6-22 wedding highlights
Fantastic wedding. As soon as I learned we’d be taking the subway from the ceremony to the reception, I knew it was going to be a hit! Further adding to the awesomeness was the stylish 50′s retro attire and the existence of air conditioning (it was a wicked scorchah!).
Also, June 22 is a great date to get married. I know from experience.
March Wedding #1
Matt and Amy’s wedding in early March was beautiful. It was so much fun getting to shoot this wonderful couple at their elegant ceremony and reception at Boston’s Mistral.
some time in the capitol, 1.1
Last weekend, I had to trek down to DC for an NSF meeting and the number of photos I took at this meeting is about zero (I rounded up).
I just had a thought – it would be really funny if this was the entire blog post. “I went somewhere and didn’t take any pictures, thanks for visiting!”
Ok. anyway. Luckily, there were far more fun/interesting things to see this weekend than powerpoint presentations. As it turns out, our nation’s capitol is conveniently located near a number of our friends, offering plenty of excuses to snap some pictures. Our first stop was Jeff – a repeat guest on the blog and current resident of Winchester, VA.
This will be a long blog post because it was supremely difficult to capture the feel of Winchester in a small number of photos. There are parts of the area that were breathtaking and other parts that, well, almost look the same in black and white as they do in color. So, the post is split up in 1.1 (people pics in winchester), 1.2 (scenery in winchester) and 2 (everything in DC).
So, first thing’s first. Here’s some photos of us, Jeff and some other random inhabitants of Winchester.
Emily discovered that mimicking a Lion’s facial expression is quite difficult. This was at a coal-fired pizza restaurant.
Jeff and his apartmentmate Sam – aren’t they cuuute
Awesome sign at a bookstore.
You know how you start out the day knowing whether or not you intend to buy new running shoes that day? Well, I unexpectedly bought a new pair of running shoes from this ridiculously helpful/knowledgeable dude. He’ll be up in Boston in a week or so for the marathon. Photocred: Emily
Given the way this guy was dancing all over the place, I expected him to be a little happier than he appears to be.
More photos from the trip to come!
allow me to demonstrate
In our neighborhood of Jamaica Plain, a small grocery store called Hi-Lo closed its doors. It was extremely affordable and carried a huge variety of international goods, particularly Hispanic food. In its place, a Whole Foods will likely be moving in, which, as opponents of Whole Foods say, is a step in stride with the overall gentrification of the area. A local opposition group formed – with a website and everything – and held a demonstration on Monday in hopes of convincing Whole Foods not to move in. This was one of the first whole-neighborhood events I’ve been aware of since moving here, and since I would personally prefer a local grocery store to a Whole Foods, I attended the rally and afterword town meeting.
The rally was originally planned to occur at a park down the street from the old Hi-Lo, but due to impending doom (rain) it was moved into an elementary school gymnasium. They left the cool signs up, though.
Something like 200 people crammed into the gym (though admittedly a good portion in attendance were news people) and someone donated coffee and baked goods. There were several speakers that shared personal stories, got everyone on the same page or got everyone riled up and angry at the Whole Foods empire.
There were a couple performances, most notably from an awesome local hip-hop group.
The crowd then trekked all the way to the other side of the school where town meetings are held so as to bring the point to the local government people. Anyone who wanted to say anything about the grocery store changeover was welcome to come to the mic and speak their mind. This was pretty interesting as they had people line up in different lines depending on whether they were for or against Whole Foods. There were a couple times it got pretty heated, possibly even a little inappropriate. But in any case, any time the anti WF people were excited, they waved the blue informational fliers provided at the beginning of the meeting (cheering/clapping/etc. was banned).
Whole Foods has a signed lease and are scheduled to move in sometime in March. Really, there’s little chance this will be prevented, but I’m really encouraged that my community actively pushes to keep the neighborhood affordable and diverse. Way to go JP.
lens hero.
Here’s a photo of Jeff. You might look upon it and say “Gosh, Mike, how do you so artfully pick the right lens for the right occasion.” You might also say “Mike, did you add that vignetting to the photo in post-production?” To the first question I might just reply with a wink. To the second, though, I would say “no, that is the unfortunate event of using a DX-formatted 35mm 1.8 on my full frame camera. Though I love the lens immensely, it is not fully compatible with my new camera.” If our conversation continues, you might say “well, how does one know for sure which lens is compatible with their camera, and further, how do I tell it’s in my price range?”
This is where I stand on the nearest table and proclaim “Lens Hero!” I just discovered it the other day and it’s a fascinating way to narrow down potential lenses for your needs/camera/budget. I recommend giving it a try if you’re in the market for a new lens. The prices on the site also seem to reflect what you can actually find the lens for if you look around, rather than just the MSRP (which is usually completely useless information). It also links to some reviews about the lens, but probably could be a little more developed on this end. All in all, though, definitely worth the time!