Lee Hammond Photography

Yoga World Champions

2011-10-29T18:23:00.003-04:00

Bikram Yoga Stoughton held a Sunday morning class with Joseph Encinia and Yukari Miwa, yoga world champions. Video slide show is here.

Postcards from Colorado

2011-08-29T18:16:00.001-04:00

Video and slide show from a road trip in Colorado is here. We visited Boulder, Denver, Paonia, Fruita, Grand Junction and Redstone. Good food, good beer and great company. The Paonia Flim Flam arts festival had local, oragnic food and locally produced films.

Congratulations to Beth and Bob

2010-09-04T12:30:00.005-04:00

Congratulations to Beth and Bob, who were married on August 28, in Newport RI. They were married on the beach and they partied in Swansea MA. More pictures here

Ravali

2010-09-04T12:05:00.004-04:00

Congratulations to Ravali, who had her arangetram on August 14. More pictures are coming soon

Congratulations to Minerva

2010-07-25T11:55:00.002-04:00

Minerva's arangetram was on July 10. More photographs are coming soon.

Mike Lee Kanarek

2010-06-09T08:56:00.004-04:00

Mike Lee Kanarek trained a large group of students at North Easton school of America's Best Defense. He is the master teacher of Haganah, an advanced form of Krav Maga. He reviewed several defenses and taught some extra tactics for when/if things go wrong. His teaching style is unique, with a humorous mix of stories, hard work and playful verbal abuse!
Pictures here soon...

America's Best Defense Black Belt Awards

2010-05-09T08:51:00.000-04:00

Here is a five-minute edit of the black belt awards at the North Attleboro High School. This features stills and video, shot with the Canon 7D. Audio track is from the Zoom. The show was several hours long, so this is the result of quite a lot of editing. Thanks to Master Garcia for a moving and inspiring show. Some day soon, Alex and I will be on the stage, so I'll need a photographer...

Thanks, Dad

2010-03-02T09:07:00.001-05:00

Dedicated to my Dad, who taught me lots about light and optics. Today would have been his 78th birthday. Gracias, Senor.

A bad check...

2010-01-18T21:39:00.006-05:00

MLK: 'the riches of freedom and the security of justice...'
Now is the time...

Red belts

2009-12-20T18:49:00.005-05:00

Alex and I were awarded red belts in Krav Maga last Thursday. If white is a 1, and the black belt is is a 10, this is an 8. Next comes half red/half black; then the black belt in hopefully another 12-18 months. Congrats to the students who survived the tests yesterday to earn their brown belts. Pictures are here.

Some of the best things in life are red

2009-12-20T12:42:00.002-05:00

It took less than a minute for word to get around, that we had restocked the bird feeder. Snow here is up to about 14 inches.

2009-10-18T14:33:00.005-04:00

This was a studio session at America's Best Defense in North Easton, MA. I shot pictures of three instructors and some of the advanced students in action. This is a mix of self-defense moves and karate jumps and kicks. Thanks for a fun photo shoot to all who were involved! Pictures are here.

Congrats to Payal and Mohit

2009-10-17T08:10:00.000-04:00

Congrats to Payal and Mohit, who were married in Boston, recently. More photos are here.

A kick to the head...

2009-10-02T12:21:00.005-04:00

This was another Krav Maga brown belt test. This class ranged in age from mid-twenties to over 60; all of them tough and well-trained students! The test involves a review of about 18 months of Krav Maga curriculum, including self-defense tactics, about 6 different combinations of kicks and punches and a couple of tests of endurance. You have to run a mile and complete 75 push-ups; 50 of them non-stop. After this, they sparred for about 30 minutes, changing partners every minute or so. You sleep well at night after a workout like this. More stills and video are here.

Congratulations to Mohini

2009-09-18T17:29:00.003-04:00

Congratulations to Mohini, who recently celebrated her arangetram in Sharon, Massachusetts. Thanks for the pleasure of being there and shooting the dance event. Pictures are here.

