Posh Spice

January 30, 2008 - Victoria Beckham, aka Posh Spice, promotes her new clothing line at Saks 5th Avenue in Boston, MA. I shot these for the Feb. 20th issue of the Improper Bostonian magazine.

O Ya sashimi

January 15, 2008 - If you are a fan of sashimi, the Phoenix recommends this dish: kinmedai, served with white soy ginger, myoga, and lemon oil at O Ya, 9 East St, Boston, MA. I shot this for the "Hot Plate" column of the Dining Out section of the Jan 18-24, 2008 issue of the Boston Phoenix.

Thai food, Thai boxing

January 21, 2008 - This is en-toon-mor-fai (beef tendon), a fire pot soup at Montien, 63 Stuart St, Boston, MA, an award winning thai restaurant. I shot this dish for a column called "Hot Plate" in the Dining Out section of the Boston Phoenix.

January 15, 2008 - Mixed martial arts fighter Collin Tebo, 21, of New York, NY, delivers a knock out punch to his opponent during a muay thai kick-boxing match in Revere, MA. I shot this match at the request of the fighter.

Urban Tarzan

December 9, 2007 – Fuji, a four-year-old scarlet macaw (above), displays his amicable nature, while Sam (below), a twelve-year-old macaw, displays his temperamental personalityon their respective cages in New York. According to John Brennan, or “Urban Tarzan”, a 35-year-old professional animal wrangler, to whom the parrots belong, the difference in personality can be attributed to their difference in age.

October 7, 2007 – Urban Tarzan displays a East African Nile Crocodile to a mostly 8-year-old audience in New York, at the Halloween-themed birthday party of his friend Doug’s child Dougie. December 9, 2007 – An East African Nile Crocodile named Gustav, who is close to two years old, enjoys a shower in the New York home of animal wrangler John Brennan, known professionally as “Urban Tarzan.” This crocodile species is one of the largest in existence, second to only the salt-water crocodile, which can grow to be over 20ft.
October 7, 2007 – A rhino iguana, about 7 years old, from the Caribbean, bathes in the fluorescent lights of its tank as John Brennan, 35, cleans the tank of an albino cobra in the reflective background. Brennan is a professional animal wrangler, whose stage name is “Urban Tarzan” and is seen caring for his animals, all of which are rescues, at his home in New York. December 9, 2007 – “Mr. Sparkles”, a crocodile monitor, who is 18 months old, sits in his tank in the home of John Brennan in New York. The species gets its name from Papua New Guinea due to the natives who call them “crocodiles of the trees” because they live in trees and can grow up to 8ft. long (including the length of their tails). The crocodile monitor has the same dentation as the Tyrannosaurus Rex and is the largest monitor species next to the Komodo dragon.

December 9, 2007 – John Brennan, 35, lets his rat Merlot crawl down his arm before he feeds her a leaf of lettuce at his home in New York. Brennan, a exotic animal caretaker and professional animal wrangler, found Merlot in the produce aisle of a King Cullen supermarket as a pup. “Instead of feeding her to snakes, I kept her and raised her up.” Merlot is now one of his favorite pets.

The Crumbling of MA State Parks

November 19, 2007 – The unfinished roof on a barn on Brookwood Farm, part of the Blue Hills Reservation, in East Milton, MA, exhibits the inability of the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), due to increasingly low budgets, to maintain Massachusetts state parks. Additional repairs are needed on several broken windows, its rotting foundation, and its peeling and fading red paint. Former MA Governor Mitt Romney bequeathed current Governor Deval Patrick with an overwhelmingly large deficit causing Patrick to cut the operating budget of the DCR at the expense of the land.

November 19, 2007 – Behind the Houghton Pond visitor center on the Blue Hills Reservation, a state park in East Milton, MA, which is maintained by the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), trash is scattered along the banks of the water, coexisting with the wildlife as part of the ecosystem the state is supposed to care for. Due to a significantly low budget, the DCR is unable to fix such vital issues.

November 19, 2007 – Massachusetts’s state park employees exhibit concern about erosion and fallen trees on hiking trails that run throughout the Blue Hill Reservation in East Milton, MA. Trails are unable to be maintained to the extent they should be due to understaffing caused by the low budget of the Department of Conservation and Recreation, a problem that has its roots in former Governor Mitt Romney’s administration.

