Windell High Life Time

Miller "Beer Delivery Guy" Windell & Cheers Bartender Andy MacDonald

Office Buildings, Boston, MA

Newbury Street Shopper, Boston, MA

Mass Art Commencement

Sotheby's Joins By The Sea Realty

Sotheby's International Realty, Beverly Farm's, MA

New Leaves, Boston Public Garden

Jack Williams and Guest, Walker School Gala

Walk for Hunger, Boston, MA

Nerd Alert

Boston Marathon Nerd

Mile 18, Boston Marathon

Magdalena Lewy Boulet, 2nd Place Finisher, Women's Olympic Marathon Trials, Boston/Cambridge, MA

Boston College 2008 Corporate Citizenship Conference

Jack Wills Fashion Party

Window Washers, Boston, MA

First Saturated Colors of Spring

The Rainbow, Downtown Boston

A Very Special Evening

Celebrated violinist Helena Baillie and pianist Julian Riem performed at a birthday party at Boston Symphony Hall for 100-year-old Dr. A. Stone Freedberg (bottom, left); among friends and family was legendary violinist Roman Totenberg (bottom, right), 97 years old and father of NPR Correspondent Nina Totenberg.

George Orwell's Room 101?

A State Trooper poised at the security entrance of the Massachusetts State House eyed me as I shot this chilly office scene in one quick frame.

Condominium Complex, Medford, MA

Sally & Dick's Woods, Contoocook, NH

Christine Elise McCarthy: American Grit

I "met" Christine Elise McCarthy about a year ago after seeing her in the 1980's Boston punk-inspired movie 'Hardcore' (2006), and thought I might have known her from my student days in the Allston club/photo scene. She corrected me on the telephone after I found her listed as a photographer on IMDB. "I'm really an actress" she said, and instantly I realized I had actually recognized her from 'Northern Exposure,' a favorite television show of mine.

Her credits from television and film overflowing (notably 'Beverly Hills, 90210' and 'E.R.'), she is, despite some hesitance then to admit, a photographer -- and a gifted one at that. Her series of images currently on display at the Second Cup Cafe in Allston shows a gritty appreciation of American scenes that she witnessed over three cross-country trips. The photos are filled with the soul of the farms, broken industry, ghost-filled highways and elegant cityscapes that make up the American visual quilt. McCarthy is deft with her use of color, texture, and selective focus, and makes lovely saturated prints enhanced with a variety of tones.

Lasell College Team Runs the Gauntlet, Brandeis University, NCAA Tourney

Prime Gas Station, Route 3A, Weymouth, MA

Mardi Gras at the Beehive, The Nat Simpkins/Henri Smith Band

Synthogy Software Product Shot

Fireworks Over Boston Common

New Year's Eve Reveler, Boston Common

Dried Flowers In Snow, Franconia, New Hampshire

Backwoods River, Franconia, New Hampshire

Horse-Drawn Sleigh, Franconia Inn, Franconia, New Hampshire

Rocky Cliff Ice Formation, Franconia, New Hampshire

Lincoln, New Hampshire Home

Rotterdam, New York Home

Proctor's Theater, Schenectady, New York

The Beautifully Mundane Images of Ed Panar

For years, I have been secretly taking photographs of cracks in sidewalks, nondescript utility boxes, abandoned televisions, and buildings devoid of any humanity -- and found only a handful of kindrid photographers interested in the significance of the banal details of daily life.

Now Ed Panar, recently mentioned in 'Conscientious' -- Jörg Colberg's weblog about fine-art photography -- is one published artist who has been brave enough to push the envelope of non-idealism -- and to a large extent, anticomposition -- with his photography.

The result: images that remind us of our raw experiences with the chaotic and familiar corners of our lives, evoking a moment behind a store, walking around the house, or a drive into an unfamiliar place.

I wrote Mr. Panar and suggested that our childhoods in Northeast mill towns may have led to our fascination with empty spaces and dissonant, man-made motifs -- though they might fit just as well in Los Angeles.

Ed replied, "there must be something about growing up in the Rust Belt that is embedded in who you are. And while I've always been interested in those spaces, (I can remember always wondering why all of the "Pennsylvania" calenders never actually showed what was really all around us: the old empty factories, etc) it was in the past few years when I returned to Pennsylvania after living in California and Michigan that I feel like I've been able to see it in a completely different light and develop those projects further. "

In addition to its Beat-like existential lyricism, I'm convinced this sort of photography will always have historical weight; beside the neatly composed postcard pictures of towns and cities past and present, these types of images will document the tossed gum wrappers and ugly architecture and verity of the everyday that will complete our sense of the beautiful.

Samples of Ed Panar's work and list of publications can be found at: www.edpanar.com