Congratulations to Nupur

2009-09-18T17:24:00.004-04:00

Congratulations to Nupur, who celebrated her arangetram recently, in East Greenwich, Rhode Island. I was honored to invited to photograph the event. Pictures are here.

leehammondphotography.com

2009-07-28T08:05:00.003-04:00

The domain squatters have pulled the home page from leehammondphotography.com. Please go to leehammondphotographer.com until we can move it to a new server. Please never use HostOnce as a domain host. They are bad for business and are refusing to release my domain name.

Congrats to Beccy & Michael

2009-05-25T22:27:00.003-04:00

I was invited to the wedding reception of Beccy and Michael yesterday. I am friends with Beccy's parents, so I have known her since she was..ummm...very small indeed. They didn't have a pro photog covering the event but they did have lots of people with cameras; and some crazy idea for people to download their images before they left. Here are some choice images. As you can see, Beccy really doesn't like to be the center of attention.

Sensei Tiano photo session

2009-05-15T11:33:00.004-04:00

This is Sensei Tiano from America's Best Defense in North Easton, MA. This was a 10 minute session [including setting up the lights], so I was shooting as quickly as possible, in between classes. After we had the easy shots, I wanted some cool action pictures. I asked him for some kicks or jumps and he explained that he wasn't really warmed up and didn't want to damage any muscles. So this is not a full-action Axe kick? No, not very high at all. More here

Spring in MA

2009-05-09T11:30:00.001-04:00

A 10 minute garden session with the G9. I notice I am not sneezing like last year. More pictures here

Old man in the park

2009-04-20T11:21:00.002-04:00

My sister joked that this immortalized our Dad, in Sefton Park in Liverpool. It is too good a likeness to walk past and not photograph! To be fair, he didn't have that bump in his nose. More Spring pictures here. Make a mental note to keep shaving at least once a week.

Arangetram session

2009-03-15T11:15:00.002-04:00

Many thanks to Veena Teli, again, for arranging this photo session. Thanks for Mohin for being a very patient model and to her Mum, who wanted to pay me a second time! Pictures are here

Rang Pravesam studio session

2009-03-11T21:32:00.005-04:00

Here are Photos from a recent studio session for a Rang Pravesam publicity session. Thanks to Prafulla Velury for her help with dance positions and Sailaja Chaudhary for her excellent make-up skills.

Viva la Evolucion

2009-02-20T19:18:00.001-05:00

Evolucionistas! Buy one now from here

2009-02-15T19:30:00.000-05:00

Muchas Gracias, Senor Torres

2009-02-01T20:51:00.007-05:00

Snow in England? No, really, the optimism continues. Liverpool beat Chelsea today, for the second time this season. After dominating possession for most of the second half, we saw some magical play from Fernando Torres. This photograph was taken by Fiona Hammond. I am sure the ground was shaking as she took it. If you can't read it, it says Liverpool 2 Chelsea 0.

Optimism...

2009-01-18T18:13:00.003-05:00

Bruce Springsteen:

"I spent most of my life as a musician measuring the distance between the American dream and American reality. For many... the distance between that dream and their reality has never been greater or more painful. I believe Senator Obama has taken the measure of that distance in his own life and work. I believe he understands in his heart the cost of that distance in blood and suffering in the lives of everyday Americans. I believe as president he would work to bring that dream back to life.

"So I don't know about you, but I want my country back, I want my dream back. Now is the time to stand together with Barack Obama and Joe Biden and the millions of Americans that are hungry for a new day, roll up our sleeves and come on up for the rising."

Black belts

2008-12-20T11:44:00.004-05:00

We watched a recent black belts award performance at North Attleboro high school. Students and instructors from America's Best Defense, a group of martial arts schools in Massachusetts. This is where we train in Krav Maga. Pictures here were taken with the new Canon 5D II, include stills and video. The lighting was fairly low, so the stills were almost all shot at ISO 6400. The lighting quality could have been better. There was virtually no front light on the faces of the people on stage.