November 19, 2007 – Don McCasland, an employee at the Blue Hill Meteorological Observatory Science Center, explains past efforts to remove graffiti from the top of Eliot Tower on Blue Hill, part of the Blue Hill Reservation, a state park in East Milton, MA. He mentions that due to their significantly low budget they were only able to repaint park benches and trashcans, leaving many existing problems behind.

November 19, 2007 – Despite past efforts to remove graffiti from Eliot Tower on Blue Hill, near the Blue Hill Meteorological Observatory Science Center, part of the Blue Hill Reservation, a state park in East Milton, MA, there are still countless visible marks of vandalism remaining. The administration of former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney has left current Governor Deval Patrick with a $1.3 billion budget deficit, making it very difficult to improve the conditions of state parks to the necessary extent.

Veteran's Day Ceremony

November 8, 2007 - Air Force Cadet Brandon Hong, a freshman in Boston University's College of Engineering , takes his turn walking on red carpets outside of Marsh Chapel last night to honor soldiers in the annual Veteran's Day ceremony. Pairs alternate among 300 participants from the Air Force, Navy, and Army ROTC, and pace for twenty minutes.

November 8, 2007 – Air Force Cadet Johnathan Meehan, a freshman in the College of Engineering at Boston University (no relation), walks west while participating in the annual Veteran’s Day ceremony in Marsh Plaza in Boston, MA. Walking east is Navy Midshipman Mike Burke, a Boston College freshman. In pairs of two, participants from a group of 300 students, rotate after twenty minutes of steady pacing to honor veterans.

Zombies Protest the BU Biolab

November 7, 2007 – Boston resident Jeff Reinhardt, 21, holds biohazard caution tape as he is followed by a group of zombie protesters rallying against the construction of the controversial Boston University Level IV Bio-safety Laboratory in Roxbury, MA. As they stumbled through the streets, the zombies moaned, “The bio-lab has infected me.”

November 7, 2007 – Suffolk University student Clay Adamczyk, 20, is seen dressed as a zombie protesting the controversial Boston University Bio-safety Laboratory that is being constructed in the South End of Boston, MA, which will be the nation’s only Level IV research facility in an urban environment, holding some of the world’s deadliest pathogens. Adamczyk spent his afternoon in his kitchen creating slabs of flesh and gore out of various ingredients including flour, strawberry Jell-O, and food coloring, among others, to don in the evening, intending to make a dramatized statement as to the effects the lab could have if these viruses were mishandled or released.

November 7, 2007 – In an effort to protest the Boston University Level IV Biosafety Laboratory, David Wu, 19, from Roxbury, MA, gathered among others dressed as zombies to stumble through the streets of Boston, MA. To make his appearance more menacing, Wu bit into fake blood capsules, letting the red liquid trickle down his mouth and onto his shirt.

Newbury St. Artist

November 1, 2007 – As a passer-by admires his work, Eric Kluin, a Newbury St. artist in Boston, MA, shades salmon colored pastel into the woman figure he has been working on for three years. Having worked on most of his artwork for years at a time, he says that he knows a piece is complete, “When someone walks by and decides they want it.” Having used the sidewalk as his studio for 12 years, without a gallery to exhibit his creations, he is forced to sell his work for cheaper than he would like. On average, his artwork sells for $300 to passers-buyers.

November 1, 2007 – Former University of Michigan art student, Eric Kluin, is found working outside of Sonsie on Newbury St. in Boston, MA, every day of the week throughout most of the year. Kluin has considered the sidewalk his studio for 12 years, since the restaurant’s grand opening. Kluin came to Brookline, MA, where he currently resides in a tiny studio, after being convinced to move to the Boston area by a woman heroin addict whom he met at a halfway house in Arizona. He no longer stays in touch with his former traveling friend.

November 1, 2007 – After delicate application of salmon colored pastel to a piece of artwork he has labored over for three years, Eric Kluin, an artist often found outside of the restaurant Sonsie on Newbury St. in Boston, MA, gently blends the color into the canvas to shade the side of his character’s leg. Kluin often fears overworking a piece and claims it is one of the most frustrating aspects of being an artist. The piece he is working on is inspired by tarot cards and is being created due to the suggestion of a friend.

