PEI Journal

Not your average Grandparent

2009-10-09T20:21:00.001-05:00

Mr. Bill Cleary, Belmont Hill Class of 1952, back on campus for Grandparent's Day on October 9, 2009. Following Belmont Hill, Mr. Cleary went on to become one of the great legends of US hockey.

He played his college hockey at Harvard, turning down offers from the Canadiens and Bruins to turn pro. He set every scoring record, seven of which still stand. He went on to compete in two Olympic Games in 1956 and 1960 where he won Silver and Gold medals respectively; leading the team in scoring in 1960 with six goals and six assists in five games. He is considered one of the greatest American hockey players of all time.

Cleary went on to a successful career as head coach and athletic director at Harvard. He is very active in the Belmont Hill community.

To read more about him, visit this link:

http://internationalhockeylegends.blogspot.com/2009/06/bill-cleary.html

Women Leaders

2009-10-08T21:45:00.001-05:00

Carla Harris, Managing Director at Morgan Stanley, gave the keynote address at the annual United Way Women's Leadership Breakfast on October 8, 2009 in Boston. The crowd of 1200+ women leaders were given tips and advice for business and life! She was a great speaker - informative, captivating and funny.

Hometown Huddle

2009-10-06T22:08:00.001-05:00

Local kids teamed up with United Way volunteers and New England Patriot players at Gillette Stadium on October 6, 2009 for the United Way's annual Hometown Huddle. The kids were given fitness/health tips and advice from the players and then made their own trail mix concoction.

Solid Body Fit

2009-10-03T09:35:00.001-05:00

October 3, 2009 - Typical scene at Solid Body Fit in Hyde Park, MA. Personalized individual and group training at its best. Nothing fancy, just good instruction and hard work. This was a Saturday morning class where the women were rotating through stations - boot camp style.

Check out the gym here: http://www.solidbodyfit.com/

First Victory

2009-08-23T09:57:00.002-05:00

August 23, 2009 - PGA Professional Ryan Moore wins the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, NC for his first career PGA tour win. Ryan outlasted Kevin Stadler in a three hole playoff. Sergio Garcia seemed on his way to the win with a three stroke lead and momentum after nine, but crumbled down the stretch. He still had a chance to join the playoff with a greenside bunker shot on 18, but the ball came to rest hanging over the edge.

The collage at the top was made for Wyndham as an event-encompassing piece for their guests and executives. The bottom collage features Ryan Moore.

NetJets 2 Days at Fenway

2009-08-15T22:01:00.001-05:00

On August 13th and 14th, 2009, NetJets hosted clients and guests for "2 Days at Fenway." This is a selection of images from some of the offbeat stuff featuring Red Sox legends Luis Tiant, Fred Lynn, Dennis Eckersley and Jim Lonborg. The telephone is in the Red Sox dugout and is the direct connection to the bullpen.

The last image is taken inside the Green Monster in left field. Fenway Park is the only baseball park to still use a manual scoreboard and this is where its operators work during the games. During Fenway tours, guests are reminded that although it is a much desired job with a multi-decade waiting list, work conditions are tough with no bathroom, no air-conditioning or heat and a view of the game only through half inch slits at chest height.

Johnny the Photographer

2009-07-16T21:20:00.000-05:00

July 16, 2009 - New Jersey. Rosie was swimming in her second-ever swim meet, which caused great jealousy in little Johnny. So I offered to let him take the Nikon D90 and shoot - he proceeded to get the camera around his neck and didn't miss a beat. (Though many adults around the pool were a bit nervous with this little guy carrying this expensive camera!)

He roamed the pool deck for about 45 minutes shooting anything and everything. He 'chimps' after every shot, most often laughing and grunting approval at his images upon seeing them on the screen. He was a big hit around the pool - at one point he had about six 8-9 year old girls posing for him and asking him to take pictures of them.

We had lots of fun viewing his images and were really impressed. He had lots of images of legs, butts and other odd compositions - all reminding us of a three year old view of the world. I had a tough time selecting images to use, but all of the images above that he is not in were captured by him. He really loves taking pictures!

