Tag Archives: featured

Privacy & Surveillance

Saturday: Fight back against government surveillance!

Reprinted from the Massachusetts Pirate Party.

This year is the 22nd anniversary of the signing of the PATRIOT Act made possible by the 9/11 attacks. Since then, government and corporate surveillance continues to expand. We will join Pirates nationwide to push back on the effort to surveill our public spaces by mapping the surveillance cameras in East Boston. Join us!

At noon on September 16th, we will meet at the East Boston Public Library at 365 Bremen Street, East Boston. It is an eight minute walk from the Airport MBTA Blue Line stop. The library has a link you can use to get directions there.

We will then divide up into teams and fan out to map cameras. We encourage everyone to wear a mask and social distance.

Register now so we know you are coming!

On Sunday, we hope you will join us in Acton for a relaxing afternoon talking, eating and, weather permitting, swimming in a pool. Register separately. Attendance at the East Boston outing is not required. It is potluck, so if you want to bring something, add to our etherpad.

We posted instructions for how to use several camera mapping apps on your phone so you can get ready. Check out what we have mapped so far at cctv.masspirates.org!

Nature, Photography

Northern Mockingbird

A Northern Mockingbird visited our neighborhood. I was able to get several good photographs and one good video. Propping your lens on a car is a helpful technique for maintaining stability with a telephoto lens.

Northern Mockingbird Northern Mockingbird Northern Mockingbird Northern Mockingbird

A video of the bird singing. Did I mention that placing your lens on the top of a car really stabilizes the telephoto lenses. An external microphone would have helped here too, but I wanted to get the camera out of the house as quickly as possible and didn’t expect the mocking bird to stay as long as it did.

A crow also visited the area:

Crow Crow
Photography, Theater

Into the Woods

I attended the Somerville Highlander Theater‘s performance of Into the Woods in early December. As is my custom, I photographed the performance.

I decided to try something different and photographed it with an anamorphic lens so I could get more of the actors and stage. You can tell from the occasional lens flares. I cropped only a few of the images.

A big congratulations for the crew, cast and orchestra for a wonderful performance.

Into the Woods - Rapunzel Into the Woods Into the Woods Into the Woods Into the Woods Into the Woods Into the Woods Into the Woods Into the Woods

You can view all of the images in this album:

Into The Woods

Unfortunately, the latest Lightroom update decided to change the default to exporting the small versions of the photographs and not the originals. If you would like a copy of the original, email me.

Current Affairs, Photography, Pirate Party, Social Justice

2022 Trans Resistance March

Attended this year’s Trans Resistance March in Roxbury with the Mass. Pirates contingent. Included are photos I took of or after it.

Black Trans Lives Matter Puerto Rico Pride Bans Off Our Bodies Eyes Love + Vote My Trans Sister Is Beautiful Disobedience Is Self Defense Reflecting On A March Stonewall Was A Riot! Govt. Laws Off Our Bodies Fuck Nazis Protect Trans Healthcare

Some crowd shots:

Our waving Trans/Jolly Roger flags were popular:

I was joined by Purple Bandana:

Trans Resistance March

He got one of me with the Trans/Jolly Roger flags:

Eventually, we arrived at Franklin Park:

Afterward, I got a few local pictures including of street art:

Maze Graffiti Weld Ave. Mural Jackson - Weld Ave. Mural

The man in this mural introduced himself to me.

This park was locked preventing kids from playing in it:

Not Free To Play

The whole photo album:

Trans Resistance March 2022
Fun, Photography

Elf Land

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The photos of Elf Land, a neighborhood space in a to-be developed lot in Somerville, I have seen tended to be at human level and not elf level. As such they didn’t do Elf Land justice. Before the big storm in January I set out to change that. Here is the result:

Elfland - Dino Farm Elfland - Citgo Sign Elfland - Gas Tank and Mobile Home Elfland Historical Society Defend Elfland Flag

You can find all of the photos at this album:

Elf Land
Photography, War

Warship Wednesday: DDGs LBJ & Inouye

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Over the summer I planned to head up to Bath, Maine to photograph the USS Lyndon B. Johnson. I planned to take the Maine Maritime Museum’s Shipyards & Lighthouses Cruise just as I had when photographing the USS Monsoor.

Due to the pandemic that was not possible, so I instead rented the Sigma 150-600mm Sport lens from Hunt’s Photo Video. My son and I drove up and tried finding locations to photograph from. The land across from the Kennebec River is filled with private houses and offered no outlet from which to photograph the USS LBJ. We ended up starting on the US Route 1 bridge and traveling down to the Doubling Point Lighthouse:

Bath Maine

The Sigma 150-600mm Sport lens is a very heavy lens. Hand holding it seemed a recipe for blurry photos so I put it on a sturdy tripod. It worked well though the walkway to the Doubling Point Lighthouse vibrated when people walked on it.

From the US Route 1 bridge:

USS Lyndon B. Johnson USS Daniel Inouye

From the Doubling Point Lighthouse:

USS Lyndon B. Johnson USS Lyndon B. Johnson

From where on the Doubling Point Lighthouse I photographed the LBJ. Taken while on a previous boat cruise.

Bath Maine