Don't We All Hate Those End-of-Year Lists? Me too. So here is mine.

The endless, end-of-year lists, all structured to be click-bait, are in full swing. I've been doing such a blog post for 4 of the last 5 years. I'm not sure why I missed 2016, but here is my contribution for this past year, 2018.

There were three magazine covers, two for Merrimack Valley Magazine, and one for Commercial Integrator, a trade magazine. There were several features for these and other magazines that I am proud of, as well as a very un-typical-for-me architectural shoot that was actually fun.

Finally, there were my artistic efforts. I was really happy to have had showings at two Curated Fridge shows (click for more on that), one photograph shown at the Whistler Museum of Art in Lowell, Massachusetts, and two photographs that made the 'on-line annexes' of gallery shows, one at the Photo Place Gallery, in Middlebury, Vermont, and the other at the Black Box Gallery, in Portland Oregon.

Thank you, as always, for your support this year and have a great 2019!

From the July-August 2018 issue of the Merrimack Valley Magazine

From the September-October 2018 issue of the Merrimack Valley Magazine

From the May-June 2018 issue of the Merrimack Valley Magazine

From the March-April 2018 issue of the Merrimack Valley Magazine

From the September-October 2018 issue of the Merrimack Valley Magazine

2015...

Yup, we're done with 2015. It was a pretty busy one for me. Lots of magazine work, a week-long workshop in Maine, several multi-day corporate photography shoots, artistic projects, the year that I rediscovered film... why don't I just show you some of my favorites from this year. If you like what you see, please look back at the blogs from throughout the year, and please feel free to comment! (The major pieces are linked back to their respective blog posts)

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A couple of covers this year, plus a feature for Barron's. What's better than dragging a dolly stacked with gear around Boston's financial district at rush hour? Seriously though, they were all fun shoots!

I was really happy to have been given the chance to feature Lowell's Angkor Dance Troupe in this photo essay for Merrimack Valley Magazine, with the story by Emilie-Noelle Provost.

And a second photo essay, again for Merrimack Valley Magazine with text by Emilie-Noelle Provost, about glass blower Aron Leaman of Mill City Glass Works.

...and many more stories!

But here is a collection of some of my favorite shots from this year; actors, artists, fashion, entrepreneurs, behind-the-scene shots, and more. Click anywhere on the images below to go to my Facebook page to see more.

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Happy 2016!

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This Was 2014

Stop me if I have said this before, but I really find the many end-of-the-year lists very tiresome. So naturally, I thought it would be a swell idea to do one myself and to review my year for you. Mine will be exciting though. Really! There will be lots of local interest, beautiful people, amazing food... Ok, so you're bored already... I will get right to it. Enjoy!

Oh, and Happy New Year!

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The day in January of 2014 when the Lydia and Francey, the entrepreneurs from Mill City Grows came to my studio.

Sopheak Sam at Harvard Business School for a Boston Global photo shoot. It was COLD that day!

Stephanie graciously agreed to do some available light testing too.

Before the weather became arctic, I worked with a local band called Trusting Fate - at a farm!

The stunning Caitie tested for some available light portraits.

Photographing food is always a joy with a food stylist like Carolyn Grieco. Thank you for the cover Merrimack Valley Magazine!

Neal, from Concept in Dracut was my cover shot for CEPro in April 2014.

The cover of the May/June issue of Merrimack Valley Magazine was all about author Andre Dubus III; a very nice guy!

You can't see him, but Steve, the Merrimack Valley Magazine's creative directory is hanging on to a softbox on a stand, hoping he won't become airborne out at this dirt road location shoot.

I enjoyed photographing and profiling several other authors, artists and artisans this year for the Merrimack Valley Magazine too. Clockwise, from the top left in this group, is one about author Holly Robinson, shot at Plumb Island. Next is ceramic artist Yary Livan, shot at his studio at Western Avenue Studios, in Lowell, MA. And last, I spent a morning learning about the coffee roasting that Rosie's Cafe does, also in Lowell.

Then there was the vacation! We spend almost a week in Santa Fe, which was the first time for Amy and me in the South West. 

The fantastic wedding and portrait photographer, Melissa Desjardins, who used to assist for me and now lives near Richmond, VA. She loves to be photographed!

Very happy to be asked to be the first photographer from Lowell, MA to be featured on the home page slide show of lowell.org!

Liz Cardoso, my assistant for the day and an emerging photographer as well, accompanied me to Portland, ME for this cover story about Rob Simopoulos, of Advance Technology.

What can I say about Thaddeus Miles? Director of Public Safety for MassHousing, photographer, public speaker, proud father, founder of several initiatives, the most recent being Hood Fit, which is "an effort to feature the most positive attributes of community building through a focus on health/wellness of the mind, body and soul." Thank you for asking me to photograph you!

Yum! Angelina's in Tewsbury, MA.

Part of my photoshoot for Jeanne D'Arc Credit Union's new ad campaign. This one of Mark S. Cochran, President & CEO at the Owl Diner, is one for the wall! (see insert - billboard seen on the VFW Highway, in Lowell)

And just a little over a week ago, I had fun working with my stylist Grace Moschetto of Grace Professional Cosmetics, models Christa and Monika, and Ani for some fashion work to market her store, Humanity Lowell.

