Fourth of July Celebration a day earlier at the Esplanade, Boston

Boston, MA 070314 Due to inclement weather forecast for the Boston Metro area, officials decided to move the celebration to the 3rd instead. These are some images from the lauded Hatch Shell show. (Essdras M Suarez/ Boston Globe©)

Behind the Scenes: These images were taken within feet of each other. I was down on my knees in between the stage and the barricades. From here I a had clean shot of the stage which allowed to get this shot of the Beach Boys performing. If I looked to my left I'd have a clear view of the woman with the fan and the people behind her. Five feet to my right I had the sailor and the little girl with the hat and tattoos. And even though, I had walked around quite a bit earlier in the day making images, the ones made at the end of the day were simply the strongest visuals. Points to remember while on assignment: * Always keep in mind: "The best photo happen is going to happen right in front of you." This is because you have no control of any other photos anywhere else. You need to make the best of what you have in front of you. * Never stop shooting a situation until you think you have exhausted the possibilities. Explore every possible angle, pay attention to interactions between people. Anticipate emotions and reactions whenever possible. Point and case: The man in the sailor outfit. It was quite obvious to me, he was a gregarious guy by nature. So when the national anthem was being played, I knew he and those around him would make for a good photo. But I also had an inkling when the national anthem was going to be played there might be the possibility of him becoming emotional. So, I readied my second camera (telephoto lens) and for that I was rewarded with the tight shot of him with the flag behind him. This turned out to be my favorite shot of the day. TECH STUFF: Two cameras: Nikon D4 and D3s/ Lenses: 17-35mm 2.8 and 70-200mm 2.8 with a 1.4 TC/ Mode: Aperture Priority to begin with - using initial exposure as a base line- and then Manual mode in order to control the look of the image (i.e. do you like your images dark? Saturated? on the lighter side, etc) Quality: JPG Fine/ WB: AWB/ ISO: 800-2,000

Fire at 298 Beacon

Boston, MA 032614 Firefighters fought a 9-alarm fire, the highest of its type in the City of Boston, at 298 Beacon Street in Boston's Back Bay neighborhood. Two firefighters died in the fire and several others were taken to local hospitals for injuries. (Essdras M Suarez/ Boston Globe©) Behind the Scenes: Yesterday I was at the Museum of Science doing a very elaborate lighting portrait of a scientist and shortly after setting up the lights and the background I noticed a couple of people pointing towards a plume of smoke in the Boston side of the Charles River. I immediately called my office to let them know but they were already on top of it. I was asked if I could get there but much to my chagrin I had already setup for the portrait and it wouldn't have been a quick thing to disassemble the lighting set up I had created. And the subject had yet to arrive. He finally came and I did my job as fast as I could and packed up as quickly as I could and then tried to make my way to Boston. Traffic had become pure gridlock and because of lane closures. I decided instead to see if I could photograph it from across the river with whatever limited focal length I might have had in my car. These were the resulting images. I was so far away and I could tell this was a horrible scene. I wished I would have had my 500 mm with me in the car. But as I always tell my students: The best photo is the one in front of you, and the one you can make with whatever equipment you have at hand. TECH STUFF: Nikon D4, Nikon D3s, 70-200mm 2.8 and 300mm 4.0, ISO 80, WB: cloudy, Speed 1/640, DOF 5.6 and 9.0

Another Snow Storm in Boston

Watertown and Boston, MA 020514 Once more we were hit by a bit of snow and the city came to a stand still. People stayed home and telecommuted for work. However, I enjoy walking around when there is snow on the ground and to let my creativity soar. A lot of times this is easily be achieved by gaining a high-vantage view point. The image of the lonely road and the winter landscape was shot right next to my place on the rooftop of a parking garage structure. The image of Post Office Square where there are some people tossing about snow balls was shot from the 23rd floor of an office building where a friend of mine works. And while on my way back to the car I noticed the bright red roses and rose petals in a window display. So I decided to incorporate both into one image by looking at the reflection of passers by and by waiting for the right person to walk by. Serendipity once more smiled at me and the young woman walking was carrying in her hands a cup of coffee. Because of this her hands were up in front of her, which matched perfectly with ta set of roses inside the flower shop. Tech stuff: Nikon D4 and Nikon D3s. ISO 800. Speeds 1/125th to 1/800th of a second. Lenses 70-200mm 2.8 and a 24-70mm 2.8. WB: Cloudy. Compensation: 1 1/3rd of a stop. Mode: First Aperture priority to get my base line readings and then switched to Manual to better control exposure.