The Swimmer

2009-07-16T20:51:00.000-05:00

July 16, 2009 - New Jersey. Rosie is one week into her swimming career and competed in her second 'meet!' Though she does have an actual freestyle stroke, it is not race-ready as of yet, so she uses a hybrid mix.:)

She started with the 13 yard freestyle - kicking hard and coming up every sixth stroke for air, as suggested by Coach Nana. She then swam in the 13 yard breast-stroke in which she has no formal, or informal, training. But she must have been watching some of the other kids because she had very good form, despite some pull-kick timing difficulties. She was very methodical about the form as you can see in the second image above.

She got a couple ribbons for her hard work and had lots of fun. She's practicing her stroke for two races next week as well as her modified divejump entry which will be race-ready for next week.:)

Monmouth Park

2009-07-03T22:02:00.001-05:00

Monmouth Park, NJ on July 3, 2009 for the kids' first day at the races. The images are in reverse order of arrival. We hung out at the warm-up oval for a peak at the horses prior to race-time. Rose was quite positive that the 4 horse would win the first race. Johnny the 5. Daddy went with the 7. The 4 tripped at the start and the 5 and 7 finished out of the money.

In the second race we were unanimous in picking the 10. Rosie said he would win because he looked "tough." Turns out the 10 wanted to watch the race just like us and determined the best view would be from behind all of the other horses, so as to not miss any of the action. He also preferred that the horses in front of him get smaller and smaller. He finished 10th by a landslide.

Rosie's face says it all in the second to last image and Johnny looks like he's trying to start a fight in the last image. But we had a great time!

Stormy Day at the Beach

2009-07-02T22:09:00.001-05:00

July 2, 2009 - Jersey Shore - Johnny works the buckets with storm clouds brewing above. The dark sky made for some pretty dramatic images at the beach.

Leader of the Pack

2009-06-13T23:08:00.000-05:00

Rosie with her boys in Narragansett, RI, June 13, 2009.

Race Face

2009-06-13T22:59:00.000-05:00

When racing, Johnny's shoulders rise and chin goes down, pretty much eliminating any evidence of a neck. He grimaces as if running on a bed of molten lava. Or, his head stays perfectly still while sprinting with a non-stop, unflinching smile. Nothing in between.

Beach Bum

2009-06-13T22:55:00.000-05:00

A sand-covered Johnny struts his stuff on the sands of Narragansett on June 13, 2009.

Randy Vera

2009-06-03T21:55:00.001-05:00

A session with Boston singer/songwriter Randy Vera in Roslindale on June 3, 2009. These were captured in an alley in the early morning and I was treated to some good tunes throughout the shoot - as were some random, curious passers by. Randy has been playing the Boston scene since his BC days. He was much better in front of the camera than he thought! Always a character, I commented that Flight of the Concord beat him to his forte.:)

Harold Ford, Jr.

2009-05-30T22:44:00.001-05:00

Harold Ford, Jr., former Democrat Congressman, and youngest ever elected to the House, from Tennessee, delivered the commencement address at UMass Lowell on May 30, 2009. I would argue a better speaker than President Obama, coming off with a similar persona but seems to pull it off more naturally. He was great to photograph with the obvious charisma and animated facial and body gestures throughout his speech. We will definitely be seeing more of this guy.

Larry Hyde, BC High Alum

2009-05-19T22:24:00.001-05:00

Mr. Larry Hyde, Harwich, MA - May 19, 2009. Larry has visited every UN-recognized nation and continues to travel extensively. A lover of maps from a young age, his career and life has brought him to every corner of the world. He typically is provided housing and much access from Jesuit communities around the world, where he often meets with Heads of State and various dignitaries. He could have told, and we could have listened, to great stories all day! One of those privileged days that comes with my job.:) the story and a couple of images will run in the next BC High Magazine. He was off to India the next day.

Milton Library Opening

2009-04-06T14:58:00.005-05:00

The Town of Milton unveiled its new Library on April 4-5. The project involved the restoration of the old Library as well as a significant addition. These images were made during the festivities on Sunday and later in the day, during dusk.

