The New England Newspaper & Press Association recently held it’s annual  awards banquet in Boston. While I was not there with my former co-workers, needless to say they made out like bandits. Nicole Goodhue Boyd was awarded the Photographer of the Year for Weekly Newspapers (among five other awards). David Sokol won First Place for Feature Photo and Kirk R. Williamson won two First Place awards, one for Pictorial and one for Video.

While those individual honors are to be lauded, I am also proud that as a team we won First Place for Digital/Print Convergence for our multimedia project on the building of the schooner Ardelle. The Ardelle is a pinky schooner, a traditional New England coastal vessel, built by master shipwright Harold Burnham of Essex. He and a dedicated group of volunteers worked tirelessly to see its completion and our team captured the building process from when the first several of the boat’s ribs were built to the launch of the Ardelle. Writer Laurie Fullerton and Cape Ann Beacon editor Jane Enos as well deserve a lot of credit for their time and efforts at making this idea for a project live and breath in the newspaper and on the website.

To see photo galleries, videos, written stories and profiles of “Harold’s Helpers”, please visit the Cape Ann Beacon Ardelle page.

As the New England Patriots head into the Super Bowl this Sunday, I began thinking back to some of the memories I had photographing the Eastern Mass State Finals football championship games at Gillette Stadium, home of the Patriots. For almost all of these kids it was a thrill of a lifetime to play on the same field as Brady, Harrison, Branch and so many other greats had. While the roar of the crowd wasn’t anything like that of any given Sunday, these players played with passion, intensity and a desire to win.

One of the things that I love about photographing high school sports is that there is still that sense of pureness to the way the game is played. Sure, the players showboat and mimic their favorite NFLer but they play for the love of the game that I don’t think can be matched at the collegiate or professional level. Case in point, the Masconomet Chieftains Division 2A Super Bowl game against Marshfield. After getting down 13-0, the Chieftains clawed back into the game with an Evan Bunker touchdown run to cut the lead to 13-6. With the time winding down late in the fourth quarter, the Chieftains drove deep into the Marshfield zone. Bunker scrambled, avoiding the sack, and through a touchdown pass, making it 13-12 as precious time continued tick away. Instead of going for the extra point to tie the game, Masconomet opted for a two point conversion and the win. It was a gutsy call and luck turned out to not be on their side. The pass was broken up in the end zone, ending the Chieftains year.

Here, Evan Bunker and Chris Splinter hug as the Chieftain faithful file out to the exit after the game. The moment was all the more poignant as this was the last time these two, both seniors, would play alongside each other as they had been doing since they were little kids. To me it illustrates the bond forged through tough days of training, long hours spent preparing for their opponents, all with the same common goal, to win.

70 years ago today, the United States was attacked by Japan at Pearl Harbor.

When I put together travel arrangements to visit Hawaii two summers ago, I made it a point to see Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona Memorial. I never thought I would get a chance to see this place that was so seminal in American history. I arrived early on a cloudy and humid morning in anticipation of a long line of visitors like myself wanting to see the memorial. After getting my ticket, I had time to walk around the visitor center complex on the shore. There is a very  interesting exhibit of all the ships that were destroyed during the Pacific campaign. After about an hour  I boarded the boat over to the memorial. As a kid watching the yearly observance on the nightly news, I had always envisioned this big memorial way out in the water. And for some strange reason that notion persisted for many years. In reality the memorial is quite small and very close to the shore of Ford Island.

As the people aboard the boat slowly made their way up the ramp and into the memorial, there was barely any talking. I was definitely taken aback at how much oil was still leaking from the ship, even after so many years. In some sense it made it feel more real to me. We were given about 20 minutes at the memorial before we needed to make room for the next group.

With this past weekend’s beautiful weather I finally decided to unchain myself from the desk I have been living at. This fall has slipped quickly by and unfortunately I haven’t been able to enjoy the changing of the seasons because of graduate school. The goal was simple. Wake up early on Sunday, enjoy the sunlight and scenery, shoot some photographs and try to get some exercise. While I hemmed about making the drive up into the Allegheny Mountains of Pennsylvania, I soon remembered the great C & O Canal. During my last stint in the DC area, I used to run along the canal from the Key Bridge up to Fletcher’s Cove and back. This time though I would explore more of the trail with my bike.

I started from Point of Rocks and biked through Brunswick and on to Harpers Ferry. I was curious to see the bike trail at this segment and as well to get a look at both of the towns on the way to Harpers Ferry. As a history buff, I know that all three of these towns were significant in the nation’s earlier history and that certainly played a part in my decision to visit them. As I passed the long since abandoned railroad tunnel with faded lettering that read “Catoctin”, I knew I was right where I wanted to be. The Potomac River is relatively wide at this point  and gets wider as you travel west along the trail towards its junction with the Shenandoah River. The ride was refreshing – warm sunlight under a bright blue sky, crisp fall air and leaves that rustled loudly in the wind.

After my ride I decided that I will one day ride the entire trail from DC to Cumberland then take the Great Allegheny Passage up to my hometown of Pittsburgh. While I have explore much of Maryland and Pennsylvania growing up, taking the trail will help to fill in some of the “dark spots’ on the map I haven’t yet visited.

With the NHL season finally underway I can breathe a little bit easier. As much as I love football, which none of my friends or family would question, there’s something really special about hockey that always keeps me coming back for more. It doesn’t matter if I taking pictures at a Pee-Wee league game or watching the Pittsburgh Penguins on TV, I’m going to be glued to it. With that in mind I wanted to post a few hockey photos I’ve taken over the last year or so.

I was fortunate enough to spend several weeks in the south of France last month. I met some amazing people on the trip and was helped along the way by the sheer kindness of strangers. To me, that is one of the great parts about getting to experience new places and people. While I decided that my photography would take a bit of a back seat to “soaking it all in”, I still managed to capture some of the great scenery there. This being my first time outside of Paris, I was really blown away by the landscapes. After looking through my take, I saw that most of the shots that I liked the best were verticals. While I don’t have a bias for either verticals or horizontals, it might look like that here. Pictured here, from top to bottom, are Notre-Dame de la Garde in Marseille, Marseille’s old port, Calanque de Sugiton, the Pablo Picasso Museum in Antibes, and hiking near Nevache. I will definitely not forget freezing my butt off while hiking in the Alps, seeing a stage of the Tour de France and getting addicted to speculoos ice cream.

I was fortunate enough to have recently taken a very restful vacation on Nantucket. Staying at a house overlooking beautiful Hummock Pond brought me a sense of peacefulness I have not found in quite some time. I did bring my cameras but vowed not to go too crazy with taking photographs. I wanted to simply exist in the space I was in rather than get caught up in “capturing” what I was seeing and experiencing.

We were treated to what seemed like an almost endless parade of birds either flying or floating by. I never really considered myself a bird enthusiast but hearing the different calls and seeing so many different kinds of birds in one place was such a treat and certainly a highlight of the trip.

My nephew Liam just turned one year old and what better way to celebrate then to show off a few photos of my favorite guy. I have watched with awe and excitement as he has grown so fast over the last year. Although I’ve only gotten to see him in person on three occasions, each visit has been a blessing. Here are photographs from Christmas, enjoy!