I replaced National Geographic photographer and OGI founder Lowell Georgia in the Northeast in 2013. My first assignment with the late Editor Steve Toon was in Greene County, Southwestern Pennsylvania. I covered frack workers in pouring rain, then was sent up in a small helicopter for aerials of two frack pads. We finished the day at a shale oil rig, and Steve asked if I wanted to be towed up a steel cable for a bird's eye view -- funny. Every assignment in the field included a day at a handful of oil and gas "plays," then a second day of local color, which typically meant driving 200 miles of farm roads and highways before catching a flight home. I worked mostly on the Marcellus Formation, which stretches from Tennessee north to my home town in Schenectady, NY.
I also covered the finance side of the industry in Boston. My second assignment was with executive Kate Jackson Hobbs, daughter of renowned American composer Isaiah Jackson III. I photographed the aftermath of the Boston Marathon Bombings for the same issue. In all, I created spreads for 10 cover stories before covid shut down location shooting in 2020.
