The Blog

Brewster, Mass. – A plane that was flying over Nantucket Sound reported to a local airport of smoke in the cockpit. Soon after they vanished off radar and could not be hailed on their on-board radio. The search for the aircraft began soon after that, and unfortunately the bodies of the souls on board were located hours later on a Brewster beach.

Myself and another photojournalist headed out to their command post after the search began, and arrived about an hour and a half later. The command post had been set up at Captains Golf Course in Brewster. Many departments had responded to help with the search. The Chief of the Dennis Fire Department gave us a quick briefing, invited us inside for some coffee and donuts, and a place to stay warm, and kept us updated on what was going on.

After hanging around at the golf course/command center for about an hour, we got word that a body had been found. Everyone rushed to the location, and the road to the beach was blocked. Myself and a few others walked down a driveway of someone’s summer house and got a shot of the scene from a porch. We were soon asked to leave the area, and we did. While transmitting my image out to the Boston Herald, we soon heard a second body had been found. Most of the other press had left, so we rushed to that location, about 2 blocks up. We managed to get a clear shot of that scene before getting yelled to “GET OUT OF HERE” and when we stepped back, followed by a nice loud “THANK YOU!”

I have never shot a plane crash before, and only one time previously a dead body, so this was somewhat of an experience. It’s never good to have to see something like this, but the public needs to be informed on what is happening around them. Here are some images from the day.

Fire and Rescue officials discuss their plan for searching for the downed plane at the command center at Captains Golf Course in Brewster.

Firefighters board golf-carts to begin their search of Captain's Golf Course for the missing aircraft.

A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter flys over the Captains Golf Course searching for the missing aircraft.

The Massachusetts State Fire Marshall was on scene to assist with search and rescue coordination.

A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter flys over a Brewster forest searching for the missing aircraft.

Firefighters ride around Captains Golf Course searching for the missing aircraft.

A U.S. Coast Guard jet flys over Captains Golf Course in Brewster searching for the missing aircraft.

The first body from the airplane is found on a Brewster beach.

The second body from the airplane is found on a Brewster beach.

I spent my Christmas at my parents house in Hingham, Mass. It was nice to have some down time from shooting. No assignments, no deadlines, etc. But of course around Christmas time, there are always tragic fires and accidents. After a long day of spending time with my family, I ended up going to sleep around 12 a.m. I’ve never been a heavy sleeper so I get woken up with the quietest and strangest noises. I wasn’t listening to any scanners, I needed a good night rest.

A little after 4 a.m. my phone received a text message about a 2-alarm fire that had broken out in Norwell. Norwell is the town next to Hingham. A 2-alarm fire in Boston and a 2-alarm fire in the suburbs are two different animals. I received a second text message as I was stumbling through my room grabbing my clothing and gear that said 5 mutual aid companies were en-route.

I popped the address into my GPS and headed out. Apparently this place was 15 minutes from my Parents’ house. When I was making the right turn onto the street the fire was on, I saw 2 ladder trucks from neighboring towns heading this way a well. I pulled over to let them by. We arrived at the address but there was no fire, no other firetrucks. Nothing. The firefighters were as confused as I was. Turns out Norwell has two of the same addresses and the fire was on the other side of town. I shot over there quickly, and was the only photojournalist on the scene. The fire had destroyed the garage and anything inside of it before I arrived, and most of the house was still burning. I quickly took the important photos, and headed home to get my photographs out to one of my freelance employers, The Boston Herald. Here are the photos and a link to the article in the Herald.

Well, this has been in the works for probably three or so months, but I had been assigned an editorial shoot at the New Balance Shoe factory in Lawrence, Mass. and what the editors wanted was shots of the production line and some small detail shots. I’ve never been in a production line in my entire life (as far as I can remember) so I wasn’t sure what to expect.

Not only was I asked to do stills, but they wanted high-def video as well. I’m not a video guy. I have never been trained in it, and I really don’t know many of the proper ways to go about doing it. Two of my DSLRs (The 5D Mark II and the 1D Mark IV) do 1080p high-def video. It’s beautiful, especially because of the size of the camera sensor + the film lenses that go on the camera.

