Late last year, I spent a day in a Sunny Delight plant in Littleton, Massachusetts, for the Wall Street Journal. The company recently used federal money to update equipment in the plant, improving the efficiency of the beverage bottling process. In doing so, the company has been able to grow, but this growth hasn’t resulted in more jobs. I was pleasantly surprised with the access I was given to the plant for the few hours I was there, though unfortunately that day the plant was bottling a colorless product called Fruit20, rather than a more colorful Sunny Delight product. You can see how the pictures appeared in print and online in the Tearsheets section of this website: Tearsheet: Sunny Delight plant for the Wall Street Journal

The article is also available online at WSJ.com: Man vs. Machine, a Jobless Recovery

I’ve been following the 2012 Republican presidential race in New Hampshire whenever I get a chance. This weekend, I went to Manchester, NH, to photograph Mitt Romney’s efforts to get out the primary vote with a rally for supporters and a short period of canvassing a neighborhood of likely Republican primary voters. It’s been eye-opening to watch this process up close (literally close! I’ve been close enough to touch any of the candidates I’ve photographed.) and to see how manufactured the process is for the media. Every event is carefully coordinated so that members of the national media are present. I’m not always successful at finding a unique perspective of the pageantry, but I enjoy trying. More pictures from the day are available in my archive: 2012 campaign – Mitt Romney in Manchester, New Hampshire – 3 December 2011.

I recently had the good fortune to meet Professor Stephen Soldz to photograph him for a story in the Chronicle of Higher Education about a controversial plan by the US Army and American Psychological Association for “resilience training” of soldiers using positive psychology. Soldz is critical of the new program, known as Comprehensive Soldier Fitness, which is designed to prevent the psychological toll of combat on American soldiers. Soldz has many criticisms of the program, including that there has not been a pilot study of it and that positive psychology is not the best approach to something inherently negative, such as the killing of another person. Soldz teaches research methodology at the Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis. We spent a pleasant hour walking around the Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis for a variety of portrait locations. The Chronicle story is behind a paywall, unfortunately, so it’s difficult to read.

For Education Week, I recently photographed school children walking in the woods at an Audubon site in Smithfield, Rhode Island. The program is part of Providence After School Alliance and aims to increase the time in a day that children spend learning, often through nontraditional programs. In this case, children walked through the woods of northern Rhode Island (coming from Montana, I must confess, I didn’t know Rhode Island had forests) and learned about biology and ecology. It was a really fast shoot; the children were outside for not much more than 30 minutes. Thirty minutes is fine, if not generous, for most portrait shoots, but it’s tough for a situation such as this with kids running every which way in unpredictable lighting conditions and unsure footing. I nearly stumbled a few times over hidden roots and fallen branches! You can see how Education Week published the pictures elsewhere on this site, or find more images in my archive.

About a month after visiting DC for portfolio meetings, I got an email from Charlie at Education Week with my first assignment for the publication. For a story in a package on the use of technology in education for students with special needs, I photographed Jack Ursitti, a seven-year-old with autism who uses an iPad for language learning and leisure activities. I spent a couple of hours with Jack as he worked with a therapist and teacher at his home outside of Boston.

The story is behind Education Week’s paywall, though you can see an excerpt here: Virtual Education Targets Rise of Autism

You can see more pictures from the shoot at my archive: Education Week – Jack Ursitti – Virtual Education Targets Rise of Autism.

I recently photographed Shayreen Izoli for part of Education Week’s coverage of September 11. For the story, I spent a day with her, a young Muslim student who has taken it upon herself to serve as a positive representative for her religion, and the rest of her family at their home in central Rhode Island. It was a very pleasant afternoon, and I enjoyed the challenge of photographing an Islam-centric story without depending on a shot of the subject kneeling in prayer. My goal was to show the personality of Shayreen, a very upbeat and friendly young girl who just happens to be Muslim, and I’m happy that Nicole, through her editing, supported me in this. The shot leading the web presentation of the story does just what I’d hoped do with my pictures–Shayreen’s religion is just a part of who she is.

You can read the story online at Education Week’s website: For Muslim Students, Life Changed After Sept. 11 and you can see more pictures from the shoot at my archive: Education Week – Shayreen Izoli – For Muslim Students, Life Changed After Sept. 11

Here are a few from recent coverage of the New Hampshire presidential campaign. There’s a gallery of selects in the main section of the website, and the full take at my photoshelter archive.

My submission to Longshot Magazine, a publication produced over 48 hours in late July 2011, was a humble effort that almost didn’t come to pass. When the theme was announced on Friday, I was flummoxed. Maybe portraits of payday lenders? Maybe a study of bank advertising? None of it struck me. Weather was bad in Boston, though, so it wouldn’t have been fun to take pictures on that Friday anyway. Waking up on Saturday, I was struck with an idea to ask people about how much money they owe. With a few hours before the deadline, I was striking out. No one was willing to be photographed and tell me how much money they owed. Then I decided rather than asking for a number, I would ask people to describe how much debt they have and that the portraits should be anonymous. Over about 45 minutes, ten or twelve people let me take their picture and told me about their debt. I squeaked in right under the wire, and thankfully, the editors like the project. I completed 12 portraits, and above, you’ll see 8. Four were published in the magazine.

All portraits are available at my archive: How much do you owe?

Earlier this summer, I took my first trip to Cape Cod. Not being from the east coast, the Cape has always been the stuff of stories of others people’s lives. Had a great time traveling up the length of the cape and spending a night in Provincetown. These are a few favorite shots from the trip, which was mostly a vacation with an old friend and which also included a quick jog down the length of Rhode Island, numerous whale sightings, and getting reacquainted with cool ocean breeze on beaches.

This year is MIT’s 150th anniversary, and as part of the celebration the Institute revived an old tradition and opened its hallways and labs to the public for a one-day event, “Under the Dome.” I was photographed the event for MIT’s New Office.

More images are available in my archive: MIT 150: Under the Dome open house