Board Breakers

2008-11-29T11:57:00.001-05:00

Video was shot with the Canon G9. This is a simple camera to operate in video and the auto-focus behaved surprisingly well. Video here

Rangapravesha

2008-11-14T10:02:00.000-05:00

I was honored to shoot a Rangapravesha dance performance recently in Canton, Massachusetts. Pictures are here...

Some of my pictures have now been published on the Indian community website, Lokvani, here

Guanajuato, land of the frogs

2008-11-06T19:17:00.006-05:00

We have spent the past couple of weeks in the Mexican province of Guanajuato. We have visited the cities of Guanajuato, Dolores Hidalgo and yes the Gringo haven of San Miguel de Allende. I am overwhelmed by the warmth of people, the smiles and the eye contact, all features in short supply in New England these days. Maybe the election result will help people improve their moods a little. But really, even with the violence in the news these days in Mexico, I have not been to a more welcoming place. Hasta luego mis amigos. Pictures here...

Si, nosotros podemos

2008-11-04T19:09:00.002-05:00

We were happy to vote before we left the country for 2 weeks in Mexico. We are even happier now with the result. Please let this be a new beginning, to put the US back into play, in the international community. Let the Palin circus side-shows end. One friend from England said 'welcome back to the international community'. Let it be...

Softbox+teenager

2008-10-11T09:53:00.003-04:00

No longer scowling at the camera, not even that smile like she's just bitten into a lemon, she sometimes even laughs at my jokes.

Taken as red

2008-10-11T09:50:00.004-04:00

Red is my color, my football team, my favorite film, my favorite wine. For some reason, US politics have their red and blue confused. Red leaves in New England. Here is a four-shot panorama of Mann's Pond in Sharon, Massachusetts. It was a beautiful sunny morning, as we dragged Rachel out of bed to enjoy a wander through the leaves. More pictures here

Indian weddings

2008-09-05T11:30:00.001-04:00

I was lucky to meet up with my friend Kishan Maheshwary and shoot a handful of Indian weddings. It was exhausting and exhilarating. Our styles are very different and, I hope, this made for a nice balance in the photographs for his clients. His is a formal portrait style and he sets up a whole studio at the client's wedding reception. Mine is a documentary style, with plenty of action and emotion, from the day. One of these weddings took place in the rain, so while the Nikon guys stayed under cover, it was good to be shooting with Canon. Thanks to Kishan for having me along! Here are some examples

See the new site here:

2008-08-26T21:52:00.008-04:00

http://leehammondphotographer.com

Please contact us for your dance photographer needs:

leehammondphotography_AT_gmail.com
or
leehammond_AT_me.com
781.861.7539

Postcards from San Francisco

2008-08-09T22:23:00.008-04:00

The only way to keep your heart beating, as a photographer, is to shoot what you love....Joe McNally [The Moment it Clicks]

I spent 2 weeks in northern California, with the most important people in my life. Postcards are here

Congrats to Neeti and Shamit

2008-07-21T23:28:00.007-04:00

Congratulations to Neeti and Shamit, who were married recently in Boston. It was a hot and humid day outside but the Westin Hotel near the convention center was nice and cool. Thanks again to my friend, Kishan Maheshwary for the invitation to shoot with him. Pictures are here....soon

Milee & Rus

2008-06-15T15:02:00.005-04:00

Congratulations to Milee and Rus, who were married recently at Roger Williams Park, in Providence. It was a hot and humid day. Infrared images make it look like a snowscape. Thanks again to my friend, Kishan Maheshwary for the invitation to shoot with him. Pictures here.