Generally on any kind of assignment I’m shooting with two camera bodies. One with a wide lens, and one with a zoom. Shooting DSLR video handheld is very challenging. The camera is not really balanced for this sort of thing, and focusing is a huge pain.

Instead of using both of my camera bodies for both video and still, I borrowed a second 5D Mark II from another photog friend. I mounted it on a Redrock Micro focusing rig, and used that for video. This was also the first time I needed to hire an assistant to help me with my gear. We were both guided through the facility by a very nice PR person and she explained what every machine did and how the whole process worked. Not once were we told to “not take photos/video of that” and the workers were not instructed on how to act around us, though they were all very friendly. Here are some images from the shoot.

I want to post a public shootout to my photojournalist friends. The majority of my friends are also journalists and over the past months, they have been covering Occupy Boston for their respective publications. We’ve spent countless hours sitting around waiting for apparent things to happen, following marches, getting harassed by people who don’t understand our rights as journalists, and most of all, putting all of our energy to convey the Occupy Boston movement in an honest and unbiased fashion. We’ve thrown away sleep so that we can show the world what is happening. The movement is not over, and neither is our coverage, but the past few days have been extremely difficult and tiring and I felt like we need to look back at what it’s been so far. Below is an image from early Friday morning. Left to right, Myself, Nic Czarnecki, Courtney Sacco, Ryan “Blaine” McBride, and Noah Fournier. Obviously there were more of us out there than in this picture, so good job everyone.

On Wednesday, December 7th, A Boston judge ruled against the restraining order that the Occupy Boston movement had against the City of Boston allowing protesters to stay with out any police intervention. The next day many believed that there was going to be a forced eviction by the Boston Police, and I went down to attempt to cover it. Unfortunately, we were wrong, and we stayed from around 9 p.m. Thursday evening till around 3:30 a.m. or so on Friday morning. All valuables from the camp had been taken out of the camp. Many of the tents had disappeared. It seemed like the perfect time for police to move in and evict. The protesters took to the street and essentially had a party. Tents were moved out on to the blocked Atlantic Avenue, people were dancing and singing. It all had a very strange vibe to it, but it was also enjoyable to witness and document. At a few points police were unhappy and tried to move tents off the road, etc, but they did not succeed. Below are the images from these events.

Trash from campers is scattered around camp while an image is projected on the wall saying "You Can't Evict An Idea."

Two men look at the projected image while other members of the movement participate in the general assembly.

American Flags were attached to many of the remaining tents in the camp.

More trash is seen in the camp. Occupiers were loading it into a nearby garbage truck.

A occupier stands at the edge of a camp with an upside-down American flag to signify the country being in distress.

Many bags were seen packed up around the camp in preparation of police eviction.

An occupier throws trash from the camp into a City of Boston garbage truck.

Even some tents were being thrown out in preparation of a police raid.

An occupier sits holding a flag in his hand with another draped over his head.

Veterans for Peace were present at the march to help protect occupiers from Police.

Police Officers walk past protesters holding a sign that says "Peaceful Assembly."

Boston Police Super Intendent Evans walks through the now occupied Atlantic Avenue.

Occupiers sit outside of their tent that is set up in the middle of Atlantic Avenue.

A Police Officer attempts to remove a tent from Atlantic Avenue.

A man sits at a table in the middle of Atlantic Avenue while police watch.

Two occupiers hold on to the leg of a tent to prevent police from moving it.

The Raid

On Friday, myself and a few other photojournalists headed back down to the camp at Dewey Square to see what was going on. The street was no longer occupied and the camp was relatively quiet. The police presence was about average as well. Protesters had started a drum circle that police weren’t really a fan of. They were asked to stop a few times, and after about 20 minutes, they did indeed stop. At one point, a man in a suit was seen running across and down Atlantic Avenue, barefoot, being chased by about 20 occupiers yelling. Apparently he had assaulted a female occupier and stolen her phone. He was quickly apprehended and taken away by BPD.

