Monday morning when I went to work, I was greeted by a voicemail from some dear friends, Tracey Lind and Emily Ingalls, who were looking for a photo of the two of them I took last summer.

The reason they were asking was they needed a picture to submit to the New York Times wedding announcements because they were in New Hampshire preparing to tie the knot after ten years together. 

This was a truly happy surprise. Tracey was going to seminary with my mother, Amy Greene, when I was born in New York to the Union Theological community. After a career and a life growing up in Atlanta, my parents moved to Cleveland where they reconnected with Tracey. 

Over the past three years in Cleveland, my parents grew especially close to Tracey and her partner, Emily. Every trip I make to visit my folks invariably includes several meals and gatherings with T and Em. Without their friendship, I do not think my parents’ transition to Ohio would have gone so well as it has, and all of our lives would have been the poorer for it.

Since Ohio has yet to grant same-sex marriages, T and Em had to venture out to the enlightened Granite State to obtain the license, justice of the peace, and Episcopal minister to officially join them in marriage after ten years together. And so it was, a couple that means so much to my family and me happened to have a very specific need, a need with which I was specifically able to help.

The community in Cleveland that needed to witness this moment was simply too large to invade little hamlet of Jaffrey, and I knew that words about it would not satisfy anyone. Not only that, but I really felt the need to be there for them on behalf of myself and my whole family. So I insisted they let me join them to document their wedding in pictures. 

I was especially grateful for this opportunity because as a freelance photographer, it can be an easy mistake to slip into thinking that what I do is provide a mere commodity or service. But performing this assignment for Tracey and Emily was a powerful reminder that what I do with a camera matters, and that it is important  I be good at it. 

Now I feel satisfied that the folks back in Cleveland, and a thousand other places too, get to see what I saw on that sunny, breezy Thursday in New Hampshire. I feel hopeful that in the midst of this turmoil of propositions and repeals and stays that two people who are in love and commitment with one another can be joined in life, faith and law. 

Over and over again, Tracey asked the justice “So, this is real, right? This is the real thing?”

He assured her it was.

“I just can’t believe it.”

.
.
.

This summer, I have been trying to wind down a bit and refill my creative reserves that were nearly run ragged over the last year.

I welcomed the opportunity to slow the pace, read a book, and enjoy the outdoors, but the persistent nagging feeling that comes when I don’t make enough pictures was getting stronger.

The problem was that I couldn’t settle my mind on a project to direct my energy – none of my ideas had the proper balance that would ensure the idea would last longer than the time it took to write it down, let alone begin making pictures.

Then, like a spark, I recalled an old National Geographic perennial feature that photographer Stella Johnson uses to get her basic students moving: the ZIP Code Project. The idea is to find a ZIP Code and document what makes it special. A simple idea with plenty of potential.

I realized that many of the ideas I had kicking around were connected through my neighborhood, 02139, not to mention that this is probably the coolest ZIP Code in America. Centered on Central Square, 02139 is bounded by the Charles River to the south, Inman Square to the north, MIT to the east, and Harvard to the west. I truly love this neighborhood, especially the things that make it unique, and this was a great opportunity to get to know it even better – and hopefully become known by it.

All of a sudden I have gone from not knowing where to begin to not having enough time for I want to see.

That is a great problem to have.

Here are a couple of the ground rules I will be trying to follow:

• Everything must be made in 02139.
• Special emphasis and attention on the people that live here.
• The project is primarily photographic, but will offer occasional audio, video and writing.
• Regular updates on the content (tagged 02139) will culminate in some special presentation – book, website, etc.

Additionally, I would appreciate audience participation. If you hear or see anything that would be of interest to the project, please let me know. Have you been to this part of Cambridge, Mass? What does this place mean to you?

Please scroll down for a gallery, and leave your thoughts below.

.

.

.

A while back, I joined a site called Shoot36.com, which challenges photographers to use “One body, One lens, One roll…”

It took me long enough, but I finally managed to venture out with an old Pentax K1000, a 50mm lens, a useless light meter, and one roll of Tri-X. The weather cooperated, giving me a slightly overcast day that led to some good light to work with in black and white.

Working at BU, I occasionally get my hands wet with D-76 and fixer, and I truly enjoy the moments when I get to soup a roll of film in the labs.

Editing my selection, I was pleased and surprised to see how the six pictures I chose each had a conversation with one of the other images in the set.

The rules of the site discourage any work beyond the straight image, but for my site, I decided to add a little color effect to add another dimension to the presentation. Actually, the color work is a visual shout-out to hyper-color-grader Max Esposito. If you want to see the original submission, you can find it here.

Please scroll down for a gallery, and leave your comments below. And thanks for looking!

.

.