Congratulations to Alissa & Hemal

2008-05-31T14:27:00.008-04:00

Congratulations to Alissa and Hemal who were married in Worcester recently. I was invited to document the reception at Mechanics Hall. Pictures are here

Postcards from NYC

2008-05-08T22:21:00.011-04:00

A spring weekend in New York was surprisingly good. How NY has changed: people are more friendly than in Boston. No really! There is less security theater and paranoia than in Boston. Imagine people entering an art gallery with a bag, taking photographs, holding the door open for someone. I saw it all. I am not exactly ready to move to New York but I was pleasantly surprised. Photographs here are from Tibet House [Danny Conant and Catherine Steinmann], MOMA [Olafur Eliassen], Madison Square Park, the wonderful Tabla restaurant. We also went to the 11th Street Bar, home of the NY Liverpool Supporters' Club, to watch the Liverpool game. It had a warm, friendly atmosphere but was too dark for photography.

Watch out for the kiss:

Life without braces

2008-05-06T10:06:00.002-04:00

A great moment in herstory. Standing outside the dentist's office, after the liberation of her teeth, Rachel stopped grinning for a moment for a single word of commentary: "Weird". Ahh...I remember that moment of freedom, that feeling of having a giant mouth [again], like it was....36 years ago.

Arangetram studio session

2008-05-01T22:44:00.003-04:00

This was a fun studio session with Shweta and Shruti, twin sisters and dancers. Congratulations on your arangetram! Many thanks to Veena Teli, their dance teacher, who was an immense help in arranging positions for the photographs

Prossima fermata...Roma

2008-02-26T13:01:00.008-05:00

Somewhat similar to Paris, Rome has that golden light, for a short period in the afternoon between the afternoon cappuccino and the first beer of the evening. The humidity and the pollution add a soft fuzz to the distant backgrounds, that gives a glow to the shots against the light. We've just spent a week in Rome, with temperatures in the 50's F. Photo sites included Circus Maximus, the Colosseum, Villa d'Este, Villa Adriano and the Pantheon. Yes, the Appian Way is flatter than many Boston roads. Yes, walking for several hours, on cobbled streets, does interesting things to your back, ankles and knees.

This was the first real trip for my Canon G9, the new pocket-sized camera that produces some amazing shots. It has a wild dynamic range and can handle shots against the light better than much more expensive cameras. Many of my shots were in the late afternoon, with the sun low in the sky. I was using exposure compensation almost all the time. Add that tiny flash to fill in dark foregrounds and this is a really cool camera. It had two obvious disadvantages. The rear screen shows slightly more than it captured, leading to cutting off several feet. The high ISO images have plenty of noise, as somewhat expected, compared with the 1D level cameras. So I did carry both; wondering what it would be like to be on a trip with only the G9 and the tiny Vye computer

Aside from being on time and polite, Swiss airlines get a special mention for being the first airline in several years to successfully deliver a vegetarian meal. Compare this with the Untied [;)] airlines flight attendant, on the DC to Rome flight, who said to me, 'The pasta's going to take a while. Are you sure you don't want the beef?'

On her first day back at school, the history teacher asked that question. Rachel was the only kid in her class to have seen the Colosseum. Maybe it was worth the hassle of the long layover in DC, the TSA security theater, the international germ exchange....Rome photos here.

Thank you for the 9

2008-02-12T22:38:00.005-05:00

Thanks, Alex, for the fastest, fullest and funnest 9 years of my life...and a mere 18/29ths of Rachel's life. Geek details: the top 3 images [1999-2001] were shot on film; the last image in infrared. Locations include Glasgow, Pau, Fruita and Phoenix.

Misguided men...

2008-02-09T13:14:00.000-05:00

This is what passes for an anti-war protest, in the US, these days. Admirable just the same. Faces of the banner holders are cropped out to protect their identities from the guys in dark glasses...

2008...another snow storm

2007-12-31T08:27:00.000-05:00

Shovel art: a strange view from a second floor window. Yes, those are footprints in the snow.