Nikon vs Canon/ Spanish

On Nikon vs Canon: Tito Herrera, mi hermano de Panama, y yo siempre nos reimos de esta discusion. Por que al final del dia es la preferencia personal del fotografo es la que determine que marca se utiliza. Yo tengo el titulo honorifico que me dio la Nikon de “Nikon Legend.” Pero eso no quiere decir que yo no le tenga respeto y aprecio a la Canon, o a la Leica, o a la Sony, o a la Hasselblad, etc, etc. Les doy ejemplos: A mi el Boston Globe me da equipo Canon. Pero mis camaras personales son Nikon. Uso Canon cuando hago fotos de comida. Uso Nikon para fotografiar naturaleza. Uso Canon cuando tengo que usar mi flash. Pero he utilizado mi Nikon con el flash cuando he tenido que hacerlo. Prefiero la Nikon cuando es cuestion de empujar el ISO. Prefiero Canon cuando tengo que utilizer luces artificiales. Pero prefiero mi Nikon cuando me toca ir a “cazar” momentos decisivos. Prefiero el 16-35mm 2.8 de la Canon al 24-70mm 2.8 que tengo de la Nikon… Y la lista puede seguir por rato. Este sabado que paso andaba con una Canon en un hombre y una Nikon en el otro. Se me danio uno de mis lentes angulares amplios de Nikon y he tenido que estar usando la Canon con el angular amplio. Miren las fotos adjuntas a este blog. En otras palabras: Las camara modernas profesionales son herramientas fantasticas que utilizadas por la persona correcta cumpliran su cometido y produciran imagenes de alta calidad. Siempre habran estupendos fotografos sin importar que equipo utilicen los mismos. Estos fotografos son el resultado de tres cosas: practica, talento y suerte. La practica: Esta es una cualidad la cual todos tenemos acceso. Esto es lo que yo considero como el “great equalizer” de la fotografia. Y cuanto beneficio “the shooter” le saque a la misma esta limitada solamente por la cantidad de tiempo que el individuo(a) este dispuesto(a) a dedicarle a su arte. Yo tomo fotos por lo menos 6 dias a la semana y lo he estado haciendo ya casi por 20 anios. El talento: Lastimosamente este es el aspecto del cual menos control tenemos por lo general. O sea o lo tienes o no lo tienes. Either you have it or you don’t. Pero no se desanimen, la fotografia es hasta cierto punto una ciencia y como tal se puede analizar en cuantificar en formulas las cuales puedes ser utilizadas al momento de tomar las fotos. Yo soy un ejemplo claro de este hecho. Yo me considero completamente empirico. Yo no creo nunca tuve mas talent que la persona promedio. Pero me puse dichoso por haber tenido la oportunidad de el haber trabajado con profesionales dentro del gremio lo cual me dio la oportunidad de aprender from some of the best of the best. Esto de las formulas lo he confirmado una y otra vez a traves de mis anios de instructor en cursos de fotografia. Me ha tocado a menudo el enseniarles a muchos fotografos los cuales yo no considere inicialmente que tuviesen mucho talento innato pero luego de haber prestado atencion y luego de haber procesado estas formulas los mismos produjeron imagenes exponencialmente mejores a las que solian hacer antes. La Suerte: Lady Luck es la mas dura de todos los atributos que poseen los buenos fotografos. Hay quien la tiene y hay otros que no... pero hay un dicho en ingles que dice, "Luck favors the prepared mind." “La suerte favorece a la mente preparada.” Esto quiere decier que muchas veces lo que otros consideran suerte es simple y sencillamente la abilidad del fotografo de identificar el potencial de una situacion y su capacidad de poder anticipar la major posicion, y el momento donde y cuando tomar la foto.

