David Griffin Photography » Community

Maynard Business Alliance Concert #3

Dave — Sun, 20 May 2012 18:33:51 +0000

The third and final free Spring concert sponsored by the Maynard Business Alliance was held on Saturday, May 19th. The bands were invited with the theme of playing their own music as well as covers. There were 5 or 6 bands playing — I arrived a bit late so only the last four are featured here (sorry…)

I shot a little video of each band and hope to have that up later in the week… (too much happening today). A more complete set of images from the concert can be found at: http://community.dmg-photography.com

This is “Redfish Bluefish” from Acton. Normally they are a 4-piece band but they opted to do an acoustic set.

Next up was “Black Tea Project” from Harvard, MA.

‘

Followed by “Mojoceratops”, a instrumental band from Boston.

And the afternoon was capped by local jazz band “Soul Custody”.

Maynard Business Alliance Concert #2

Dave — Wed, 16 May 2012 20:08:05 +0000

‘

The Maynard Business Alliance, which as you might guess from its name, works to promote business in Maynard. A big focus of the group is making our downtown a destination for people – particularly those outside of Maynard. The MBA is sponsoring three free concerts in May, held on Saturday afternoon. The third and final concert is May 19th from 4-6pm — come listen!
‘

‘
‘

‘

Girl Scouts Celebrate their 100th Anniversary

Dave — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 15:18:34 +0000

Girl Scouting in the United States started 100 years ago in 1912. Just a few years later the first Girl Scout troop in Maynard was formed. Several hundred Maynard Girl Scouts, past and present, gathered at Alumni Field to recite the Girl Scout Promise at 7:12pm (19:12… very clever girl scouts…)

My son, Jay, was kind enough to be a second shooter on this event. His photos have camera id 580, mine are from 491. I also had a wide-angle shot up on the press box with an intervalometer taking an shot every 10 seconds. These shots were assembled into a time-lapse movie of the event (see below).

You can see more of the photographs at: http://community.dmg-photography.com/2012-gs-centennial

If you can see this, then you might need a Flash Player upgrade or you need to install Flash Player if it's missing. Get Flash Player from Adobe.

Technical: Jay had the 7D with a 24-70mm on a monopod. I was shooting with a 40D, 70-200mm f/2.8 IS handheld. The time-lapse was done with a 5DMk2 on sticks with a 16-35mm f/2.8 and an intervalometer. I set the 5D to automatic exposure using a spot meter aimed at the grass in the center of the field, which gave a pretty good constant medium tone. Photos processed with Lightroom 4 — mostly minor exposure tweaks. The video frames were exported from Lightroom 4, imported into Final Cut Pro X (which crashed my computer twice adding the titles — yikes!).

Peyton’s River’s Edge Restaurant

Dave — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 14:57:09 +0000

A few weeks ago Jason Carron and Nicolas Leo were searching for some photography that connected their new restaurant, Peyton’s River’s Edge, to both the river that flows behind the restaurant and the town they are in. In addition to historical photographs they selected nine of my river and town photographs for the walls of the restaurant.

Here are a few of them being installed (I forgot to grab a shot of them in place — I will correct this soon). We went with black&white versions of the images so they would provide a consistent feel across the wall. It’s a nice mixture of Assabet River scenics and some iconic views of our little town. Overall everyone is happy with the results which is great.

I will have a small placard near the entrance with this QR Code that will lead interested patrons to a page with more information about the photographs and links to the Maynard Historical Society and OARS, our local river stewardship organization.

New England Scapes Exhibit

Dave — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 02:27:37 +0000

Gallery Seven, on Nason Street in Maynard, is presenting “New England Scapes”, a juried exhibition featuring over 35 local artists — including one from yours truly.

The exhibit runs until the end of July. There is an artists’ reception on Saturday, July 9th from 7-9pm which I will be attending (doing my best impression of a wallflower) and hope you can come as well.

