Commentary on the news and sports photography of Kelvin Ma.
So I found these guys chilling out next to my car after I wrapped up covering a brush fire in Peabody. Easily the most interesting thing I photographed all day!
Unfortunately, these guys happen to live about 5 miles down Route 1 from the Hilltop Steakhouse…
6.20.2010 — PEABODY, Mass. — Moo.
An outtake from a high school volleyball assignment I shot today.
5.27.2010 — NEWTON, Mass. — Needham at Newton South. MIAA Boys Volleyball South Sectional Semi-Finals.
For the record, I have never claimed to be good at photographing volleyball!
One of my photojournalism mentors, John H. White, has a catch phrase: Keep In Flight. It’s his philosophy in life, and it could be interpreted a bunch of ways that I’ll let you dwell on for awhile.
Anyway, John made a habit out of photographing birds in flight, pretty much whenever he sees one, and he’d be sure to point out any birds in flight in our pictures when he taught my class in college.
This is my take on “Keep in Flight,” only I go for the biggest birds — Planes! I snapped this frame while waiting for Conan O’Brien to arrive at the Kennedy Library Foundation dinner earlier tonight. Conan showed up about 30 minutes late, so I had plenty of time to find ways to occupy myself…
5.23.2010 — BOSTON — A flight bound for Logan International Airport descends above the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Dorchester, Mass. on May 23, 2010.
I did some work for my Uncle Bill last week, producing some images for the new sushi menu that is now being offered at his restaurant, Great Chow in Quincy, Mass. My aunt and uncle have been in the restaurant biz basically my entire life, so I pretty much grew up on their food — Eat the chicken wings!
Great Chow is easily their crown jewel, with a branch in Abington as well. The Quincy location recently underwent a major expansion and renovation, and my Uncle Bill was eager to start getting some customers through the door with what else? The new food menu.
Here’s some pictures of the finest sushi you’ll find in Greater Boston, in my opinion (full disclosure: this restaurant is, after all, in the family. But I did eat it and can vouch for its deliciousness).
5.13.2010 — QUINCY, Mass. — Great Chow Quincy's Lobster Salad Roll.
5.13.2010 — QUINCY, Mass. — Great Chow Quincy's Caterpillar Roll.
5.13.2010 — QUINCY, Mass. — Great Chow Quincy's Snow Mountain Roll.
Hungry yet? Head on over to Great Chow and tell them my photos got you there!
So how cool is this? My cousin’s band sold out the Middle East Downstairs last night.
The band, three dudes also known as The Glitch Mob, kicked off their tour last week after playing the Coachella music festival. This time around, my cousin, Ed, got to come home and play a venue he’s dreamed about playing, and the crowd reciprocated.
When you get the kind of access that comes with being a blood relative, well, you take advantage of it. Here’s a quick take from what ended up being a full card.
5.5.2010 — CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The Glitch Mob performs at The Middle East Downstairs in Cambridge, Mass. on May 5, 2010.
5.5.2010 — CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The Glitch Mob performs at The Middle East Downstairs in Cambridge, Mass. on May 5, 2010.
5/5/2010 — CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The Glitch Mob performs at The Middle East Downstairs in Cambridge, Mass. on May 5, 2010.
5/5/2010 — CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The Glitch Mob performs at The Middle East Downstairs in Cambridge, Mass. on May 5, 2010.
5.5.2010 — CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The Glitch Mob performs at The Middle East Downstairs in Cambridge, Mass. on May 5, 2010.
5.5.2010 — CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The Glitch Mob performs at The Middle East Downstairs in Cambridge, Mass. on May 5, 2010.
5.5.2010 — CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The Glitch Mob performs at The Middle East Downstairs in Cambridge, Mass. on May 5, 2010.
5.5.2010 — CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The Glitch Mob performs at The Middle East Downstairs in Cambridge, Mass. on May 5, 2010.
Here’s a little rig I set up earlier today for a shoot tonight with a friend of mine who is a landscape architect with ALL Landscaping of Northborough, Mass. Tonight’s shoot will involve a fountain, so to bring some depth to the water, I’m hoping to light it from within.
It’s always fun going to Wal-Mart and buying all sorts of weird stuff that will eventually be hacked into some kind of ghetto-style photo tool. If only those greeters knew what they were enabling…
Here we go:
1. Vivitar + Pocketwizard in a Ziploc container
2. Add water. And a brick.
I was hoping the frosted appearance of Ziploc container would act like a large Sto-Fen omnibounce to increase the size of the light source, but we’ll see how that plays out during the shoot.
3. Light that mother up!
Granted, this probably won’t work in water much deeper than two feet, but it’s cheaper than buying an underwater hard-wire rig to trigger lights.
Last week I received a request from local musician Todd Marston to take care of some promotional portraits for an upcoming residency at the Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong. We were trying to blend Todd’s laid-back personality with the professional look that a high-end company like Mandarin Oriental would expect from its performers.
If you happen to be in Hong Kong from August through October, be sure to check out Todd. In the meantime, for you Boston-based folks, check out his band, Choose to Find.
4.16.2010 — BOSTON — Todd Marston
4.16.2010 — BOSTON — Todd Marston
4.16.2010 — BOSTON — Todd Marston
4.16.2010 — BOSTON — Todd Marston in his natural habitat, rockin' the Keyboard Cat t-shirt!
I had the pleasure of spending some quality time with friends new and old at a small house party/show/jam session over the weekend. Some very talented musicians provided some excellent tunes while I fumbled my way through with the visuals.
Here’s a look at the festivities.
I thought I’d take some time today to do a little bit of updating to the blog layout, spicing things up by making the content pages much wider to accommodate, you guessed it, bigger photos. Small just doesn’t seem to cut it anymore, so a few extra pixels should come in handy presenting my latest endeavors in the photo world.
Here are a few snaps I made on yet another beautiful day outside. Apparently, pilots can now fly planes like these while on anti-depressants. How about that?
4.5.2010 — SOUTHBOROUGH, Mass. — A twin-propeller plane flies above Southborough, Mass.
4.5.2010 — SOUTHBOROUGH, Mass. — An AirTran flight heads south over the skies above Southborough, Mass.
It’s been awhile since I posted anything from my collection of iPhone photos. They’ve pretty much been living on my phone for the last year, so I thought I’d put together something a little more comprehensive than a few scattered photos here and there.
Anyway, here’s a little indulgence for my artistic and spontaneous sides.
