorney General of Massachusetts to claim Massachusetts United States Senate seat previously held by Edward M. Kennedy.
Before Teddy held that seat his brother John held it. With a brief interlude with Benjamin A. Smith II in the middle.
There have been some pretty heavyweight political luminaries over the course of the history of the U.S. Senate that have held that seat.

All that said, I met Scott Brown for the first time in 1998. Back then he was in a three way race to take a Massachusetts state representative seat. As I was working in the bucolic hamlet of Norfolk MA at the time, this was a race that I covered.

Now I’m pretty sure I have more images than this, and as a good number of people have yet to become my Facebook friend, I figured I’d post a few shots from a long time ago in this space.

Do enjoy a small window back in time. While some have grown up in these images, there is little doubt we’ve all aged.

Enjoy!

Scott Brown, center, at a League of Women Voters debate

Scott Brown answers questions on mic.

Scott Brown in shades and a leather jacket. I'd have to do more research to figure out why he is dressed as such, but Scott Brown has always be up for doing what it takes. Looks like he is having fun.

Holding his daughter (unsure which one) and a mobile phone, Scott Brown receives polling information on election night during his run for state representative.

Scott Brown is hugged by his daughter (unsure which one) as his wife Gail Huff, right, joins the celebration on election night. Scott Brown was elected to serve in the State of Massachusetts House of Representatives.

The intertubes are rapidly being filled with all sorts of video clips.
Today I’m posting a link to one of those clips I saw and enjoyed. All about the history of a quite essential piece of software.

Cool to hear from the mouth of the creator.

I admit to having a fair bit of prejudice on this one, but it is worth a look-see for yourself if you have in interest in photography, photographs and photojournalists.

David Hume Kennerly writing in the New York Times about a picture used in Newsweek.

Despite publish date, majority of this post written on 4-15-2009:

This morning I woke up early and rented an airless paint sprayer. Then I proceeded to fight with the balky beastie and try and throw 10 gallons of dark gray latex paint on the old warehouse walls.
Since it was my first outing with such a machine I was laying it on far too thick on the first wall. Not good. Motored through a goodly portion of the first 5 gallon bucket before I knew it. Oooops. Tough to see in a bucket of dark gray paint how the levels are.
Despite the trials, and the machine acting up, ( an easy wack with the hammer did good ) I just managed to get the whole place painted before 2 p.m.
I’ll say this about using a commercial sprayer – it’s fast. Do proper prep, masking and setup and you can really move paint in a hurry.
No matter what, when all said and done, I learned at least the basics of a new skill and the studio is painted now a dark grey. All good in my book.

And it did actually turn out to be somewhat fun!

This is a first. There are 365 front page above the fold pictures in the Boston Globe each year. On Saturday April 11, 2009 that picture was taken by me. In this case I made the image while at the behest of a commercial client who, in turn, distributed a small sub-set of images to the local media. AP also requested to use the picture. Off it went. Pretty amazing, although it all pales to what the photo shows. Amazing technology and skill at the BWH and darn fine people too. Just a cool lucky thing all around.

Opportunity has presented me with a gift and I’ve grabbed with gusto to this one. It really feels right.
In the process right now, battered and bruised fingers to prove it, of renovating a former dog grooming shop and warehouse into my office and studio.
It’s a big project. The space was pretty trashed when I first saw it 3 weeks ago. I’ve bitten off a full mouthful to be sure, but I really feel this is a good move.

But it’s tough on the fingers!

Was talking the other evening to a fellow photographer that attended the inauguration in D.C. back in January. ( Brrrr, was it cold. ) The other photographer actually was getting paid to be there and did a bang up job as usual. Seems odd, but neither one of us had much by the way of souvenirs from the big event after we left. I’m thinking the act of making pictures gives you all the physical ( sort of ) memories you could ever want or need. Or maybe photojournalists tend to be a less nostalgic group. Not sure.

Of the few items I do have, I present my Metro pass ticket. Still worth something I think. As a ticket if nothing more.