Happy Halloween - Bag O Tricks

If you've ever wondered what it's like to traverse through fields of thousands -- truly, thousands -- of jack-o-lanterns, I can tell you it's pretty creepy. The one above was one of the more benign designs I photographed earlier this week at Van Cortland Manor, in Croton-on-Hudson, New York.

The eerie effect in this photo was all done in-camera: a long shutter (a second and a half, I think) combined with a flash pop and a camera twist. It's a technique I like to have in my back pocket.

New England Farm in Autumn

When autumn rolls around here in New England, it's no secret that the colors explode. Southern Connecticut is about a week shy of peak season, and yesterday we were graced with a gorgeous 60+ degree sunny day.

Amie Hall asked me to photograph a seminar she was hosting. Amie runs From Your Inside Out, a consulting firm specializing in helping people learn how to prepare healthy meals. The setting was the spectacular Sport Hill Farm in Easton, Connecticut, shown above.

I love this job.

The Circus Comes to Bridgeport

Who knew such big fat animals could walk so fast? This was an athletic event, keeping up with these elephants.

Cancer Heroes

Last week, I photographed a fashion show to benefit breast cancer survivors. It was nearly a year to the day that someone close to me had survived cancer surgery. As I watched the survivors revel in their beauty, I imagined my own loved one among the courageous women.

I know, I'm not supposed to get personally invested while on assignment for a newspaper, but this one did hit home. While there, I kept my experiences to myself, of course, but I was extra motivated to work hard to capture the sheer joy exuding from the survivors.

These weren't professional models; they were survivors who had been helped by this organization and wanted to help raise funds to help other survivors. In the image above, I'm not sure if I'm drawn in more by the smile of the woman modeling, or by the admiration on the faces in the audience. I sure like this kind of assignment.

Football Slideshow

Now that it's football season, it brings to mind this slideshow I did of a state championship game last season.

Boxer Tarvis Simms

It's got to be tough to make a living as a boxer. They pummel each other with great force, over and over again. It was hard to watch. But my close-up perspective shed a surprising light on the sport. More than once in the match, when one boxer hit another with a particularly swift jab or well-placed cross, the other would recover from the blow, then give an almost imperceptible nod to his opponent, as if to say, "good shot." Maybe it was my imagination.

For the photographers out there, the shot above was taken with a 17-55mm lens -- the short focal length gives you an idea of how close I was. You need to be close to be able to shoot around the ring ropes.

This top-of-the-card matchup started past the paper's deadline, but I stayed to the end anyway and the story and pictures ended up getting good play in the following edition.