Saturday, December 30, 2006

Kelly & Tom







The other day we shot engagement portraits for Kelly and Tom. We shot at the Old Boston Public Library and then strolled across the street to the Copley Church.

Kelly and Tom are awesome. We had a great time shooting. Fun, relaxed, couldn't have gone better.

Here is a LINK to their shots.

Here is a preliminary ALBUM we put together:

Thanks guys!

Monday, December 25, 2006

Christmas Eve







We spent Christmas Eve with Auntie Nanda, Uncle Marc-ee, and Baby Jane. We called our mother and she asked us to get a picture of all of us together. I don't usully like posed shots, group shots especially. But one thing I love is pictures of people assembling to get their picture taken- shots of them waiting around until everyone is ready. Like the first shot above.

The second shot was an in between shots shot. Sara is aware that I'm shooting but the kids aren't.

The last shot is our official group shot. The camera was on a table and I shot using the self timer.

More of today's pictures HERE

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Lighting the Menorah







At CoHousing we celebrate everything and try to be faith inclusive. Last Monday we decorated a Christmas tree in the common house and today we lit the Menorah. All the kids took turns playing with fire.

More of today's pictures HERE

Monday, December 11, 2006

Lights, Ornaments, and the Smell of Pine :)





This is the first year since Dash's birth that we got a real tree. Man, what a difference! I love the smell and the look. The kids had a great time putting up ornaments.

We even got a couple of robot ornaments. They will serve in our robot army (that we are amassing to take over the world) but they will be covert agents. They will stay in the basement in the box marked "Xmas Ornaments" until the uprising.

More of today's pictures HERE

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Magali Likes My Treo





Sara and I ditched Cingular for Verizon Wireless. Supposedly, it has the highest customer satisfaction and it has the best coverage for Boston. For the first time, we can use our cell phones IN our apartment rather than having to run out into the yard to get a signal.

We got Treos which are cell phones and palm pilots in one. Now instead of having to carry my "brain" and my phone I carry one. Of course I still have to carry my ipod and pager for work. How about it science? Anyway, for some reason I usually first decide to install cool applications that the kids will like and THEN think about whether or not it is a good idea for the kids to be playing with this thing.

They write notes that say "hug papa" and then set an alarm to go off in five minutes. Then they look at the note and guess who gets hugs? Not Sara. She doesn't let them play with hers. :)

More of todays pictures HERE

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Go Team



Gimme a "C" Gimme a "R" Gimme a "E" Gimme a "A" Gimme a "M"
Gimme a "C" Gimme a "H" Gimme a "E" Gimme a "E" Gimme a "S" Gimme a "E"
What's that spell?

More of today's pictures : HERE

Sunday, November 26, 2006

Happy Birthday to Sara



Today is Sara's Birthday, and Magali wore a crown all day, perhaps in commemoration. We went to IHOP because that's what Sara wanted.

Dash wanted to give her a gift certificate to the Gap. He HATES the Gap. He calls it a "Mama store" and complains whenever we go in one. So it is cool that he wanted to give her the gift. I suggested that she might like a gift certificate to Target even better than the Gap and he said, "Yea, but then it won't be what I thought of." Gap it was.

She has a cool tattoo with Dash's name on it:



It is on the side of her tummy where he used to kick a lot when he was in utero.

But she doesn't have a Magali tattoo. So I took the kids to our favorite tattoo parlor and we bought her a gift certificate. I told Magali, "You BETTER NOT tell Mama what we got her for her birthday!"

When we got home Magali ran inside and told Sara, "We went to the bookstore and to the cafe and got a mango juice and... I'M NOT THINKING ABOUT YOUR PRESENT!" She practically screamed it. She closed her ears with her hands and ran out of the room. But she didn't tell her what we got.

When our neighbor, Lucy, turned five we bought her some presents, dolls and such. We told Magali that it was very important that she not tell Lucy what we got. Sara went to go check the mail or something and when she got back all of Lucy's presents were displayed on the floor and Magali was showing them to Lucy. "Magali! You weren't supposed to tell Lucy what we got!"

And Magali said, "I'm not TELLING her. I'm SHOWING her."

More of today's pictures : HERE

Saturday, November 18, 2006

Noah and Judy







A few weeks ago I got to photograph little Noah and Judy, et al. in the woods. Man, this family is cool. Not only are they artistic and quirky, Joan (Mom) actually asked me to photograph their shadows. How cool is that?

I made an album which can be viewed HERE

Thursday, November 16, 2006

Dash, The Evil God



Dash has started to like real time strategy games and he decided to use his own birthday money to buy Black and White 2. This is a "God" game. Basically, you are a disembodied hand and you rule an island inhabited by tiny people and a huge creature. You raise this creature and train him to do good or evil as you see fit. You can help villagers and nurture the land or you can destroy them. You can bend them to your will using benevolent acts or fear. Guess which side Dash is on?

The above picture is his reaction to his ability to pick little villagers up with his hand and huck them across the landscape. He picks up villagers and drops them in the sea. Then he picks up a huge rock and drops it on top of them.

The game is very cool in that it shows consequences of good or bad actions. The terrain and architecture change to reflect the disposition of your rule. Unfortunately, Dash is evil. I hoped he would be good. But he is evil.

Now, I suppose, I should turn my attention to Magali and cross my fingers.