Odaiko New England

2007-12-09T12:00:00.000-05:00

I was invited to shoot the Transformations performance of Odaiko New England, this weekend. This is a high energy show at a small, comfortable theater. You can feel the sound of the drums! The image above was taken with an infrared camera, converted by LifePixel. More pictures, and more color, are here

Hasta luego San Miguel

2007-11-05T16:18:00.000-05:00

I have just returned from a week in San Miguel de Allende, right in the middle of Mexico. An awesome time with talented photographers and beautiful models. Jock Sturges has virtually no web presence, aside from his gallery's images but he is widely known as a talented photographer of fine art nude subjects, with his giant 8x10 view camera. To meet him and hear his opinions, you get to know a rare species: an ego-free photographer. Tourist pictures here

Red belly, blue belly

2007-10-26T21:24:00.000-04:00

The red half of the city of Liverpool [Liverpool Football Club, a major club] played, and beat, the blue half of Liverpool [Everton, the 'smaller club'] last weekend. Although Everton is the older club, they haven't won nearly as many trophies as Liverpool. From a rivalry point of view, this is a little like having the Red Sox and the Yankees in the same city. The problem with this analogy is that then Liverpool would correspond to the Yankees as the more successful team...but the Yankees play in blue and white and the Red Sox play in red and white, so the analogy unravels.

Anyone, there was a thought behind these pictures of belly dancer Xandra: a blue session fading into a red session.

For whom the drum rolls

2007-10-05T10:39:00.000-04:00

Baseball is not my thing [like a sport only slower]. Taiko drummers from Odaiko New England will be performing at the second Red Sox - Angels game tonight. So I may have to watch.

I was invited to photograph an ONE performance yesterday afternoon, at Avalon in Boston. They were performing for parents and students of Boston Arts Academy. What a cool way to spend an afternoon! Many thanks to Juni Kobayashi for the opportunity to shoot this event. Photos are here.

Rocky Mountain way...

2007-09-07T20:11:00.001-04:00

I may be showing my age with the title, a track by Joe Walsh from some years back, but hey, I have a birthday coming soon. Those leading digit change birthdays can be scary ones, if you worry about such things.

A few weeks after Santorini, we went to NW Colorado, my first trip to Rocky Mountain National Park. It wasn't as bearful as Yellowstone but we saw some cool antlers, some big sky and lots of ummmm...peace; which is in short supply on the east coast and many other places around the world. Pictures

Postcards from Greece

2007-08-04T19:33:00.000-04:00

Santorini, Naxos, Mykonos and Delphi. Some wonderful sunsets and the occasional sunrise. Pictures here

Happy Anniversary, Lora & Mike

2007-06-05T23:00:00.001-04:00

Married on 6/6/2006, my friends Lora and Mike eloped to the privacy of Boston Public Gardens for their wedding ceremony, one year ago. Congratulations!

Five times, trophy out on loan

2007-05-23T22:07:00.000-04:00

My nephew knows, from 2005, how many times Liverpool have won the European Cup. Five times. I am lucky they have all been in my lifetime...a win every 6 years.

Today, May 23, Liverpool were in the Champions League final again, hoping to win it for a sixth time. We didn't.

All credit to AC Milan for a classy finish, their 7th win. All credit to Inzaghi for handling the ball into the net, for the first goal. There were some strange refereeing decisions and some strange UEFA decisions on ticket allocations. And how come up to 2000 Liverpool fans, with valid tickets, were not allowed to enter the ground?

It's a sad week in Liverpool but let's remember the numbers: Real Madrid 9, AC Milan 7, Liverpool 5. At the end of the storm is a golden sky...

Triveni Dance Ensemble

2007-04-30T07:46:00.000-04:00

Echoes, a presentation by the Triveni Dance Ensemble was performed at Pine Manor College in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. This marks 35 years for the school and the wonderful and tireless Neena Gulati. Pictures are here .

