Memorial Day Boston 20thousand Flags

Boston, MA 05/31/2010 All day long during Memorial Day May 31, 2010 people stopped by the Boston Common to photograph or simply catch a glimpse of the twenty thousand flags, each one representing the life of a fallen Massachussetts soldier. The boots and dog tags belonged to Alexander Arrendondo, 20 years old, who was killed in An Najaf, Iraq during his second tour of duty in Operation Iraqi Freedom. This soldier was the son of Carlos Arredondo who try to immolate himself in a Marine van after they delivered the news of hi son's death. The story gained national notoriety back in 2004 when TV crews captured the smoking van and broadcast it nationally. BEHIND THE SCENES: I did this on my own, kind of gave myself the assignment, since I thought it was a story worth telling and sharing. I didn't have enough time to stick around long enough to capture emotion so I focused on the visual aspect of the event. TECH STUFF: ISO 200, lenses 70-200 2.8, 24-70 2.8. Speeds 12th- 200th of a second. WB cloudy. (Essdras M Suarez/ EMS Photography)

Multi-faith press conferenc in support of Muslims

Boston, MA 052810 Children entertain themselves as adults like Zainab Elmi (cq) left (with glasses and scarf) of Somerville, and Amenyonah Bossman (Cq) of Boston (eyes closed) listened during a press conference on May 28, 2010 at the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center mosque in Roxbury. Among the crowd were several hundred Muslims and a cadre of multi-faith religious leaders whom had gathered in order to show their support for the Muslim community and to denounce comments by Massachusetts State Treasurer and Independent candidate for Governor Tim Cahill. The group accused of allegedly making "bigoted" statements after Gov. Deval Patrick met with members of the Muslim community. (Essdras M Suarez/ Globe Staff)/ MET BEHIND THE SCENES: The caption pretty much tells the story of the assignment. The only point worth making is that I was among the very last journalists who stayed until the end. I had already gotten the standard images of the different religious leaders talking on the microphone but I kept circling the scene looking for more of a human angle. That is when I found these man by the fence displaying almost identica lbody language. BTW, I was only able to make one frame of this scene before the man on the right moved away. TECH STUFF: This by far has been one of the worst technical situations I have had to shoot lately. Mid-day sun and every possible combination of colored garments and extreme tones of skin color. The camera kept giving me strange readings which I kept over-riding by putting the camera on Manual Mode. ISO 200, lenses 24-70 2.8 and 70-200 2.8. Speed varied from 320th of a second all the way to 2,000th of a second depending on how much depth of field I needed. WB set at Cloudy. The extreme ranges of the exposure made me feel as if these images needed to be converted into B & W.

FOUNTAIN WEATHER BOSTON 5/25/10

Boston, MA 052510 Adult and children alike seek to cool off at the Christian Science Monitor fountain as temperatures climbed into the 80's on May 25, 2010. (Essdras M Suarez/ Globe Staff) BEHIND THE SCENES: First 80-degree day in 2010 is humungous news for the paper. So all I did today was walk around the city looking for people enjoying or suffering the weather. I try not to shoot the fountains because they are too obvious but the sky, the silhouettes and then the pregnant woman lured me in. TECHNICAL STUFF:ISO 400, speed between 2500 to 3200 to freeze the water and silhouette the subjects in the photo. Lens: 80-200 and 24-70 both 2.8. WB: cloudy

Lexington High School's Tempest

Lexington, MA 050610 Drama students at Lexington High School "walk the grid" before opening night of Shakespeare's The Tempest on opening night on May 6, 2010. (Essdras M Suarez/ Globe Staff)/MET Behind the Scenes: Lexington High School's drama club opening night of Shakespeare's Tempest. Their version was modernized by using as as a backdrop the Haiti earthquake. These images are all from opening night. To me as a visual documentarian the story usually can be found off the stage and this is what I tried to explore. The moody images where made in what they call their "Black Room" which where they go to mentally prepare for the performance. TECH STUFF: Lenses: my bread and butter 70-200 and 24-70mm 2.8s. The ISO varied from 400 to 2,500 depending on the availability of light. Speeds varied from 1/125th of a second to 1/5th of a second. BTW the kids were amazing on stage!

GOOD WEATHER DAY AT THE BOSTON COMMON

Boston, MA 051310 Nanny Xiao Juan Li (cq) holds on to seventeen-month old Ethan Marc (cq) just in case as the latter looks with covetous eyes the waters in the Frog Pond at the Boston Common on Thursday May 13, 2010 . On another part of the park, Lars Lange (Cq) of Essen, Germany and on a Boston two-week vacation also enjoys the warm temperatures. (Essdras M Suarez) Globe Staff/ MET BEHIND THE SCENES: Easy, good weather, bad weather, dry, wet, cold is news in the newspaper world. After a press conference across from the Boston Common I took a big lens I had with me and looked for something interesting of people enjoying the weather. I usually avoid photographing children because they are so easy to photograph. There has to be a moment happening in order for me to shoot them. TECH STUFF: ISO 200, 300MM 2.8, 4.O aperture, 1600th of a second.

Mass Art Fashion Design Srs. Fashion Show 2010

Boston,MA 050710 Behind the scenes as models and designers get ready for the Mass of Art Massachussetts College of Art and Design 2010 seniors fashion show at the Power Station on May 7, 2010. BEHIND THE SCENES: This is a job I do yearly for the college and one I always look forward to. Besides the runway shows I also get access to the behind the scenes and to me this is where the real drama happens. TECHNICAL STUFF 24-70 2.8@ 24mm, aperture 5.6, ISO 500 and 1/30th of a second (speed varied from 1/8th up 1/50th depending on what part of the tend I was shooting.)

Summer Fun

Framingham, MA 050510 While driving west bound on the Mass Pike saw this group of people jumping off a railroad line bridge on the opposite side of the highway. Luckily I had a 500mm lens with me and I was able to stand atop of the guard rail while hand holding it in order to make these images. (Essdras M Suarez/ EMS Photography 2010) BEHIND THE SCENES: On warm days I'm always on the lookout for weather features. I couldn't use this one because I had no way of getting to these kids without exiting the highway, figuring out how to get near an entrance of this pond/lake body of water and then walking out into this bridge. I had a softball game to cover so I just didn't have the time to go get IDs or anymore information for that matter. TECH STUFF: Lens 500, aperture 4.0, speed 1/2000th of a a second, WB sunny. Hand held the lens while precariously balancing on the turnpike's guard rail. (mind you I keep a fluorescent-color vest in my car just for occasions like this one.)