November 1, 2007 – The rugged hands of Eric Kluin blend salmon pastel into the leg of a woman figure he has drawn here on Newbury St. in Boston, MA. Kluin works on the sidewalk every day of the week, three seasons out of the year. On the hot days of spring and summer, he is often seen without a shirt; during the fall, he says that he fears winter. In jest he mentions, “ In the winter, I hope for spring.”

November 1, 2007 – An easel and art supplies, belonging to Eric Kluin, sit outside of Sonsie on Newbury St., Boston, MA, and wait for the artist to get back from a coffee break. With two empty cups hidden behind the black crates, Kluin requires a lot of caffeine to keep him going as he works. The artist strategically stations himself close to both a Starbucks and an art supply store.

Red Sox World Series Victory Parade

October 30, 2007 – Red Sox fans of all ages attended the World Series victory parade that ran from Fenway Park to City Hall in Boston, MA. Adorned in his Red Sox jersey, fifteenth month old Yuma Son wanders around the crowd among fallen confetti.

October 30, 2007 – Long time Red Sox fan Del Christman, known to many as “Dogman,” walks away as he attempts to get a better view of the Boston Red Sox World Series victory parade from Fenway Park. Dogman is a veteran crowd pleaser, hot dog guy, and clubhouse manager at LeLacheur Park, home of the Lowell Spinners. Having been there for over twelve years, he has bobble heads, t-shirts, and even his own baseball card.

October 30, 2007 – Boston Red Sox fans John McCorkell, and his daughter Hildey, 4, of Hanover, MA, cheer as floats drive by on Boylston Ave. in Boston, MA, during the World Series victory parade.

October 30, 2007 – Boston Red Sox fan Dom Devito, 48, of Lynnfield, MA, holds a sign to direct the attention of Boston Red Sox players who prepare for their World Series Victory parade through the streets of Boston. He is joined by dedicated Boston natives, Julio Resendes and Derek Dosreis, who drove all the way from Buchanan, NY, to support their favorite team.

Head of the Charles: Course Committee

October 21, 2007 – Michael Todd, one of three Course Committee chairmen for the Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston, MA, unloads anchors from his boat at the Weld Boathouse, home of the Harvard-Radcliffe crew teams, to the helping hand of Bill Sichel, a safety crew volunteer. The anchors held buoys in place, which marked the course for the rowers. The course boundaries are of utmost importance because they help to direct crewmembers away from danger zones such as bridges and shallow water. Todd is in charge of making sure the buoys do not drift during the course of the event, which is subject to occur due to rising water.

October 21, 2007 – Ellie Reinhartt, 17, of York, ME, pulls a green boundary buoy from the Charles River in Boston, MA, at the completion of the Head of the Charles Regatta. Several other course development volunteers, including Ruth and Katherine Sweeny, of Reading, MA, and one of three course committee chairmen, Tim Wood, coach of the Belmont Hill crew team, join Reinhartt in the boat. Together the team is responsible for pulling all of the 350 course boundary buoys; the job takes over an hour to complete. According to Michael Todd (not pictured), another course committee chairmen, it takes three hours to set the course.

October 21, 2007 – Michael Todd, one of three Course Committee chairmen for the Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston, MA, ties together blue buoys with Betsy Walkerman, who came from Vermont to volunteer, at the Harold W. Pierce Boathouse. Todd is in charge of setting up the course boundaries with buoys and taking it apart. Blue buoys are placed at the end of the course, just after the finish line, creating a path rowers must follow after completing the race. All crews must past beyond them before turning back down the river to avoid congestion.

October 21, 2007 – Michael Todd, one of three Course Committee chairmen for the Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston, MA, grabs a rope to tie it into a sea gasket, a sailors knot that prevents tangling, as Travis Ebel, a course volunteer, grabs a crate full of buoy anchors, bringing them to the Harold W. Pierce Boathouse for year-round storage. The anchors are hand-made of PVC and concrete and weigh 20 pounds.

October 21, 2007 – As the Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston, MA, comes to a close, George Bird, a member of the Course Committee, who is part of a group of volunteers in charge of setting up and pulling apart the course, repairs a light on his boat after docking for the night at the Harold W. Pierce Boathouse.