Paris, ville de la lumière

2007-04-22T14:33:00.000-04:00

Après une semaine de la photographie à Paris, nous sommes revenus à Boston hier, avec quelques centaines d'images. J'avais presque oublié quel bel endroit c'est. Avec l'arrivée de la lumière d'or d'après-midi, il avait lieu presque en valeur les heures du soleil de aveuglement de midi, quand seulement les chiens fous et les photographes anglais … devraient boire le café et attendre le d'or de l'heures. Cartes postâles de Paris, ici.

Ten Arangetrams 2007

2007-04-22T13:13:00.000-04:00

Following a great series of portraits for Ten Arangetrams in 2006, we recently photographed some more students from the Triveni Dance School to continue our series. While still editing and retouching them for use by the students, we hope to have some highlights here soon.

We are currently taking bookings for photographing arangetram performances over the summer and fall of 2007. Please call the studio to see if we have your date free.

Cool for Catskills

2007-04-22T12:47:00.000-04:00

I was lucky enough to work with two terrific modern dancers recently; Kyla and Amber from NYC. Amber is with the Elisa Monte Dance Company and Kyla is freelance dancer and video producer. I was mixing ambient light with strobe here to get some of that motion blur. Cool pictures here.

Your dance is tango...music please

2007-03-27T22:58:00.000-04:00

I was invited to photograph the Fred Astaire Dancesport Championships last weekend. What an exhausting and exciting event. I was truly amazed by the dance skills on display. You name it; [aside from Indian classical dance] they taught it. After a few late nights editing, the pictures are available now, here. There are about 1600 hundred images, arranged by day and session. Please take a look.

Thanks to Elizabeth at the Norwood studio for making this happen. Thanks to Kim and Karen, the new England regional numbers 1 and 2.

We are already receiving phone calls at the studio, asking about the photographs. We had hundreds of cards at the show, with the link to the competition images.

London Marathon Man

2007-03-11T14:50:00.000-04:00

Please consider sponsoring my friend in London, Ron Daniel [Runner, Geologist, Mentor and Father]. He is running in the London Marathon this year, to help raise funds for Asthma UK and 100 Black Men of London

Go here to help...

Top 10

2007-02-11T22:03:00.000-05:00

Top 10 becomes top 13. This was a photo session of dance poses and headshots for the publicity and programmes for a young Indian classical dancer's arangetram. Her mother and dance teacher chose their top 10. I liked their choices but added a few more. Here is the short top 13 session. Many thanks to Ms Veena Teli of Tarangini Creations for assistance.

Recent tear sheets

2007-01-23T16:38:00.000-05:00

Here are some tear sheets from some recent publications, with my images. Most papers and magazines play nice; some don't want to. Where a publication has its own photo staff, I am not about to undermine their positions and give away images. Avon, for example, refused to even give photo credit for published images. I had volunteered as a photographer for the Avon walk. I thought this was a decent use of my time and talent. No credit, no pictures.

Where's your European Cup?

2007-01-20T15:05:00.000-05:00

Liverpool broke the Premier League jinx that Chelsea seemed to have over them. Although we have beaten them in other competitions [Champions' League, FA Cup, League Cup and Community Shield], we had a poor record against them in recent years. Today was different. With Mourinho whining about needing to spend more money on players, we flattered them with a 2-0 result. Good to see one of their better players, Petr Cech, back with the fancy helmet; glad Riise didn't hit him, when the ball hit the bar. Said Whining One was uncharacteristically contrite in defeat.

Rangapravesha Album

2007-01-19T10:30:00.000-05:00

Alex and I photographed the Rangapravesha of two sisters, just over a year ago. Rangapravesha is a Kannada word where 'ranga' means stage and 'pravesha' means enter. Many people use the word Arangetram [I believe Arangetram is Hindi and Rangapravesha is Sanskrit. More word details here]. After learning dance under the guidance of a guru, this is the occasion for the guru to present her disciple to the public.

We have recently been designing the album of those photographs and having a lot of fun with it. Here is our initial design for the album.