Things had quieted down, and it as around 4 a.m. on Saturday morning. 4 a.m. was the time everyone was speculating that the BPD would come in and execute their raid. Around 4:30 nothing had happened and we decided to head back to Brookline. Just about home, my police scanner all the sudden went crazy. The police were raiding and we were not at the camp! I don’t think I have ever driven down Commonwealth Avenue so fast. I got back down the area in about 5 minutes and sprinted towards the camp. The side closest to State Street Bank was surrounded by police. They would not let me in to the camp, even when showing them my press credentials. I ran around to the other side and talked with an officer and he let me in. I was allowed in the camp to photograph police destroying tents. It was me and probably 20 or so other photographers/videographers. Then we were informed that we had to leave the camp and stand on the sidewalk, behind the line of police officers. The police wagons began moving into the campsite to take away the protesters who refused to leave. This is where it got interesting.

The police decided they were going to have a “pool” videographer and photographer. They were going to randomly choose one of each and let them in the camp to film the arrests while we were forced on the sidewalk, behind a huge blockade of officers who made it impossible to shoot the arrests. This is so wrong and upsetting in many ways. Setting up a pool is restricting my 1st amendment right as member of the press. We are allowed to witness and document police action up close. It wasn’t dangerous, people weren’t fighting. There was no reason why I couldn’t be that close to see it. Having a “pool” is controlling truth at it’s source. It enables one photographer to have his vision and coverage, but not others. Perhaps that photog was biased, or was only paying attention to certain aspects of the event. Completely unfair to people with different visions.As a journalist it is my right and duty to be up close to document this. This right was revoked from me, unconstitutionally.

Police arrested 46 protesters from the camp, peacefully. I do have to give it to the Boston Police, they handled that very very well. They didn’t have any riot gear on them, they didn’t shove anyone, knock anyone over,  or pepper spray anyone as far as I know or saw. Granted my view was 90% obscured. After the camp was cleared of protesters, the sun was already starting to rise. I walked around the area to South Station where the people who didn’t want to be arrested were now protesting. 4 of them took to the closed street and sat down. Let me reiterate. The street was shut down in all directions. 5 photogs ran out to get photos of them sitting, and we were met by police threatening to arrest us immediately if we didn’t go back to the sidewalk. Then, tons of more officers appeared and surrounded the sitting protesters, obstructing our views even more.

The next thing I wanted to cover was the cleanup of the camp.There were bulldozers, trash trucks and work trucks all in the camp now cleaning up. We were told by a BPD Officer who handles the press that we were not allowed to be anywhere near the park and could not cover it. Not even across the street to the barricades that were set up. Pretty ridiculous, and again, inflicting on our 1st amendment rights as journalists. But hey, they let the pool photographer and videographer in, no problem!

I said “fuck this” and walked around to where the high-way comes out. I climbed up on the railing that if I fell over would send me about 30 feet down onto the active high-way exit, and got some shots of the clean-up. These shots were obstructed by telephone poles, a fence, etc. There is no good reason they could not have let us in the camp to do this. We were obviously not occupiers, we had press credentials shown. I can’t imagine a legitimate reason.

According to other people who were at the raid, people who are citizen journalists or just interested in the event, were obstructed as well. Police, apparently, shined their flashlights into their lenses when they tried to take photos of anything. I can’t confirm that it’s true, but it is what I heard. Below are the photos from the raid.

A police officer talks to occupiers who started a drum circle.A police officer talks to occupiers who started a drum circle.

Police restrain the man who apparently assaulted and then stole a phone from an occupier.

The man is arrested.

Protesters link arms while cops raid the camp during a last attempt to stay occupied.

A protester holds up a sign in front of the others who are sitting with their arms linked.

Tents and other materials are piled up at the edge of camp.

A sign at the camp that was later destroyed by police officers.

Officers surround the protesters who refuse to leave.

Workers pull trash from the camp to put into waiting garbage trucks.

SWAT Officers wait in formation next to some of the trashed tents.

