GO SOX!!

It was a big night for Hannah Flynn, thanks to Uncle Ray who donated Sox tickets to us. The Red Sox were opening a series against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays with Matt Clement on the mound. Hannah and I arrived at the park early, so that we could watch batting practice, possibly shag a fly ball or two, and maybe get a couple of autographs. With all the older kids hunkering around the left field wall, my gut feeling was that we had no chance of ever coming close to any foul balls. Leave it up to Hannah to lean over the wall and flash her radient smile to the players on the field. We stood there for about five minutes, when one of the players caught a fly ball, saw Hannah out of the corner of his eye, and walked over to personally hand it to her. She turned to me, beaming with surprise. She is such a manipulator, which will probably get her very far in life.








Hannah preparing to manipulate the opposing team. They didn't have a prayer against her evil charms!











Hannah with Dad showing off her newly aquired trophy.




Of course, what's a ball without an autograph on it? Our next mission was to get that ball signed by the most famous Red Sox of them all...




....Yes, we're talking Wally the Green Monster. She once again got what she wanted.

I think Hannah could have charmed her way into the club house if she knew what that was.

Hannah was a true Sox fan last night. She had a foot long hot dog, Fried Dough, Cracker Jacks and water... I asked her if she wanted a beer and naturally she said "Sure!" She cheered on her team, yelled at the umpires, and sang "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" during the seventh inning stretch. She insisted that we stay to the end so she could see her team win.

The Red Sox did win, 7 to 4. It was an exciting game with the lead being exchanged many times. Hannah made it through the whole game with no complaints. It was so much fun being there together and I look forward to going back with her again someday. Maybe next time, she will talk them into letting her sing the National Anthem.

One more note of thanks to Uncle Ray for the tickets. They really were GREAT seats!






Jim

Bentley College Continued...

Continuing on from the last post, I was hired to create a portrait of this Bentley Grad who works for L'Oreal Paris Cosmetics in their NYC office. The art director wanted her to appear as though she was at a photo shoot since models are best associated with wearing makeup... right? So, I actually had to set up two shoots that day, as you can see in the picture.



This shot was done at a rental studio in the SoHo section of NYC. We flew down that morning, set up the shot, grabbed lunch, did some shopping (my assistant insisted that I buy some jeans that actually fit me) then came back and did the shoot.

The photographer in the shot is played by our art director, Craig Casey. He was very appreciative to be included in the shot that day. Craig said it was a grueling part to play, but that he would graciously sacrifice himself to do it again if I ever needed his services.

So why did I need the picture that was shown in the previous post? It was part of the completed ad which would eventually include items that you might see at a photographer's studio. We needed this to look like a photo shoot and at the end of a shoot the client will need to look at a contact sheet of images. I got to spend a few moments pretending to be an actual fashion photographer! The finished ad looks like this:




Jim

More Bentley College

There has been a request here for more emphasis on behind-the-scenes photography stories. To keep everyone happy, I will try to do a better job writing about both home and work.

This next story is also about one of the series of portraits that I shot for the Bentley College campaign last fall. But, it's a nice day outside so the details about the shoot will have to wait. Check back here on Monday and I will explain how the shot below was used as part of the overall ad that appeared in Time Magazine.




By the way, do you hate getting up in the morning to go to work? Because... well... I don't.

Jim

Color at Last...

Yesterday, I said my goal was to finish work early so that Kathy and I could go purchase some shrubs for our garden. Due to the sparse selection of available shrubbery at this time, we decided to wait a few more weeks when perhaps the choices will be greater. In the meantime, we picked up a few perennials in order to have an excuse to get our hands dirty in the garden beds that are screaming for attention.

It was fun selecting the plants with Kathy. It made me smile when I imagined hearing Patty, my mother in-law, reciting the Kingdom, Phylum, Class and then common name of each plant. I, of course referred to them by their "street" names like "The Pretty Blue Ones" or "The Bright Yellow Ones." Very scientific!

There was only enough time to drop a few daisies in the concrete planters next to the walkway. That alone has the neighbors looking forward to our annual garden display. A few even stopped by yesterday to marvel at the little spot of color gracing the front of our house.

Right now the gardens look very monochromatic. Come summer our yard will be transformed into palates of rich color matched only be the equally satisfying mix of fragrances we will experience each time we pass by.

Jim

Spring Time

It looks like spring weather is finally upon us. The yard has been raked and the fertilizer has been spread. In a week or so, it will turn green and by May, the first cut. I will try to finish up work early today so that I have time to go buy some new shrubs for our garden and get them in before it rains tomorrow.

I think spring is my favorite season. It's a time when I can finally get things cleaned up and organized. Winter clothes get put away, some get donated. Windows around the house are opened and the outside air fills our house with the smell of nature and renewal. Last year I planted three lilac bushes under our bedroom window. They have started showing their buds the past few days. In a few weeks they will be in full bloom and when Kathy and I wake up, the fragrance of our lilacs mixed with the aroma of newly cut grass will greet our rising and make the morning fresh.

Did I mention how much I enjoy spring?

Jim

PS-One more sure sign of spring. Opening day at Fenway Park. Sox 5 - Blue Jays 3.

Thanks to my brother Ray for supplying the photo.

