The Blog

I think it’s many photojournalist’s dream to be published in a place like TIME Magazine in one shape or form. Print, or online, it doesn’t make a difference. I’ve been lucky enough to have been published in many different publications internationally. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to be boastful, but today I was given the heads up I had an image run in TIME. Granted it’s not my best image or subject, but hey, my image was chosen from thousands of other photos of the Mayor of Boston, Tom Menino. Anyways, here is a screenshot as well as link to where it ran.

http://thepage.time.com/2012/05/05/menino-mum-on-brown-and-warren/

WHATELY, Mass – I had a shoot for Bloomberg News today at the Yankee Candle International manufacturing plant. Was very interesting to see how the candles are made, packaged, and shipped. I was guided around by the director of PR as well as the plant manager. They showed me all of the steps from the beginning to end. I was allowed to photograph and video everything that was not proprietary, which was pretty much everything. Here are some photos below, and a few video clips.

Well I shot another spread for South Shore Living Magazine’s May issue. I don’t have the tear sheets yet to post, but I also shot the front cover which is below. I have a feature in the June edition, and most likely the cover, and definitely a spread for the July issue. Good stuff!

CAMP EDWARDS, Mass. – I was assigned a cadet in the Boston University ROTC program to follow for the weekend while he participated in the JTFX at Camp Edwards. Boston University as well as many other local colleges were all coming together at Camp Edwards to do the training exercises. JFTX stands for Joint Field Training Exercises. I was assigned to follow a cadet named Matt Feehan, who I soon learned was going to be the CO, or Commanding Officer for Friday night, and essentially all of Saturday. Exciting.

I was put in contact with Matt a few weeks earlier, and soon learned we had a lot of the same interests which is always helpful when you’re going to be following someone for the entirety of a weekend, and making connections with people always helps me bring out better images. It was extremely inspiring to see all of these cadets working together and performing their training exercises.

As soon as we hit the ground on Friday afternoon we were already running around like crazy. Despite the fact that Matt had never been a CO before, it was quite obvious he knew what he was doing. He was organizing and sending people off to do tons of different tasks. To be honest I have no idea how he managed it all so well.

The colleges were split apart into different squads and platoons. I have no idea how it really works, but I know my squad was not just BU cadets, which was good because I got to see how Matt dealt with organizing and commanding cadets he did not know previously. Squads were told to get their weapons, and get back into formation. We had a little bit of time to set up our bunks, and everyone was sent out to do different tasks. After dinner, which Matt was not able to have since he was extremely busy, patrols began. Pretty soon a firefight began at a checkpoint, and that was exciting to be a part of. Not too often can you stand at the wrong end of a M16 that is shooting, and not actually get killed.

Lights out was at 23:00, and first call was 4:00. Not much time for sleep. Each tent had a thing called “fire watch” which meant a cadet had to be up, monitoring to make sure a fire did not start in the tent. Each cadet had a 30 minute shift, and once it was over they would wake up someone else to take over. When I got to camp, I was given a Army issue sleeping bag, so when I was sleeping in the tent with everyone, I blended in. Unfortunately, that meant that the cadets woke me up about 5 times throughout the night telling me it was my time to be on fire watch. The look on their faces when I said “I’m a civilian” was always funny. I got probably 45 minutes of solid sleep.

The wake up call wasn’t too bad, I felt like I had enough energy for the day. We got a quick breakfast, probably about 5 minutes or so to eat it, and everyone from the squad got out in formation. We were the first group to leave the TTB, (I believe that is Tactical Training Base), and head out to train in the woods. We walked at least a mile and a half while the sun was coming up into the dense forest. We spent from about 5AM to 6PM going around doing different missions….I don’t think I have ever been so tired, and I was told we walked at least 15 miles. After that we got back, had dinner, there was a few more formations in the TTB, and then lights out.

Sunday was another early day, with a forecast of heavy heavy rain…1-3 inches. It wasn’t raining when we got up, thankfully. I had breakfast, and then I went back to sleep for a little bit longer. I did not need to shoot any more formations or patrolling, I had done plenty of that. Later on, I made my way to a few different obstacle courses and documented that. By 4pm we were on the bus back to BU, and everyone was asleep except myself and Matt. I mean EVERYONE. If my camera was not stored away under the bus I would’ve had a nice photo.

