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.”

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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).

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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.

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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.

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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

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That was a lot of work for 23 minutes.

MIT hired me to document President Obama’s visit promoting clean energy innovations being researched at the Institute and supported by Massachusetts and federal stimulus dollars.

For me it entailed getting up an hour before dawn to deliver my gear to bomb-sniffing dogs and waiting three or four hours around campus before making the first picture. While the audience was gathering for the speech, I made some pictures of some of the rather important figures in attendance.

According to EPA photog and all-around-good-guy “Brendan” CJ Gunther, Obama’s appearance from curtain to curtain was 23 minutes long. The White House press people were saying that even with all the commotion today, this was one of their easier days.

I’ll post some more pictures early next week, but I’ll just say for now that I have an idea brewing that could be pretty historic. Check back in Tuesday to hear more.

Until then, please pop over to http://mit.edu, and the story http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2009/obama-visit.html and let me know what you think.

- D

I just posted a gallery of photos from the marriage of Monica and Gianluca Toraldo. It was a beautiful night, with friends and family from New England and Italy alike celebrating the union.

Be sure to check it out here.

A couple photos from the Greek Cyclades Islands. Scroll down for a gallery.

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