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

A Growing Business

Two of the nicest people you could ever meet also happen to be two of the smartest and innovative entrepreneurs in the area. Lydia and Francey are the force behind Mill City Grows, the Lowell, Massachusetts-based enterprise that is bringing community gardening and urban food production to the city and surrounding area. Their mission: “Mill City Grows fosters food justice by improving physical health, economic independence and environmental sustainability in Lowell through increased access to land, locally-grown food and education.” Please visit their web site: http://www.millcitygrows.org

Back to Francey and Lydia though, both of whom, along with their husbands, are thoroughly invested in the community and its success. I have had the opportunity to follow them around to a few of their projects for the Merrimack Valley Magazine and the Local Farming photo essay that I did last year. Yesterday afternoon they dropped by my studio to pose for some shots at The Big Doors. Please do visit their web site to see what’s growing!

Francey Slater and Lydia Sisson of Mill City Grows

Sheila Harrity on the Cover of Principal Leadership Magazine

Principal Leadership Magazine asked me to go to Worcester Technical High School, in Worcester, Massachusetts, to photograph Principal Sheila Harrity, the 2014 MetLife/NASSP National High Principal of the Year for their cover story. Such an amazing place and such an amazingly charismatic and engaging person. Walking through the halls as she guided our tour of the impressive facility, Sheila engages with every student that she can in these brief encounters. They seem to really respect and appreciate her dedication as well as the resources that are made available to them in such an impressive school. Some of the story is on-line here.

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!

From Farmer's Market to Table

It must be two years ago now, but my wife Amy and I did a blog for quite a while about food. Amy did all of the writing, and the food prep, and I did all of the photography and most of the eating. Her blog is still out there (in every sense of the word), and is called fournightsaweek. Don’t confuse that with her very serious and important education blog, amybisson.com.

Inspired by the free magazine that is handed out by restaurants around Boston, we have decided to restart the blog, this time with a “buy local” focus and with a farm-stand to table theme. Being the dead of winter here (not kidding!), farmer’s markets are, for the most part, dormant. However, there are a few, so yesterday we decided to visit the winter one in Chelmsford, MA. Amy’s intent was to just show up and see what looked good, and build dinner around that. Here are some of the shots. Visit her blog at fournightsaweek.wordpress.com to read more about it!

Joe Hungler Meets the Big Doors

Joe Hungler and I recently discovered that we have a connection that neither of us were aware of. Joe grew up in Manchester, NH, and was a close friend of my nephew when they were both in grammar school. It’s the kind of thing that we seem to only discover from social media when there are friends or followers in common.

Joe is one of the many Lowellians who is committed to making life better for those with less. He is currently the Executive Director of the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Lowell and on the board of directors of the Cultural Organization of Lowell. Originally from Manchester, having grown up in the Boys & Girls club there, where he worked for 10 years on the Program staff, Joe came to Lowell by way of clubs in Nashua, Waltham and Worcester. Get him started on talking about his work and you will soon see why his enthusiasm leads to his success. 

Please visit their web site. What they offer kids and the cost will probably surprise you! From their web site: “The membership fee for the school year is $26. No child is turned away due to inability to pay – scholarships are offered to children who could not otherwise afford membership.“

Joe Hungler - Executive Director at Boys & Girls Club of Greater Lowell

Happy 2014!

Every year at this time I whine about how tiresome all of the end-of-year lists and retrospectives are, so it seems only natural that I do one myself. 2013 has been a very good year for me. I have had a number of rewarding commercial photography successes, as well as some really interesting editorial ones. As important for my sanity though have been my self-assigned portrait projects that have allowed me to get to know many interesting people who I wouldn’t necessarily have had the opportunity to spend time with. Thank you to everyone who has helped too: my wife Amy (and reluctant keeper of the books), my son and new daughter-in-law, my assistants Melissa and Liz, my stylist Grace, Western Avenue Studios, and my loyal and supportive clients and fans. I know I am forgetting someone, so please accept my apology in advance! Thank you again and have a very Happy New Year!

Adrien

2013 in Pictures

Full Circle

Yovani and I were following each other on Twitter before we had actually met. I remember meeting her at the first Tweetup that I attended and was a little shocked that she and a couple of other people came up to introduce themselves as followers. The power of social media sort of hit me at that moment, but that’s another story. 

Yovani is a native Lowellian. She told me that she went to college in Maine, so I had to Google Farmington, Maine. It’s up there. Zipping around with StreetView, it looks where I grew up, but more so. Yovani came back to the Valley though, getting her masters at UMass Lowell, working for a state senator and then for several years in Lawrence, at Lawrence Community Works, managing rehab and other construction projects. She now works for the City of Lowell, which she really enjoys.

The Big Doors were calling though. Yovani seemed psyched to be photographed in front of the famous landmark. I think it worked.

Look Around and See the Good

I met Geoff Foster at Lowell’s United Teen Equity Center (UTEC) in 2012 while documenting the important work that the dedicated personal at UTEC does. Geoff, a youth organizer, is UTEC’s Associate Director of Political Action and is well known in the community for championing the Vote 17 initiative, and state-wide for overseeing the Teens Leading the Way coalition, among other things.

What is striking about Geoff is his unrestrained enthusiasm for what he does. To see him in action with a group of young people is truly inspiring. So as I have invited different personalities for the area to allow me photograph them, several of them insisted that I should extend the invitation to Geoff as well. He was kind enough to take time out of his busy schedule yesterday afternoon to come by. It was incredibly interesting and uplifting to talk with him and experience his contagious enthusiasm, but I got to photograph him too!

Geoff Foster

Geoff Foster, United Teen Equality Center, Lowell, Massachusetts

From High Above Portsmouth

In October of this year, while shooting for the Portsmouth, New Hampshire edition of Around Town in New England magazine, I had the unusual opportunity to climb, literally, the steeple at the North Church to see the workings of its amazing clock. The magazine features a specific town in each issue and I have been doing the bulk of the photography for it for several issues. The latest issue features Portsmouth, NH. I grew up near Portsmouth and went to high school in nearby Dover, NH. Suffice it to say that Portsmouth has changed a great deal since then, and in a very good way. A beautiful, bustling downtown, full of restaurants, coffee shops, galleries and other small shops. You can check out the magazine on-line here: http://issuu.com/samray/docs/portsmouth

The clock in the steeple though is something to see, although not many people are allowed to ascend the stairs and eventually, ladders. I hope I can give you a hint of what it was like with these shots.

North Church, Portsmouth, New Hampshire

The view from the roof of the North Church, Portsmouth, New Hampshire