Weekend in Connecticut

On Friday the 7th, Kathy departed for a "Girls' Weekend" in Florida with some old neighbors. Not wanting to go 1 on 3 with the kids, I loaded up the car and headed to CT for a visit with Grandma and Grandpa.

We arrived around 7:45 Friday night. Dad and I left 5 minutes later for a concert performance by the Hartford Symphony Orchestra at the Bushnell auditorium. Meanwhile, Aunt Tracey packed up Sam and Hannah for a shopping excursion to the Christmas Tree Shop. Abby stayed home to keep Grandma company.

On Saturday we had planned to watch my nephew Colin play in a baseball tournament but those plans were scrapped when the tournament was cancelled because of rain. Instead, the Andover Flynns joined us in Durham along with Kevin, Allyson and the twins. We all hung out and ate a nice afternoon lunch prepared by mom followed by cake and ice cream to celebrate my 43rd birthday. Ray's family went back to Mass. that night while I stayed one more night with my kids. That night, Abby and Aunt Tracey went to a banquet at Aunt Tracey's work. The rest of us stayed home and enjoyed the warmth from the fire I built in the fireplace.

On Sunday morning, Hannah and I were taken out to breakfast by Mom and Dad. When we got back home, I helped Dad cut some wood until the chain saw crapped out again. We had to leave anyway so that we could get home in time for Sam to attend his first baseball practice of the season. He will be a member of the Holliston Dodgers this year and you can be assured of seeing many updates about his progress here.

Kathy got home around 8:30pm, just in time to say good night to the kids. She was very tired but not half as tired as I might have been if I had not gone to Connecticut. Thanks Mom, Dad and Aunt Tracey.

See you all next Sunday for the Easter Sunday Extravaganza!

Jim

Bentley College and me

Keeping with the theme of visiting older events, today I will share what it was like being on one of my shoots last fall.

I received this call last August while on vacation in Michigan. The agency was doing a campaign for Bentley College located here in the Boston area. Note, prior to enrolling in Art school, I attended Bentley College for one year back in the early 1980's. It was a good school, just not for me. Perhaps if they had a photography program.....

The project involved photographing select Bentley College Alumni who were working for companies that prospective Bentley students might consider "Cool." The people we photographed were located around the country and worked for companies such as Nike, Yahoo, L'Oreal Paris, and in the shoot above, The William Abrahams Talent Agency in Los Angeles. The ads would eventually run in Time Magazine as well as Regional Newspapers.

The L.A. shoot took many weeks of planning. We had to come up with a concept that needed approval. Once we got the approval we needed to scout locations, obtain L.A. County permits, insurance riders, negotiate with the licensing agent to use the HOLLYWOOD sign in the ad, get approval from the Alumni's employer to be in the ad and then coordinate all this along with travel. This took approximately 3-4 weeks. The shoot only took 2 hours from start to finish.



In the photo you can see:

A.) Me, laying on the ground next to a patch of cactus which my assistant Suzanne ended up pulling out of my back at the end of the shoot.

B.) Craig Casey, our Art Director turned assistant keeping the sun from shining in my eyes and camera.

C.) Our model Kristi, working with the Hair and Makeup person Zulica, so our shot looks just perfect.

Here's the finished ad:







The group shot was taken by my faithful assistant Suzanne. From left to right they are: Me, Stacey the account executive, Kristin our model, Craig Casey and Zulica.



Jim

Antigua 2006

OK, so I'm going a little out of sequence here....

Back in February the entire family spent a week at our time share villa in Antigua. This was the first trip for our kids and the second trip for Kathy and me. We coordinated our trip with Kathy's brother Mike and his family. They had the villa next to ours which was very convenient for the kids who spent lots of time running back and forth.

Our trip almost didn't happen because of a blinding Noreastern snow storm that eventually dumped 25 inches of snow across the New England region. Thanks to Kathy's quick negotiating skills we managed to change our flight out of town a day early thus avoiding being stranded at our home. We only lost a half day of our vacation instead of three.

Our time in Antigua was quite memorable. The kids had a great time playing with their cousins as well as making new friends with the local kids. They came away with many new experiences and stories. We can't wait to take them back again next year.

Jim

John Hancock shoot.

Hello everyone,
Last Friday and Saturday were spent shooting a job for John Hancock Insurance. The schedule was aggressive and the days felt like they went on forever. By the end of each day my eyeballs felt like they were about to jump out of their sockets in retailiation. Needless to say, Sunday was a day of rest.

I would like to say thanks to the wonderful production staff that helped me pull this project together both before and during the shoot.

Kristi Babin of View Finder Productions
Janet Henderson of JH Locations
Colleen Gannon, Melissa Buck, Kathleen Schiffman, Rae Bartolotti and Jen Walsh of TEAM
Mary Quirk of Associated Qirks
Amy Loucks from Liberty Mutual office Management

All the models, especially the kids who were so patient!

My incredible assistants:
Suzanne Holmberg
Kenneth Scott
Jessica Scranton

The amazingly well organized Hill Holliday folks,
Nancy Conaty and Summer Dembek

And I want to thank our art director, Jean Blundon for choosing me to work on this project with her. She has refreshing ideas of what she wants and knows how to clearly communicate her vision. She made my job so much easier.

Lastly, I want to thank my wife Kathy for understanding how tired I was each night and her proactive responses to my need for wine.

Jim