More of today's pictures : HERE

Monday, November 13, 2006

Dash's Birthday Party











Sara's supermom. She made Dash a super cool Star Wars party. She made PB&J sandwiches and just PB sandwiches and even just J sandwiches. They couldn't make a Star Wars cake at the bakery so she bought a regular cake and Star Warsed it up.

More of today's pictures : HERE

Thursday, November 09, 2006

Sarah and Teddy







Sara and Teddy Album : HERE

Here's a few shots and a photo album from a recent kid shoot. Sarah loves the camera and was constantly directing me, "Take a picture of me like this!" etc. Little Teddy has some adorable nicknames like, "T-Mobile" because he tends to just shoot off in a direction. He basically doesn't stop. They are both awesome and the whole day was fun and easy going. Just likes I likes it :)

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

That's My Boy!



My six year old son, Dash, took this picture of me. While it's not amazing that he holds the heavy D2H nice and straight, he also directed the shot. He asked me to hold the leaf up to my face (like I had just asked him to do) but then he said, "No, move it down a little... Over a little, YEA! Right there." Then he clicked once and handed me the camera. I FREAKIN' LOVE THIS SHOT! I told him this shot looks very professional and he said, "Yea, that's because I want to be a professional when I grow up."

More of today's pictures : HERE

Monday, November 06, 2006

Nightmare Before Christmas







It's no secret. I love Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas. In fact it holds the record as the movie I have seen the most times in the theater (excluding Rocky Horror Picture Show). I saw Nightmare five times in the theater. I saw Toy Story four. I've talked about my being a grown up sized kid in other posts.

Anyway, they are playing the movie in 3D in the theaters now so we all went. The kids loved it as much as I did. The 3D is amazing and the movie lends itself to the technique because the camera work is really great. The camera gets inside those tiny sets with very cool angles and sweeping motions. It really works in 3D.

At the end credits they had original sketches come shooting out at you in 3D. Dash was amazed and kept running around the theater trying to reach out and snatch the drawings. That's what the bottom picture is. There is no light in the theater so the shots look like spy camera footage. Cool!

More of today's pictures : HERE

Cousin _____ Elin Rust Is Born







On November 2, 2006 my brother, Marc, and my sister-in-law Nanda had a little baby girl, their first. They still don't know what her first name will be but her middle name is Elin and her last name is Rust. Dash and Magali are both excited to have a little cousin but Magali is beside herself. When we visited them in the hospital Magali could not stop touching her and holding her hand and touching her face and inspecting her closely. She's really happy.

It's hard to believe my little brother Marc is a Papa now. He still seems like a kid to me in so many ways. But I still can't believe that I'm a Papa because I still feel like a kid in so many ways. I wonder if Martin Luther King or Thomas Jefferson or (you name a responsible adult) ever just felt like they were kids going through the motions of being a grown up in a big confusing world. Because I never do...

Welcome to the world little ______. Magali will teach you all you need to know about candy and doing whatever you want regardless of what big kids going through the motions of being grown ups say.

PS (added 11/07/06) Her name is Jane Ellen Rust.

Here is a LINK to more pictures.

Here is a LINK to a little album I made of our quick hospital visit to meet little _____.

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Halloween



Our pumpkins are a little sick. I wish that was our concept but I got the idea from the internet. The kids helped in the design phase.



Dash was a skeleton and Magali was a ballerina.







Sara made the costumes like she does every year. This year Dash and his buddy Ryan were both skeletons.

More of today's pictures: HERE

Sunday, October 29, 2006

Apple Pressing







On Thursday, we went with Dash's class to an apple orchard to collect and press apples into apple cider. I made a little album of the journey which can be viewed by clicking below:

Apple Cider Album: HERE

More of today's pictures: HERE

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

What's With Those Tiny Pins?









Brian had a birthday party and Dash bowled for the second time in his life. Magali opted not to bowl. It was great fun and Dash did well but he didn't win. ARGGG!

For those of you (ya'll) down South... It's called Candlepin bowling and you use little balls that have no holes in them. You get three throws at the pins and they aren't cleared in between throws.

More of today's pictures: HERE

Saturday, October 21, 2006

Zoological Walks



Sara took this picture on the way to school. In the past few weeks we've seen a skunk, an opossum, a praying mantis, and this cool snake.

More of today's pictures: HERE

The Sky Is Copying Me



Sara took this picture of Magali walking home from dropping Dash off at school. Magali was singing to herself. We are proud to say that our kids both really love the Pogues. Their favorite song is a typical Irish folk punk brawler called "Sally Maclennane." There is a lyric that goes:

Sad to say I must be on me way
So buy me beer or whiskey 'cause I'm goin' far away

And then the whole band shouts "FAR AWAY!"

The kids love this part. Anyway, Magali was singing the song as she walked down the street and when the chorus came up she screamed at the top of her lungs, "FAR AWAY!" Then she stopped short. She screamed it again and then told Sara, "Mama, the sky is copying me."

Sara said, "That's called an echo."

So then Magali went walking down the street screaming, "ECHO!"

More of today's pictures: HERE

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Our Insect Neighbor









Living in the city of Cambridge, one doesn't often see a five inch long praying mantis. This creature was hanging out on one of the kid's painted pumpkins. It's back is the same color as the stem of the pumpkin and I had to look closely at first to see it at all.

I wish sometimes that I had a proper macro lens but, truthfully, I don't take too many insect pictures.