July/August - The Interviews

I really enjoy the opportunities that the Merrimack Valley Magazine gives me to shoot features of authors and other interesting people in the process of being interviewed for the magazine. We are always in a new location and the interviewees are relaxed and are allowed to be themselves. I get to hear the interviews first hand which helps me get a feel for their personalities and experiences, which in turn helps me create images that I hope will help to tell their stories.

This issue, along with writers Suzanne DeWitt and Will Courtney, I was pleased to meet writer Holly Robinson, at Plumb Island, and Lowell Spinners manager Joe Oliver, at LeLacheur Park in Lowell.

Art and Technology

I haven’t blogged in a while, so publishing some tear sheets is way overdue. 

This spring’s Merrimack Valley Home Magazine features a story about Lowell’s Whistler House Museum of Art. It’s located right downtown in Lowell, on Worthen Street, and features a nicely kept historic building and grounds, in addition to lots of classic art work.

Neil Boissonneault and his staff at CON-CEPT are the cover story of this month’s CE Pro Magazine, a locally-published techie magazine. In addition to the cover, I had the run of his showroom in order to get lots of gear shots. In the 50s through the 70s, my father had a television store, so I enjoyed talking with Neil about some of the old products and how they compare to today’s technology.

Amazing Food - Direct from Haverhill

Back in February of this year, Carolyn, of Carolyn’s Farm Kitchen and I had fun cooking and shooting several dishes for the current issue of Merrimack Valley Magazine (March/April 2014). Actually, Carolyn does the cooking and food styling, and I do the shooting and eating. You will have to go out and get a copy to see the recipes and read the article, although there is one on-line at the MVM website here!

You also might want give us both a “Like” Facebook…

https://www.facebook.com/AdrienBissonPhotography
https://www.facebook.com/MerrimackValleyMagazine

The Latest from the Valley

The January/February 2014 issue of the Merrimack Valley Magazine is on the news stands. We had fun shooting the cover and some of the accompanying article at my studio at Western Avenue Studios. I also had the opportunity to meet two small business owners in Andover and North Andover. I can only give you a teaser here, so go out and get the magazine... Yes, now. Go ahead!

Style... On the Cover

For this month's Merrimack Valley Magazine, I was part of a small army of creatives that were assigned to produce the magazine's fall fashion cover and cover stories. It was a fun day, with stylists, hair and makeup artists, creatives from the magazine, as well as photographer Meghan Moore and myself all working together with our two models to create something beautiful, interesting and hopefully informative. I'll show my cover shot here, but to see the rest of the spread, you will have to check out the magazine. Here though, are some of my favorites, both posed and unposed from that day at historic Coburn Hall, at the UMass Lowell campus in Lowell, Massachusetts.

Local Farming Lives

I really want you to go out and get this month's Merrimack Valley Magazine! It should arrive on news stands around September 16th. I do have the fall fashion cover story, but I will talk about that in another blog. I want to talk about my local farming photo essay today though. I am really happy that I was able to pull this long-term story-in-pictures off! Working on it most of the Spring and early Summer, I got to visit a number of agricultural enterprises around the valley and meet with some really dedicated people, each of whom was more than happy to spend time giving me guided tours of their operations. I really do get to see aspects of some things that most people don't get to see or sometimes, even know about. Hopefully, this article will give you a taste for what is growing all around us. And speaking of taste, there is an accompanying article in which Carolyn Grieco, of Carolyn's Farm Kitchen, cooks up some of the dishes recommended by the farmers, just to be captured in my photos.

So please check out the magazine for the rest of the photos, the extended captions by Emilie-Noelle Provost, as well as the accompanying article with lots of recipes and food shots.

Farmer Dave checks the progress of his crop

Farmer Dave's blueberry crop

Mann Orchard crates await the harvest

Lydia and Francey, of Mill City Grows, discuss their city community garden in Lowell

Jeanmerli of Groundwork Lawrence taking care of the weeds

Groundwork Lawrence... I love these!

The beautiful landscape of the Cider Hill Farm

Karen of Cider Hill Farm shows me what's growing

I first met Karen and Glenn in the spring, shooting another assignment. Like all of the others that I visited, they were more than generous with their time and enthusiasm.

Busy as...

Merrimack Valley Apiaries

And let's not forget the final product! 

Audiobooks, knitting and Shutesbury

Many of us who live near Boston think of places like Amherst as western Massachusetts. I don't know…I thought Worcester was. Actually, Shutesbury, which is very close to Amherst, is in central Massachusetts. It is surprisingly rural, but also surprisingly close to the city. On a beautiful, very warm (no, I won't start up that discussion again) June day, I visited knitting designer Gudrun Johnston and her family to do a photo shoot for AudioFile Magazine, which I love. The magazine sounds like it would be about audio gear, and something in my long, lost memory tells me that it once was, but its charter today really concerns audio books. The slowness of life reading, listening and the mellowness of people with whom the articles are concerned appeals to me.

Gudrun, who has a really interesting profession, and is a celebrity in her niche, is married to David Anthony Durham, who is a novelist and a celebrity in his own right. I would encourage you to check out the magazine, which is fairly easy to find in B&N and similar venues. The piece on Gudrun is short, but the photo is awesome[;-)], and there are lots of other great articles.