Rebecca and Joe's Engagement Portraits

My good friends Rebecca and Joe got engaged last year, to the delight of pretty much everyone they know. Today is Joe's birthday, and I wanted to take the opportunity to post a few of my favorites from their engagement portrait session back in May. They wanted to center the shoot around the Boston neighborhoods of Allston and Brighton, where they live, work, study and play. Congratulations again to two of the funnest and kindest people I know. (Slideshow below).

Moving Day (Boston, Ma.)

"One thing about pioneers that you don’t hear mentioned is that they are invariably, by their nature, mess-makers. They go forging ahead, seeing only their noble, distant goal, and never notice any of the crud and debris they leave behind them. Someone else gets to clean that up and it’s not a very glamorous or interesting job."
- Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance



Leases in Boston typically start on September 1. That means that on September 1, almost every resident of the student/immigrant neighborhood of Allston moves everything he or she owns from one Allston apartment to another Allston apartment. Double- and triple-parked U-hauls (booked weeks in advance) clog the streets, trashed furniture litters the sidewalks, and landlords and tenants shout obscenities over just about everything.

After moving myself on (or around) moving day four years in a row, I wanted to examine it from a different angle. This is the first draft of my attempt to capture the absurdity that is Moving Day in Boston. I focused on the frustration and exhaustion of moving, and the waste and filth that movers leave behind.

Just Thom.

I live right across the street from the Planned Parenthood in Allston. There are often anti-abortion protesters on the sidewalk outside (not closer than 35 feet to the clinic entrance thanks to last year's buffer zone law), so it often looks like a circus to me. It's not unusual to see people waving signs, flyers and dolls, or shouting at each other on the sidewalk at any given time.

On April 12, though, this guy Thom was balancing on his double-decker bike in front of the place and I just had to grab his photo on my way out the door. At the time I didn't have time to run across the street to get his name, but since it's Allston, I ran into him on the street on up near Twin Donuts on Saturday night and he was friendly enough about chatting with me (though insisted his name was "just Thom".) He seemed excited about the photo, but I doubt he'll remember the name of my blog.