Sanitation workers load up trash trucks with materials from the camp.

A bike is loaded into the back of a trash truck.

A police officer guards the entrance to the camp.

An officer folds up flags that were present at the campsite.

Police Super Intendent Evans speaks with media after the raid.

Police Commissioner Ed Davis and Super Intendent Linskey stand in a corner furthest away from the Press.

Protesters hold up a sign in front of South Station after being evicted from Dewey Square

Occupiers sit outside of South Station.

Four occupiers sit on the middle of the closed Atlantic Avenue.

An Officer yells at a girl who wanted to cross the street at the crosswalk to South Station.

A bulldozer enters Dewey Square to begin cleaning up the park.

Workers load more trash from the park into trash trucks.

A police truck with a LRAD attached to it leaves the area.

A protester sits on the median.

Around the country over the past week, many different cities have been cracking down on the Occupy movements, many in a violent fashion. New York City has turned into a gauntlet of Protesters vs. Police…and Press vs. Police. I believe it is 1000000000% unacceptable the way the NYC Police have been treating members of the press, as well as many of the peaceful protesters. First amendment gives the press the right to view and document police actions. This does not give the press the right to necessarily get directly in the way of the police, but it also doesn’t mean we cannot be very close to whatever is happening. In New York City, journalists have been arrested, assaulted, and barred from covering actions of the police. The NYPD even shut down airspace over the protests to news helicopters. Incredible. Since these actions, many news organizations have come out to show their anger and frustration with this obvious infringement on the journalists 1st amendment rights. In Boston, it’s been a different story.

Occupy Boston has been relatively quiet in the past few weeks. There haven’t been any other raids than the giant one that happened after Occupiers took over another section of the Rose Kennedy Greenway. Police have arrested a few people here and there, but on charges of drug dealing and robbery. Nothing out of the ordinary. On November 17th, or as it was called on twitter and other websites “N17″ there was a worldwide day of action. New York City saw huge protests, with more police brutality. I had two fellow photojournalists on the ground in NYC covering it, one had is official press ID ripped off and discarded, and both of them had many bruises from being hit with police clubs, and from having police barricades thrown at them.

Occupy Boston had a march with around 650 people participating. I was walking with a Boston Police officer and he mentioned they had expected around 1500 people to march, but were happily surprised when the rain brought down the numbers. The Boston Police have really been amazing dealing with these protesters. Sure, the night when they raided it was a bit intense, but it really wasn’t THAT bad compared to other places. The N17 march had the goal of taking over the Charlestown Bridge that the movement tried to take over once before. The protesters were met with around 100 Special Ops/SWAT officers who weren’t letting anyone on the bridge. I approached the line of SWAT officers to get a good location if the protesters were going to get close. One officer said to me “My friend, you can’t pass this line.” Of course, I wasn’t going to argue with him, and we ended up having a long conversation. He told me Nikon was better, and that I was in a dangerous spot without any reflective material on my jacket. It was nice to talk on a personal level with a SWAT officer. Most of the time I see them, and I feel like they are robots. Eventually I was asked (nicely, might I add) to move a little closer to the sidewalk since I almost got nailed by a bus. A police captain said they didn’t want a flattened camera man on the road. He said he didn’t want to impede on my rights, but it would be much safer to move off a bit. Hey Mayor Bloomberg, that is what “protecting the press” is like, not “freezing the area” from all members and causing a blackout of media.

Anyways, here are some photos from the Boston N17 March.

I should’ve posted this the day it happened, but I was too busy getting it out to other places. Noam Chomsky, very famous activist from Boston went down and gave a 30 minute speech to members of Occupy Boston. He originally endorsed the movement with a YouTube video, and participants of the movement wondered when he would come down and endorse it in person.

Noam Chomsky addresses members of Occupy Boston

Noam Chomsky addresses members of Occupy Boston

Noam Chomsky addresses members of Occupy Boston

It’s been all over the major media outlets for the past week. Protestors have taken over Wall Street and they are NOT leaving. Many different marches and groups have joined in. It was only a matter of time until this movement was going to spread around the country and the world. Over the past two weeks or so, the same movement has been happening here in Boston. A group who calls themselves “Occupy Boston” which builds itself off of the New York/Occupy Wall Street movement has made camp in Dewey Square, right near South Station and in the Financial District.