It was a crazy weekend. I found it incredible how nice EVERYONE was on the base. There was no reason for anyone to go out of there way for me, or to be nice to me. I was in everyones way, and in everyones face taking photos. The squad I with was amazing. They all worked together so well carrying out missions. I can’t believe that they are all around 18-21 years old, and are so good at what they do. The people on the base were incredible as well. Sergeants and Colonels were all nice to me and explained everything to me that I may not have understood. When someone got yelled at for doing something wrong, I was then pulled aside and explained why. I understand why our military is so powerful now, and I have even more respect for them. Here are an assortment of photos from the days, you can follow this link and see ALL of them, but some are below - http://www.flickr.com/photos/scotteisenphotography/collections/72157629520594414/

Day 1 – Friday

Day 2 – Saturday

Day 3 – Sunday

Greenland, N.H. – Police officers from multiple towns were attempting to preform a drug raid on a house on Post Rd. in Greenland when the man the raid was being conducted on shot at the police, injuring 5 officers, one of them being the Greenland Chief, and he died from his injuries. He was set to retire within 2 weeks.

Two days a week I work in the Governor of Massachusetts’ production office as one of his photographers. It just happened that I was at a evening event downtown when I heard news of what was going on in Greenland. The event ended around 8:30 and I was back in Brookline at my condo by 9.  The trip was only an hour away, and after getting my gear and other things ready for a bit in Brookline, I was in Greenland around 10:45. The road was blocked off near the highway, so I took a maze of a road around it, and ended up about a half mile from the barricaded person. There was no way I was going to be allowed to get any closer.

I photographed what I could around me, cops and their guns, the SWAT truck, the presser, etc. I was on assignment for Reuters, so despite the fact I might not see the gunman, etc. I really needed to make some images. Here is what I came back with.

Here are a few links to where the images ran….

http://www.reuters.com/article/slideshow/idUSBRE83C0AB20120413#a=2

http://ph.news.yahoo.com/photos/police-officers-stand-guard-near-residence-where-five-photo-102130156.html

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-cbre83c19rg00.jpg-20120413,0,4562027.photo

Boston, Mass. – Around 8 a.m. authorities received a call from a passerby who was walking around Chestnut Hill Reservoir that there was a body floating about 20 feet from the bank of the reservoir.

The Chestnut Hill Reservoir is where the Massachusetts State Police conducted four days of searching, including a boat with sonar, and dive teams, after Franco Garcia, a Boston College student disappeared after an evening at a bar. Unfortunately, the body that was found on Wednesday, April 11, was that of Franco Garcia.

I watched, and photographed while divers entered the water to recover the body. Then, members of his family were seen consoling each other after the body was identified. It was a tragic end to the case that started exactly 7 weeks before the body was found. Here are my images.

Rescue officials prepare a ladder on the bank of the reservoir so that divers can safely enter the water.

Divers enter the water to recover the floating body of Franco Garcia, floating behind the divers.

A diver approaches the floating body of Franco Garcia.

Boston Fire Department officials begin to leave the scene after the body was recovered.

The body of Franco Garcia awaits transport to the coroner's office.

The medical examiner arrives on scene.

Officials stand by before the body is loaded into the medical examiner's truck.

A family member reacts while the body is recovered.

Family members and friends console each other.

Family members and friends console each other.

Family members hug each other after receiving the news that Franco Garcia's body had been recovered.

Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel Conley briefs the media on their findings.

Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel Conley briefs the media on their findings.

Boston, Mass. – Members of the local community, including religious figures, musicians, and activists came out on Saturday, April 8th, to rally and show their support in seeking justice in the Trayvon Martin murder case. The rally began at Ruggles MBTA Station and after a quick prayer and a few people speaking out, the march took off down Tremont Street, turning onto Shawmut Ave, and stopping at the Mosque for Praising Allah. After a member of the Mosque talked for a bit, the march made its way to Dudley Square, where a variety of speakers gave their opinions on racism, the murder case, and a few other topics. Here are some images…

East Boston – A fire broke out on the 3rd floor of a 6 family residence yesterday afternoon. I was busy covering the Occupy Boston march when I got a message that the fire had reached 3 alarms. East Boston is a very tightly packed area. Houses are feet apart from each other.

Anyways, I peeled off from the relatively boring march. Thankfully I had driven to this march, not taken the T, so I hopped in my car and shot over to Eastie. The fire really didn’t look like much when I arrived, it had been upgraded to a 5th alarm at that time, but I really didn’t understand why. There was some smoke coming from the building, but no flames. The roof had collapsed in, and they were thinking the building would collapse further.

The left side of the building began smoking heavily and they shot at it with water, which for some reason caused a huge fireball to come out, and the building was engulfed again, eventually bringing the fire to its 6th and 7th alarms. The Eastie cops were incredibly unfriendly with the media for some reason, but I got off some good shots. Here they are…

Shot a spread for South Shore Living’s April issue on the city of Quincy’s redevelopment.

Boston, Mass. – Well a few weeks back I had received a request from a client to photograph Bill O’Reilly of Fox News. I’m not going to go into the details or difficulties of this shoot, but here is one image from it. Lit with ONE light with an octabox.