Mayor Cory A. Booker

2009-04-02T20:10:00.001-05:00

Mayor Cory A. Booker of Newark, NJ spoke to Boston Collage students on April 2, 2009. The bright, articulate, young leader played football at Stanford, was a Rhodes Scholar and a graduate of Yale Law prior to his efforts as a community activist and now Mayor of Newark. Judging from his credentials and ability to make a connection with everyone in the room, I can't imagine we won't be seeing the Mayor on the national scene very soon.

Hotel Rwanda

2009-03-18T20:01:00.001-05:00

As part of the Chambers Lecture Series, Boston College hosted a lecture by Paul Rusesabagina, the real-life hero of Hotel Rwanda. A packed house listened to his emotional account of the horrific events later told in the movie. The speaker and his speech proved to be very controversial as many of the audience questions came from Rwandans who were not so happy with Paul's account of the events and his opinions of the overall conflict. Whether he is right or wrong, truthful or not, the questioning did remind everyone that there are almost always at least two sides to every story.

Banner 17

2009-03-05T22:04:00.002-05:00

Rich Gotham, President of the Boston Celtics, spoke to students at Suffolk University on March 4 about the rebuilding and rebirth of the Boston Celtics. He detailed his years with the Celtics and the symbiotic relationship of selling tickets and winning games. "You sell tickets so you can win a championship, not the other way around."

No Line on the Horizon

2009-03-03T15:02:00.003-05:00

In honor of it being U2uesday, I thought I'd make a good nostalgia post! These images are from the U2 concert at Slane Castle on August 26, 2001. Jess and I went over to Ireland and met up with some friends from my University College Cork days of 91-92, then up to Dublin for the show. It was a marathon trek to the actual concert site at Slane Castle. U2 fans will recognize Slane from the cover of the Unforgettable Fire - the album was actually recorded in the Castle back in 1983-1984.

It was a homecoming for U2 and the death of Bono's father a few days earlier put the show at risk and added some heavy emotion to the performance. As seen in the photos, we arrived on time to get the absolute back row standing plots. The amount of people who were passed out before U2 went on was considerable - some I though may have been dead. Coldplay and Red Hot Chili Peppers played before U2 so they had been there a while.

We flew home a few days later and then of course the world changed the next week.

Milton Academy Squash

2009-02-21T14:14:00.002-05:00

The Milton Academy Girl's Squash Team hosted Nobles in their final home match of the season on February 21, 2009. The team went on to place 4th in the nation the following week. The images above are from the #1 match, which Milton won in four games.

Park B. Smith at Veritas

2009-02-14T21:18:00.003-05:00

Park B. Smith, Holy Cross Alum and former Marine, hosted an intimate wine dinner at his restaurant Veritas in Manhattan on February 9, 2009. The capacity crowd of 42 people were joined by wine critic Robert Parker and the Commandante of the US Marine Corps while contributing generously to a scholarship fund for Marine families at Holy Cross. During my twelve years photographing various events for Holy Cross, Park Smith has been a constant presence and philanthropic champion; a true Jesuit 'man for others.'

Mr. Smith is an amazing guy and you can read more about him in this article from the NY times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/14/dining/14pour.html

Seconds

2009-02-06T22:25:00.001-05:00

Rosie and Johnny on February 6, 2009. These images were made about two seconds apart.:)

Dorchester

2009-02-06T21:41:00.000-05:00

Carney Hospital in Dorchester hosted a Legislative Breakfast on February 6, 2009 - a chance for the CEO of Caritas Christi to engage the local leaders.

In this image, Jack Shaughnessy, the great Boston philanthropist and current Chairman of the Board at Carney, greets State Representative Linda Dorcena Forry.

Mr. Shaughnessy, along with his wife Mary, is a mainstay in the development efforts of many of Boston's Catholic institutions. I have photographed him at various events each year for Carney, St. Mary's Women and Children's Center, St. Elizabeth's and BC High.