Boston Marathon Vigil 04/16/13

Boston, MA 041613 Vigil at Boston Common in honor of those who perished during the Boston Marathon bombing one day prior. (Essdras M Suarez/ Boston Globe©) BEHIND THE SCENES: I have covered so many events like this one in my two decades as a photojournalist, you would think I no longer become affected by what I photograph. Instead I find myself in a mad frenzy to keep shooting, to keep focusing on composing and finding moments just so I won't time to process the magnitude of the events I've witnessed and photographed. Echoes of Columbine, Newtown, Iraq, Indonesia and so many more are nowadays always present in my mind when I'm confronted with documenting grief. Perhaps that is why I cling so tightly to my mantra of "Keep shooting, keep moving, keep adjusting..." just so I don't have time to think on what's in front of me. TECH STUFF: Cameras D-4, D3s; lenses: 24- 70mm 2.8, 70- 200mm 2.8 with a 1.4 TC; ISO: 640- 4,000; WB: cloudy and AWB

Boston Marathon Bombing Aftermath

Boston, MA 041513 Two explosions spaced apart by seconds tore through the finish line at the 117th Boston Marathon in Boston. Authorities confirmed three dead and more than 100 wounded. (Essdras M Suarez/ Globe staff) BEHIND THE SCENES: On this day I had been assigned to be on the women's elite media truck ahead of the female runners. I got to Hopkinton close to 7:00AM. The race itself was the predicted outcome: A Kenyan runner pushed forward and won. Once I arrived at the finish line I saw no reason for me to stick around there since we already had two staff photographers on site. I went back to the office, filed and went home to see if I could catch some well-deserve shut eye. This was shortly after 2PM. My wife called me a bit after 4PM as I was taking a shower and she asked, "Why are you home and not out there shooting the bombing? I told her I had no idea what she was talking about. She told me what happened and I immediately tried to get back into the area I had just left a couple of hours prior. The city was shut pretty tight so I ended up parking my car a couple of miles away from the epicenter of the blast. I walked in and spent the rest of the day while not being able to get images of the scene aftermath itself. I kept trying to tell the story of how the City of Boston had changed at a moment's notice by showing the heightened security and the reaction of those I encountered. Thus, the two friend embracing after a couple of hours of not knowing each other whereabouts. The firefighters on this picture were first responders on site. Off the record one of them told me what he saw and how he helped the people. The only thing he told me before being off the record was, "See my pants, that is blood and skin all over them."

Uncommon Images from Common Circumstances: A bit on the thought process and more

I made this image yesterday and it was used large on the cover of the Boston Globe's Metro section. I had previously called my office and asked my editors if they were looking for weather features for which I got a resounding Yes! from them. I've been around long enough doing my job as a newspaper photographer that I know weather is always considered to be "news." Especially here in New England where the weather patterns are so fickle. Afterwards, I did what I always do when I'm looking for features and hoping to stumble upon something unusual: I got out of my car and walked. Yesterday, I was already ahead of the curve because I happened to have just finished shooting an assignment near the Boston Common which is a favorite gathering spot for those enjoying the weather. This meant I didn't have to go searching for a visually-rich environment since I was already there. However, there were so many people sun bathing or just simply lounging around that at first it was visual overload. The scene immediately reminded me of what a couple of my Boston University students recently said to me during a photo trip to Cuba: "There is so much going on I don't even know where to begin or what to shoot?" No worries, this is a feeling commonly shared by beginner and seasoned photographers alike. Instead of yourself become overwhelmed, you need to step back in your mind and assess what's in front of you. Compartmentalize what you see in segments and then asses these based upon what's in them and for their photo potential and uniqueness. Then you go back to a bit of circular logic: Why am I here: To make photos. And not just any photos but good, better than average photos, and hopefully even great photos. If you don't take the time to compose and capture interesting imagery you are not doing your job: What is your job? Your job as a visual communicator/ documentarian is to see and document the world from a different perspective. To see beyond what the average person sees. Allegedly we do what we do because we think we can see better than the rest. We need to strive to prove this to ourselves every single time we press the shutter. And not all the time will we succeed but if you make trying as hard as you can a common routine you are bound to get better at it. And then others will start noticing that you indeed can see better than they can. Remember: You want the reader to look at your images and to do a double take. Your goal is to make them spend just a little more time looking and analyzing the images you create. You want the viewer to spend just a bit more on your photos than the other thousands of other photos the average person gets exposed to on a daily basis. You want to create images which move people, images which make people react one way or another. This we achieve by choosing our subject matter, and then capturing moments, interactions, altering angles, perspectives and paying close attention to composition. Going back to the above image: Yes, we all have seen people lying face down with their feet up out on a park, on a bench, at the beach etc. But if you photograph this scene from a standing point of view, then my friend you have just succesfuly managed to bore the living daylights out of your readers. This is how I strive not to do this. I follow this mantra every time I have a camera to my eye: "keep shooting, keep moving, keep adjusting..." These are interchangeable actions and their end result is that you force yourself not to take things face value but to go beyond what is in front of you. And then I don't stop shooting this subject or situation until I feel satisfied that I have explored every possible permutation or possibility of the situation at hand. Your images have to be interesting otherwise you are not doing your job and you are wasting people's precious time. The worst thing that can happen to you as a photographer is for your photos to be ignored. TECH STUFF: ISO 100, WB sunny, Spee 1/640th, Aperture 2.8.