Many people, including myself have been confused on what they are protesting about, and what they hope to accomplish. From their website, occupyboston.com it says: “Most people who support Occupy Boston call for reforming Wall Street and removing special interest from government, but there no one single issue or demand that summarizes our movement. People are dissatisfied with how our country is being run and want fundamental, lasting change of many kinds.”

I have been covering it on and off since it began on September 27th. My work has been featured on Al Jazeera English.

My experiences at Occupy Boston have been interesting and varied depending on each day. The strangest thing I encountered is the constant call for “media attention.” Myself and many others in the media have given them that attention, but whenever we have tried to photograph, on public property, in public spaces, we were met with opposition. Pretty ironic.

The energy I’ve seen at their general assemblies and rallies has been very strong and inspiring. I think they need to narrow down their goals, and also change the way they are organized. I think they have been trying so hard to be organized that it’s actually been a negative for them and ended up causing problems.

Each day I’ve covered the rallies and marches, they seemed to be gaining momentum. The crowds were angrier and more aggressive. This past Monday/Tuesday I photographed their largest march yet. There were probably around 3,000 participants (though their website likes to say 10k people…definitely not.. look at the aerial shot). Word had spread through the group that they were going to attempt to occupy the bridge from Boston to Charlestown. They attempted this, but were quickly blocked off by Boston Police and their Special Operations officers. Throughout the march, the group had 2-3 people in the front shoving photographers and screaming at them. This was extremely upsetting to me. Why does a group whine about no media attention, and then scream at, assault, and threaten press photographers who are trying to cover it. We’re walking in front of them, at the same pace. There hasn’t been a single incident in which a photographer has stopped a march or been trampled. The most aggressive and belligerent girl was in charge of the “medics.” Interesting. One girl also tossed a bottle of water onto some other photographers. Unacceptable.

After the march, the occupiers decided to expand their camp to another section of the Rose Kennedy Greenway. The city was not a fan of this. The area had just been revamped, and the grass had been replanted. The city had already realized the other camp had ruined the grass, and they didn’t want this fresh grass to get ruined. The Boston Police Department gave the occupiers a deadline, and if they were not going to leave, the police were going to make them.

Protestors locked arms and formed a barrier around the new camp. The police seemed to disappear completely from the area, except for the occasional drive-by of Ed Davis, the police commissioner. Many different media outlets had shown up to cover this. Word between us was the raid was to take place between 11 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. This time came and went and nothing happened.

Another photog and myself took a stroll down some side streets and noticed some Special Ops police suiting up in their riot gear. That was the first time I was sure this was going to happen. At 1:30 a.m. a BPD captain and superintendent announced over a loudspeaker that the occupiers had 5 minutes to leave, or they will be arrested. About 15 paddy wagons pulled up, and SWAT teams from the Boston Police, Transit Police, and the State Police surrounded the area. I can’t say I’ve ever been in a situation liked this. I got out to the side to see what the first move was going to be.

Once the police started to break into the camp, taking down protestors and tents, I tried to get a better view. One cop gave he a hard shove and told me to “get the fuck out of here!” I tried to remind him that I was on public property, the freedom of the press, and I showed him my press credentials, but to no avail, he shoved me back again. I made my way around to the other side, still on a sidewalk trying to take images of the new prisoners being loaded into the police trucks. Another officer came over and screamed at me to leave. I moved a few feet and he came back and threatened an arrest. I contact the BPD today about this, and I haven’t heard back.

Eventually I made my way up towards the side of the camp the State Police were breaking into. They seemed to be more lenient on the press, and I was able to get some shots before eventually being told, this time politely, to move onto the sidewalk and shoot from there. That’s fine, and I don’t really have an issue with that. Anyways, below are some images in chronological order over the past 12 days of coverage.