Going through the portraits in my website I noticed that some of my favorites are not there.

 

While doing research and interviewing people in North Adams for my book about Massachusetts towns, I was able to photograph three interesting people.

 

One of the most interesting was an artist, Melanie Mowinski, who teaches at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. I had visited a display of her prints in a gallery in North Adams, prints with political saying attached to each work and was anxious to meet her. I’d tried to arrange a meeting twice but each time something happened and we missed each other, but the third time was a success. As the interview was coming to an end I saw a blue object on the floor. “What’s that on the floor, Melanie?” “Oh, that’s a ball I use for my exercises,” she said, bounding over, picking it up and beginning her routine. She had the most wonderful smile as you can see in these two photos. 

 

There are several old mills in North Adams that are being renovated. One of them is the Norad. As I was walking toward the entrance to interview the owner, I met Joe Benoni, a carpenter working on renovating the mill. He was extremely friendly as I asked him about the progress of the renovation. I like the casualness of the photo, Joe slightly leaning with his hands in his pockets.

 

 

 

The third person was Laura Thompson who was in charge of programs for children at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA). Who could resist that look on her face. Fabulous.

I have included these pictures on the Portraits page.