Snowy Owls at Boston's Logan International Airport

Boston, MA 011713 Snowy owls have been spotted at Logan Airport including and recently there was a sighting of a female owl who was captured, tagged and released last winter and who is now back at Logan. This specific owl's GPS recording showed she had traveled over 7,000 miles.(Essdras M Suarez/ Globe Staff)/ BEHIND THE SCENES: After you have been a photojournalist for almost two decades it is great to every once in a while get an assignment which gets you excited about your job. Especially if its one you haven't done before. I have photographed many raptor species throughout the years but never a snowy owl so I was truly looking forward to get out there and see them. I was not disappointed. A USDA officer who patrols the wildlife in the area and an Audobon Society guy drove the write and I to the area along and between the Logan's landing strips. It was truly an amazing experience to be so close to these planes taking off and landing. These two guys were amazing at spotting the owls. Had I been out there by myself, I probably would have confused the white fuzzy things with snow piles. These two guys would look into the distance with their naked eyes and immediately spot the not-so little guys. The below images are of two different owls but as luck has it, we didn't get to see on this day the female with the GPS tracking device. TECH STUFF: DSLR with a 600mm 4.0 lens and a monopod. ISO 800. WB: Cloudy (it was so windy out there I eventually had to give up the monopod and lay flat in a sniper-like prone position just to get the lens to stabilize.) Even though the 600mm is a powerful and portentous lens it was not good enough for this assignment. Given the choice again, I would opt for an 800 or longer lens.

Sandy Hook Elementary Shooting Interfaith Service

Newtown, MA 121612 People who couldn't get into Newtown High School on December 16, 2012 to an inter-faith religious service in honor of the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting victims listen to loudspeakers broadcasting the event outside of the venue. (Essdras M Suarez/ Globe Staff) BEHIND THE SCENES: I had already worked a pretty long and tiring day and I knew there was no chance I could get into the service since president Obama had announced he would be there. I had already sent back plenty of photos for the day but I talked to my editor and we agreed I should still check it out. Once it was announced the president would be attending we knew right away it would probably be a pool situation and would likely be given to the local paper or the AP. Yet, we still decided I should try to go ahead and try to get as close as I could to the high school. Traffic was snarled everywhere and the most direct route to the high school had been closed earlier for security reasons. So I drove out several miles and came back thorough rural roads. I still had to park about a mile or so away from the high school but at least I wasn't the only one huffing and puffing it. I'm very glad I went. Even thought the lighting was a bit tough at times the images available were truly beautiful. I also noticed in the last couple of days how diverse the people attending religious services and just walking around town have been. And it was the same at the service.But what made me the happiest was that many fellow members of the media decided to take the night off and apparently those attending decided to be respectful to the public attending the event. Halleluja to that I say. TECH STUFF: D3 and D3s, 24-70mm 2.8, and 17-200mm 2.8. ISO +6,400. WB Auto. I will probably back here in the coming days for some of the funerals... I have mixed feelings about covering these.

Three Days after Sandy Hook Elementary Tragedy

Newtown, CT 121612 Three days after a gunman killed 20 children and several adults at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, CT parishioners of Saint Rose of Lima Catholic Church attended a service and added to an impromptu memorial outside of the church. They were later evacuated after a phone threat and CT State Troopers SWAT teams as well as local and other town officers responded to the call. After a thorough serach of three building the threat was deemed to be non existent. (Essdras M Suarez/ Globe Staff)BEHIND THE SCENES: Church officials learned the media is best kept at a distance after a couple of days of vigils where parishioners and town residents trying to grieve where mobbed by cameras and microphones. However despite the yellow police line many did not abide by these limitations and went as far as getting between the law enforcement officers and possible "hot" targets. Surprisingly no member of the media was put on handcuffs and incarcerated. TECH STUFF: I had my office ship me a 400mm 2.8 so I added a third camera body to my regular two-camera norm. I was glad to have it today.

Sandy Hook Elementary Shooting Day 2

Newtown, CT 121512 One day after a man walked into Sandy Hook Elementary and killed 20 children and several adults, residents and people from near and afar have come to this sleepy town to pay their respects to the fallen victims. (Essdras M Suarez/ Globe Staff) BEHIND THE SCENES: I'm still sticking to my guns of respecting my photographic subjects by giving them space. However, this can not be said by the majority of members of the media who have come to Newtown, CT. Today we were allowed at an Episcopal church for a "Healing Prayer" service and there were more media than parishioners. Photographers and video camera operators alike traipse about each other in the middle of the service while getting as close as possible to those trying to grieve. I stayed in one spot along with another photographer from another paper. She too was pretty disgusted with the photographers' behavior. I have decided showing respect for others is far much more important than getting the photo. TECH STUFF: same as always two camera bodies, two lenses, one teleconverter.