&Beyond African Photo Safari Kenya and Tanzania

SERENGETI NATIONAL PARK, Tanzania — I sat upright, completely awake, vibrations and deafening noise having disturbed my sleep. Faint tremors traveled from the ground to the legs of the bed, settling deep in my chest and reverberating through my skull. My brain screamed: “Get up and run or get up and fight!” I reached for the only weapon I had, a flashlight. Rigid and still in bed, I pointed the beam side to side, up and down. I couldn’t find the source of the primal sound. I took a couple of deep breaths and calmed down a bit, remembering I was on the first night of a two-week photo safari to three camps in Tanzania and one in Kenya. I couldn’t get back to sleep. The roaring had seemed as if it were right next to my tent. The sound of fighting baboons I had heard since arriving was now replaced by an eerie silence sporadically interrupted by what sounded like a life-and-death struggle. Tips for photographing while on safari After a two-hour vigil, jet lag and exhaustion won out and I fell into an uneasy slumber. An hour later my butler woke me up at the predetermined time of 5:45 a.m. with tea. I asked about the noise and he said, “Hakuna matata. It’s only lions nearby. Their roar travels far away.” Hakuna matata? No worries? Did he mean not to worry. It’s only lions? A short time later we went to meet our ranger, Joseph, who helped us into an off-road vehicle. When our party mentioned the commotion we had heard the previous night, Joseph said, “It was probably a kill.” Then he added, “Let’s go find out.” A kill it was. We came upon about eight lions lying around the remains of a big buffalo. Not much was left except a bright red rib cage attached to some sinew and tufts of hair dangling from a scarred skull. According to Joseph, the kill had occurred only a couple of kilometers away from our camp and a number of lions had been involved. We got as close as 15 feet to a lioness still gnawing at the carcass while another busied herself with the fallen animal’s tail. The connection with Africa’s wildlife and its majestic landscape felt simultaneously intimate and primal. I never thought we’d get this close to the kings of the African predators. I had purchased a massive telephoto lens for this trip, which was too big to use in such close quarters. This experience set the tone for the rest of the trip. Each camp had its own awe-inspiring moments, from the vast accumulations of wildebeests dotting the horizon as far as the eye could see to the fleeting image of a young cheetah running toward the shelter of termite mounds. The number of wildlife I got to see and photograph exceeded my expectations. On our final day in Africa, at Batteleur Camp in Kenya, we went out one last time before catching the first of a series of small planes back to Nairobi. When I thought I spotted the remains of a kill just 50-70 feet away from the camp’s gated entrance I asked the guide to stop our vehicle. He got out first to examine the remains: massive vertebrae and a stripped down pointy skull. “A hyena kill,” he said, noting that the bone had been stripped of all the flesh and nothing left behind, no skin, no antlers. “This was probably one of the baby giraffes we were photographing yesterday,” he said, adding, “between 10 to 15 hyenas all attack at once and devour everything.” I returned from the savannah with a newfound respect for nature and a yearning to return, cameras in tow, to once more experience wild Africa. TECH STUFF: 2 CAMERA BODIES: D4 AND D3S/ 2 LENSES: 500MM F4.O AND 70-200MM 2.8 WITH A 1.4TC. THE VARIATION OF SPEEDS AND WB SETTINGS VARIED THROUGHOUT THE TWO WEEK PERIOD. TO PURCHASE ANY OF THESE AND/OR ANY OTHER IMAGE FROM THIS GALLERY PLEASE GO TO DORIAN COLOR LAB WWW.DORIANCOLOR.COM

Boston Marathon Bombing Suspect Watertown Manhunt

Watertown, MA 041913 Massive manhunt for the Boston Marathon bombing suspect took place in Watertown for 20 hours after a shootout was reported in the adjacent town of Cambridge. One of the two brothers was killed during a confrontation with police where more than 200 rounds were exchanged and then the second suspect was arrested while hiding inside a boat sitting in someone's backyard. (Essdras M Suarez/ Globe Staff) BEHIND THE SCENES: It is very frustrating to be thwarted by police barricades when you know such huge story is developing just around the corner. So I adhered to what I always tell my students to do when shooting: Keep in mind the best photo happening for you is the one you have right in front of you because that is all that you can control.

Impromptu memorial site in Boylston Street for the Boston Marathon Bombing

Boston, MA 041813 Days after the Boston Marathon Bombing an impromptu memorial was created by those wishing to pay their respects to the victims of the disaster. (Essdras M Suarez/ Boston Globe©) BEHIND THE SCENES: On this day my assignment was to hang out on this site and to get the best possible images of the site and those visiting the area. These included overall shots. One of these two shots ran six columns across on the cover of the Boston Globe Metro section.