Guest juror Carrie M. Nixon, a painter and Associate Professor teaching Painting and Drawing at Assumption College in Worcester, helped the gallery choose from an array of entries. With the high quality of artwork and large number of pieces submitted, the resulting exhibition is hung salon style. On display is an eclectic group of artwork ranging from photographs, to paintings, to drawings and more.

New England is known for its strong cultural identity, deep history and beautiful scapes. This exhibition allows for a broad interpretation of the word “scape”. There are abstracts in which some viewers may see sky while others see water. There are farmscapes as well as classic sea, city and landscapes and there is even a scape from a bar scene in Worcester. With so many images and various interpretations, viewers may be drawn back for a second or third look.

Other artists in the exhibit are Lois T. Andersen, Jim Bonomi, Barbara Burr, Fran Busse, David Covert, Karen Danstedt Roop, Roy DiTosti, John S. Dykes, Irene R. Fairley, Erik Gehring, Bridget Hanson, Lonnie Harvey, Robin Herr, Steven Keirstead, Will Kirkpatrick, Richard Lapping, Glenn Larsen, Michael Leacher, Carolyn Letvin, Iris Lee Marcus, Robin Masi, Catherine Meeks, Mary K. Mooney, Carrie M. Nixon, Niki Orphanos, Iris Osterman, Jay Pendexter , Craig Perini, Valyn Perini, Richard Perry, Paul Sarapas, Kitt Shaffer, Susan Spellman, Dennis Stein, Nora Vrublevska, Joe Wallace and Timothy Wilson.

The Gallery Seven website is: [url]http://www.gallerysevenmaynard.com[/url]. Kelli and Nick are good friends and great hosts of art in our little town. They are also dynamite framers.

Riverfest 2011 Weekend

Dave — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 19:31:12 +0000

Well, I hate to say it, but sometimes Nature has a way of inhibiting its own stewardship… A bunch of dedicated folks work their tails off to bring people to the local rivers and our reward is a cold, soaking rain. Sigh!

On Friday evening the sun was shining on the RiverFest kickoff reception where Lee Steppacher presented the River Stewardship Awards, honoring those who have spent countless hours protecting the rivers and the watersheds that surround them.

On Saturday morning I was out on the Assabet River (along with my son Jay, who was handling the Sudbury River) for the OARS RiverQuest — a scavenger hunt type of events that we have run for families. Those families (sanely) stayed at home while we got drenched setting up the puzzle pieces along the rivers and then retrieving them when nobody showed up. (We did get to eat some of the cookies that were baked for the occasion, so it wasn’t a complete washout…)

However it seemed like a good time to grab a few photographs of Dove Rock.

Sunday morning I ran a workshop on photographing from your canoe/kayak at the Assabet River NWR. It was misting and raining. Combined with the 6am start time I was thrilled that two undeterred participants arrived and we had a nice morning paddle on a mist-shrouded Puffer Pond. I spent most of the time talking and answering questions, but I did manage to find some time to take a few photographs — although my eyeglasses were so heavily coated in mist that it made it difficult to see through the viewfinder. I suspect my lenses were slowly succumbing to the conditions as well.

As always, a bad day on the water beats a good day just about anywhere else…

Technical: All shots were with a Canon 7D. All handheld. Variety of lenses and settings (24-70, 70-200, 500mm). Lightroom 3. Basic exposure and contrast tweaking.

Riverfest and Photography Workshop

Dave — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 19:53:22 +0000

This weekend, June 11-13, is RiverFest – celebrating the Wild & Scenic Sudbury, Assabet and Concord Rivers.

They have a great website with dozens of programs for boaters and landlubbers alike (most of them are family-friendly as well). The weather looks to be pretty good this weekend (we’ll see if that holds).

I’ll be photographing the OARS RiverQuest event on Saturday morning. You’ll find me trolling up and down the three rivers around the confluence at Egg Rock.

