Thursday, September 22, 2011

Queen Elizabeth Boston Maiden Voyage






South Boston, MA 092211 As Cunard's Queen Elizabeth docked at the Black Falcon Pier in Boston on September 22, 2011, Captain Chris Wells greets a crew member washing windows. At the time of our visit the ship was mostly empty of passengers since a lot had disembarked to take in the Boston sites and attractions. The ship which is a brand new ship, not to be confused withthe QE2 which was sold three years ago to Dubai to be made into a land-locked attraction, is 90,000 tons and has 12 decks for passengers and 4 more decks for crew. The ratio of passenger to crew members is 2:1 (Essdras M Suarez/ Globe Staff)/ MET BEHIND THE SCENES: In order to gain access to the Queen we had to provide our passport information and then they kept it as we boarded the ship. The ship was due to leave on this night of September 22, 2011 after 2200 hours but in the newspaper world there is rarely an opportunity to spend more than a couple of hours- if that much- on an assignment and this was no exception. We got there a bit before 1500 hours and we were out of there by 1630 hours. I was looking forward to taste cucumber sandwiches at a reception but we, the writer and I, had to move to do other assignments. The Queen Elizabeth is a beautiful, magnificent and lavish ship with heavy a heavy Art Deco penchant. We were told the average age of its passengers is 60+ and well traveled. TECH STUFF: 2 cameras, 2 lenses: 16-35mm 2.8, 70-200 mm 2.8 and a 1.4 TC. ISO 400- 1600, speeds: 1/4th of a second to 1/2500th f a second.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Manhunt for Jewelry Store burglars after shooting cop








Woburn, MA 090611 Woburn, MA officers and from other police departments organized a manhunt for several men who were at large. The men were allegedly involved in the shooting of a Woburn police officer - he was shot three times but is now in stable condition- during a botched jewelry heist. (Essdras M Suarez/ Globe Staff) BEHIND THE SCENES: I came into this story a good two and half hours after it broke. I have covered enough situations like this one to know that unless you are one of the first members of the media at the scene there is a very high likelihood you will be hanging around police barricades. This held truth once more today. I tried getting close to the area where the shooting occurred but by the time arrived, the police had a pretty tight perimeter of the surrounding area. So I decided the only thing I could do at this point was to make the best of where I was and to make good images of what was happening in front of me. I was lucky because the intersection I chose is a busy one and on the main road where much activity was happening. This included catching a glimpse of a police cruiser involved in the shooting where you could clearly see the grouping of five shot on the passenger side of the windshield. The man hunt continues. TECH STUFF: Two lenses 70-200 mm 2.8 with a 1.4 TC and a 500mm 4.0 (This is my preferred telephoto since I can hand hold it). Speeds: 1/800th - 1/200th of a second, ISO 640- 800. WB: Cloudy

Monday, September 5, 2011

Sad Labor Day weekend in Boston... homicides







I worked this Labor Day weekend as a favor for another photographer. I thought I'd spent these days looking for pretty end-of-the summer images such as barbecques and alike. Instead I covered the shooting death of a college-bound 18-year old from a tough part of Boston. Today I had to hightail it to Lawrence, a suburb north of Boston whose population is heavily comprised of hispanics, to the aftermath of a triple homicide. The living-boyfriend of a 39 year old woman shot her and her two teenage children and then he wandered around the neighborhood until he confessed to a passerby. This was one of the most bizarre crime scenes I've ever covered. There were about 300 hundred people just standing around looking toward the address where the homicides where committed. Finally after twelve hours the police removed the bodies and the crowd reacted by crying and whaling. The third body fell from the gurney as it was being transported to the forensic vehicle. The crowd was not too happy about that. BEHIND THE SCENES: whenever I go to a situation like this, I'm very aware to be respectful of those around me. I try to put myself in their shoes and think how would I like members of the media to treat me if these were my friends or relatives who were murdered. I try to make eye contact with my subjects right after I make the photos. In this way I feel as if I am letting know that I am there, and doing my job. Based upon their reaction I might keep making more photos or might simply nod my head as an apology and move on. This was a very mellow and helpful crowd. It wasn't until the very end when they were removing the bodies that I felt tension running through the crowd. The Lawrence police officers behaved quite smartly by not antagonizing the crowd for most of the time. TECH STUFF: two cameras, MARK IV/ MARK III, two lenses: 70-200mm 2.8 with a 1.4TC/ 16-35mm 2.8. ISO 200-400, Speed 1/640th to 1/125oth of a second. WB: sunny.