Pictures

  • How and why I make 19th century-style tintypes
    It’s been almost 20 years since John Coffer taught me to make tintypes, via the wet plate collodion process, at his Camp Tintype in Dundee, New York. These two videos were shot more than a decade ago but still ring true. This hand-crafted technique, first invented by Frederick Scott Archer in 1851, continually fascinates me.… Read more: How and why I make 19th century-style tintypes
  • More than 20 years after the club closed, people are still dancing at Zootz
    It’s been more than two decades since Zootz closed but periodic reunion raves — like last night’s — keep the heady memories alive and asses shaking to the beat.
  • Last warm night of the year in the city
    It was November first but it felt like summer, probably for the last time until next spring. It was also the First Friday Art Walk. I knew people would be out on the street for both reasons, so I headed to downtown Portland with my camera to look at art — human art, that is, my favorite kind.
  • My accidental 5×7 wet plate collodion portrait project
    A couple summers ago I started making a bunch 5×7 portraits on aluminum. There was no particular reason I chose that size, other than I had a lot of pre-cut black aluminum plates on hand, and I like the way they fit in my hand.
  • Anger, frustration and demands for change: Photographing protests on the street
    Freedom of speech and assembly are enshrined in the first amendment and Americans take advantage of these rights often. Sometimes, I’m there with my cameras.
  • Super Hunter’s Moon rises over Portland Harbor
    What made tonight’s Super Moon so cool was that rose at sunset, making it really fun to photograph.
  • Comet Tsuchinshan–ATLAS streaks through the night sky over Maine
    Dozens of people stood on the grass, gazing westward, toward the considerable horizon. I could hear several folks murmuring that they couldn’t see it.
  • The Northern Lights in southern Maine
    After waiting about 20 years, I finally saw the northern lights — or the Aurora Borealis — in Portland, Maine again.
  • Brad Terry: Still improvising at 78
    When I took these pictures and made this video, Maine Jazz legend Brad Terry was just about to celebrate his 78th birthday. Brad was thinking it might be time to give up playing music while he was still at the top of his game.
  • Painting the air with fire, light and grace
    Alexis Powers, aka Lexi GoGo, is visual artist, model and amazing performer from Maine. Utilizing various hoops, Powers spins fire and light through the air, creating a flaming, acrobatic tapestry of physical grace and strength.
  • Mainers use Palestinian voices to bring Gaza’s horrors to the stage
    Performing the monologues, which swing between unspeakable tragedy and farcical comedy, is grueling, emotional work. But the group of young Maine performers, along with their older, more experienced directors, think it’s worth the psychological toll.
  • Dance, dance, dance
    Looking through my archives, here are a few of my favorite dance photos
  • Turning sunshine into photographs for the ages
    I’m hosting a three-day tintype shoot over Labor Day Weekend. Now’s your chance to have me make your tintype — which I’d love to do for you — using sunlight and this authentic, 19th century chemical process. This is the real deal. I’ve got eight slots available each day.
  • The secret life of a Maine dentist
    While cleaning out Pollard’s inner sanctum, his children found four cigar boxes. Inside, they discovered a version of their father they’d never known — a young WWII soldier, a risk-taker with a jaunty smile and a streak of wanderlust. They also learned of the woman he’d married before their mother.
  • Bugs, dogs, loud planes and worldwide pandemics won’t stop this Maine theater company
    Neighborhood dogs yapped, somewhere beyond the wooden fence separating Kevin O’Leary’s backyard from the rest of the world on Wednesday night.
  • Promoting the art of photographic arts promotion
    Photography’s most immediate power over other arts such as painting or sculpture is its inherent promise of reality. Photographs are representations of what really happened, what something really looked like.