On Sunday I’m leading a somewhat unusual photography workshop at the Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge. The workshop will take place on Puffer Pond — so if you don’t have a boat don’t bother showing up. I’ll be going over some techniques and tips for photographing nature from your kayak or canoe. After a bit of discussion we’ll head out on the pond and make some photographs. I have to admit I’m hoping for a small group and probably shouldn’t even be mentioning it here, but what the heck.

Participants can unload on Sandbank Trail, however you will need to park by the visitor center in designated parking areas. 680 Hudson Rd, Sudbury, MA. Meet at the boat launch off of Sandbank Trail at 6:15 am.

Please try to take some time and visit our beautiful rivers this weekend.

Image above: Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge, Puffer Pond. Canon 7D, 500mm f/4L, 1/6400 at f/4, ISO 640. Handheld from kayak.

Take time to enjoy your rivers

Dave — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 12:45:23 +0000

A quick reminder (to myself as much as anybody) that warmer weather is nature’s way of saying “c’mon outside!”. Whether you are a paddler, angler, or just like to walk along the shoreline, go visit a nearby river or stream and take in the lifeblood of your neighborhood ecosystem.

Photograph of folks enjoying the Concord River at the Old North Bridge crossing, just downstream from the confluence of the Sudbury and Assabet Rivers.

Technical details: Canon 7D, handheld in the kayak, 70-200mm f/2.8L at 200mm. 1/1250, f/2.8, ISO2500. Lightroom 3, black and white processing, lots of tweaking in the B&W mix panel (de-emphasize greens, brighten up the yellows). By choosing B&W over color and mixing the luminosities of the colors I was able to remove a lot of the distraction of the background trees and make the foreground bridge and people pop out much more. Sometimes color is a distraction.

Places In Between at Maynard Town Hall

Dave — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 18:15:49 +0000

An “abridged” version of my Places In Between – The Assabet River photography exhibit is now on display in our local Town Hall (195 Main Street, Maynard, MA). All eight of the photographs hanging there are from Maynard and the river flows right behind Town Hall so I thought that was an appropriate way to show a part of an exhibit.

My thanks to Sally Bubier (Board of Selectmen) and Mike Sullivan (Town Administrator) for inviting my photography into their building.

I kinda wish I had larger prints for one of the walls in the Gianotis Meeting Room, but overall I’m happy with the arrangements.

If you are in the area, stop by.

(The photograph above is also from Maynard and was in my original candidate group for the exhibit. The marker stands at the entrance to Ice House Landing, a small park near the river.)

2010 WAVM Telethon

Dave — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 15:41:28 +0000

Yes, it’s the most wonderful time of the year…. For too many years I’ve been involved with the WAVM Beacon Santa Telethon — a 40-hour non-stop live television / radio / webcast production that is staged by the students of Maynard High School’s student-run WAVM station. The money raised by these students goes to the Beacon Santa Fund.

A gallery of my favorite images from the weekend can be found on my community site: http://community.dmg-photography.com

And if you are really hungry for pictures, the WAVM website has hundreds of photographs spanning the entire weekend.

For probably the past 10 years I’ve been photographing the event — trying to capture as much of the “behind the scenes” activities that go on.

For a few weeks before the telethon adult volunteers and staff members work to “tag” items for the auction. These items are stuffed into a tiny storage room until Friday afternoon when we finally pull them all out and spread them around the library so they can be grouped and prepared for on-air auctioning.

Live music is a featured part of the telethon. Headlining Friday night was “One Seventeen” a band of MHS grads from the 70s. The dudes were tight.

Here’s a shot of a quartet called “Limelight”

My friend Vic Lalli (“Mister Vic“) brings his music class into Studio B and sings a few holiday tunes. When you are bone-tired from a week of preparation and working until 2am with technical details, pictures like this make it all worthwhile.

Students man the phone bank and take bids on auction items. They do a great job under a lot of pressure.

Here are a few of the hosts celebrating the end of the telethon. A few minutes later some last minute donations put them over the $28,000 mark.