Top hat and tails optional

2007-01-19T09:30:00.000-05:00

The name Fred Astaire brings to mind black and white dance movies with impossible energy; and his name lives on, as he co-founded the first dance studio, in 1947. There are now six studios in Massachusetts alone.

I was invited to photograph this dance showcase, a friendly competition between two Massachusetts studios from Norwood and Hanover. Thanks to Elizabeth Anderson at the Norwood studio, for the information and invitation.

Modern dance in NYC

2007-01-15T11:08:00.000-05:00

I have been lucky to photograph some seriously-flexible modern dancers, with the New York dance companies, founded by Susan Dodge and Elisa Monte. You can see images from the photo sessions here. Thanks especially to Tiffany and Solomon at Elisa Monte! You'll see many photographs of dancers frozen in the air, taken with high-speed strobe. I also like to slow down the shutter speed and see some motion blur. The slower the shutter speed, the more ambient light contributes to the image. Eventually, you'll see a very impressionistic photograph with long motion trails, as in the entry screen for these two slide shows. Another effect, used here, is to open the shutter before the dancer reaches her peak of movement, and fire the strobe while the shutter is open. You will see a ghosting effect, where parts of the dancer seem transparent. This is experimental and the outcome is difficult to predict. Practice with the timing makes it easier to achieve what you envision.

Lhochaar: Nepali New Year

2007-01-14T19:11:00.000-05:00

I was invited to photograph the Nepali Lhochaar celebration in Boston recently. I have photographed these a few times before, in 2003 and 2004, so I had an idea of the events to expect. The dancing was spectacular and the crowd was lively and friendly! The backgrounds had been a little busy, so this year, I tried to use less flash and take in more of the ambient light. They had gelled stage lights and a smoke machine, so these added to the drama. Here are the 2007 pictures. I had plenty of positive feedback on the Nepali cultural site, Sajha.com. There was some negativity from another photographer. The food was great too, from Kathmandu Spice.

Red dress weddings

2007-01-14T18:42:00.000-05:00

I shot a handful of Indian weddings last year. The color and bustle and drama make the average white dress wedding a little predictable. I did say I wasn't a wedding photographer. I have photographed some memorable weddings where the bride wore a red dress, so maybe I should limit my brand to targeting those...

Here is an example from last summer...my friends Mike and Lora. As part of the celebration, Mike had arranged to have a scoreboard announcement at Gillette Stadium, during a New England Revolution game. They just couldn't get the spelling of her name right.

Ballet audition sessions

2007-01-14T18:27:00.000-05:00

Photo requirements for ballet auditions seem to vary with the weather. Our spec was for a 'headshot and an arabesque'. There are whole sites discussing these, so I aimed for some literal and some artistic. With the so-called 'safe' shots taken, we added some artistic shots near to the end, with motion blur...and cats. Thanks to Kit and her marathon-runner Mum. [hint to Mum: there are enough beautiful shots for an album]. This image reminded me of a painting. I confess I could not remember the artist at first. Vermeer: girl with the pearl earring?

Liverpool winning again

2007-01-13T11:18:00.000-05:00

It has been a happy Saturday morning, as Liverpool won 3-0 comfortably, away at Watford. This is good news, after two nasty losses to Arsenal last week.

Indian Dance

2007-01-12T17:40:00.000-05:00

My Indian dance photography started with a friend who arranged a studio session with her meta-niece Priyanka, who had been studying dance for about 11 years. We used a single light with a plain black background. Very colorful costume; very dramatic lighting. I have had Indian friends for years; since just after college. I had never realized just how much work goes into the dance poses, moves and holds.

I have worked for a few years with the Triveni Dance School, in Brookline, MA. It is directed by the tireless Neena Gulati, who boasts students from 7 to 75. Here are some images from her Tsunami fundraiser. Last year, I shot two other fundraising events within few days. One was a performance by dance instructors. It was called Ode to Mother, arranged by Jayshree Rajamani the other by the Dance Ensemble from Triveni. Called Faces of the Divine, it was performed on a miserable grey day in May, when the rain was lashing down. There were a few hundred people to see it, but it was sad to think many must have missed it, on a day when you really don't want to go out.