So, my buddy Kelvin invited me to a show on Friday, as he often does, but this time was different. Normally his and my musical tastes don’t exactly overlap, to put it mildly, but I recognized the name of the band and I was curious.

It was Love in Stockholm, a band who has been kicking around the BU area for a while, and is really starting to pick up some serious momentum. I watched their music video and was hooked, but I still couldn’t recall how I knew of these guys.

We got to Harpers Ferry in Allston in time to catch the second half of the first act, Musaic, which was a really tight soul-rock group out of New York. Then Hey Mama took the stage and proceeded to melt everyones faces off with washboard rock. It was as though every member of the band had an endless supply of poker chips and they just kept upping the bets, but no one ran out.

While they were up, Kelvin pointed out the lead singer of the headlining LiS band and said his name was Charlie. All of a sudden I remembered my freshman year dorm-mate who was always hauling his instruments around and working on his music. Only now he had a shorter haircut and enough swagger to bring down a gaggle of swooning femme-fans.

I popped over to Charlie to say hello and we spent a few minutes catching up, after which he took the stage and from there, I’ll let the pictures tell the story. (Scroll down for a gallery).

.

.

I went for a photo walk last night and ended up covering a lot more ground than I expected I would. The goal of these walks, which I hope to do more frequently, is to capture the unique light that happens as the sun sets. There is a painterly balance that happens only briefly, and capturing that moment of light and hopefully a human moment intersecting it, is something I’m eager to experiment with.

A significant part of my inspiration comes from the street photography of Alex Webb, particularly an image in his new book on Cuba that shows two young men carousing in the orange glow of a streetlight against the rich blue cloudy backdrop of a Havana boardwalk.

Thanks for looking and please scroll down for a gallery.

.

.

Last weekend, Leah and I visited our good friend Lisa in Newport, RI to celebrate her birthday. The day after, Lisa and her boyfriend Matt took us on the 10-mile drive around the island to show off the place. One of the cooler things we found was a downed tree that had some pretty interesting elements about it. Near the dead tree was another very interesting and very alive tree that Lisa and Leah took the opportunity to run around on like the giant smurfs of Avatar.

It’s been a while, so I figured I’d toss a quick gallery up.

This is a sample of some work from assignments I had lately, including a town hall wedding, a research team at MIT, and a couple concerts at Agganis Arena.

Scroll down for a gallery, and please leave feedback.

- D

This weekend is the last weekend before the special primary election to fill the seat that the late Senator Ted Kennedy held, and the Coakley campaign was in full swing trying to get out the vote across the state.

I was allowed to follow the campaign Friday as they swept the North Shore from Boston to Gloucester and the Merrimack Valley. Two teams played leapfrog, advancing locations just in time for the candidate to arrive, stump, and depart for the next location.

After just a day of it, I was tuckered out, but that’s when the “real work” begins, according to the organizers I was riding with. Not only did they have a full shift of office work ahead of them, but they had three more days of the same thing as the campaign hit the South Shore and Metro West and everything in between.

My real goal was to get something with Martha and real people, not surrounded by news cameras and microphones and lights. I think I achieved that, and managed to get a picture of how Massachusetts politics work.

Please scroll down to find a gallery, and leave your comments below.

.

.

.

Thanks to the advice of photographer and teacher extraordinaire, Stella Johnson, I have re-edited a portfolio of pictures from Uganda.

These pictures were made during a two-month trip in 2007, where my partner Leah and I produced documentary multimedia for Living Earth Uganda and its parent, the Living Earth Foundation in the UK.

Please scroll down the page to see the gallery, and I encourage you to buy prints by clicking on an image and following the links through Photoshelter. Also, please leave your feedback via comments or email.

Thanks,

DR

.

.

.

So, for all of you who were waiting with bated breath…

Friday I ran into Attorney General Martha Coakley at the Obama speech, and pitched her on an idea I’ve been mulling over since she announced her intent to run for the late Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat. Since that day, Coakley has reaped in significant donations nationally from supporters like Emily’s List, and building on her very public presence as AG to get her name across the Commonwealth.

As the local press says, it’s her race to lose, and she has all the ingredients of a winner. And a victory for her would be the first time a woman has represented Massachusetts in the Senate. So, taking a page from Pete Souza, I told her about my keen interest in the historic potential of her candidacy and asked if I could tag along in the weeks leading to the Democratic primary and beyond.

The goal — we’ll see how it shapes up in reality — is a photo book about Coakley’s first year in the Senate. I asked her about this, in the roundabout superstitious way I’ve grown used to in covering sports, and she responded positively with the following quote: “I like your work, and you’re easy to work with.”

That’s about as good as it gets.

It is going to be challenging in ways I can’t even imagine yet, but it really feels like one of the Important Stories that I’m lucky to be even thinking about.

- D