Just a few months back, Neena G celebrated her school's 30th annual performance, at the MIT Kresge Auditorium. There were about 120 students in this performance. What a great feat of organization. Pictures are here.

Students will perform a public debut or Arangetram, typically after several years of training and education. Quite often recently, I have seen two dancers sharing an Arangetram date. Sometimes we will shoot studio pictures for use in invitations and posters. These can be portraits or dance poses or moves. Here are some samples from a studio session in 2006.

Weddings etc

2007-01-12T17:04:00.000-05:00

When people learn that I am a photographer, I am often asked about shooting a wide range of things. Pet cemetery urns? No thanks, really I am busy that day. Many photographers offer a wide range of services, so they seem to focus on...nothing in particular.

Certainly, I have photographed weddings, kids portraits, even landscapes in Scotland, France and Greece. I am trying to specialize in dance imagery. Very few photographers seem to specialize in anything, though there are many who are primarily wedding and portrait photographers. My Google Adwords results show me that 'portrait photographer' outnumbers all other search terms on my web site...and portrait photographers outnumber all other kinds, around Boston in any case. Many wedding photographers [JVS, Becker, David Beckstead are probably my favorites]; few dance photographers [Lois Greenfield, Roy Volkmann]. Anyway, I like shooting dance.

Fast forward to digital

2007-01-12T16:53:00.000-05:00

Much has been written and argued elsewhere about the learning curve of digital photography. You see so many digital cameras these days, everyone is a photographer now, right? If you suggest that the person takes the picture, not the camera, you'll likely be flamed and abused. Try saying it somewhere like dpreview.

Digital cameras offer instant feedback, so you can learn, change, improve. You have to be paying attention, though. Really, though, you still see plenty of photographs that suck, erm, that could use some improvement; people with red eyes, with harsh shadows on the wall behind. So maybe we're not all excellent photographers after all.

High school darkroom

2007-01-12T16:40:00.000-05:00

There were no girls at my grammar school, so what is a boy to do but play football and learn to process photographs? There is a scene in the Bill Forsyth film, Gregory's Girl , where the geeky boy is printing and selling prints of the new female football star to the lads, in his school. Mine was not such an entrepreneurial teenagehood, but I learned a lot, even on my own. There were no teachers who seemed to know anything about processing, so I had to read and experiment.

When I got to college, I shot more photographs and processed less. My first SLR was a Praktica, a heavy East-German model, that was incredibly good value for money. I used this for years and eventually replaced it with an Olympus OM2, as used by Chris Bonnington on Everest. My first was stolen in Hartford, CT. I still have the second one. As labs got cheaper and cheaper, I did less and less processing. Yes, seeing the image appear, on a print, is a magical moment. I saw little point in breathing in the obnoxious smell of darkroom chemicals.

I used Canon film cameras since about 10 years ago and Canon digital cameras for the past 4 years. I no longer shoot film. When I shoot dance in a dark theater or a wedding in a dark hotel, changing speed is such a great feature! With the Canon 1D, you can shoot at ISO 3200 and see virtually no noise.

I show people prints from a dance event where the background is a perfect black. See how much noise you get from digital?

Where to start?

2007-01-01T17:44:00.000-05:00

I have been shooting photographs for many years; since I was a boy, in fact. I started with a Brownie 127. A family friend, up the street, had a darkroom in his house. He helped process my early mistakes! Thanks Mr Harrison! As my Dad taught my sister to ride a bike [c1970], I was there to record it on film. Note the fog in 70's Liverpool.

My second camera was a gift from my uncle David. As he moved to an SLR, he gave me a Hanimex rangefinder camera. I can thank him for really getting me into photography. I played with color film and lab processing, while I learned to process and print my own pictures. A neighbor taught me how to do all the black and white darkroom stuff.