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Just got back from the parade myself. I did see you there Peter!! You were the male wearing a jacket, and holding a camera. Wasn't that you?? :D :D

I read your message last night, so I figured you weren't going to make it. Otherwise, I would have tried to meet up with you, even if only for a quick intro. Where did you end up? I was mostly around City Hall, Downtown Crossing, Common, and Quincy Market.

I got a number of shots that I think came out well. The film will need to be processed, but I also shot a bunch with the digital SLR. I've already edited those, and burned them off to CDs for the archives.

Lots of emotion there! Everybody was well behaved. Weather lousy. Lots of police, but everything very civil. I only saw a very small handful of idiots, but they didn't seem to cause any problems. I didn't feel there was anywhere near 5 million, however, that was only based on the size of the crowd around the end of the parade route. I would have expected the crowd to be twice the size it was for 5m. I had little trouble getting in or out of town, as it was like any other rush hour day. The mess. WOW! But they had it under control within a couple hours after the parade. But it won't be quite right for a few days.

I found it amusing that when I used the RF I was noticed a few times, but generally dismissed. When I used the SLR, I was noticed much more and everyone was acting right to the camera. Everyone wanted their photos taken, and I was asked a number of times who I was working for. I guess they want to be on the front page of the Boston Globe :) When I had my dinky digital P&S, nobody even glanced my way once. Probably the best stealth street shooter I have.

I also found it interesting that when the SLR was spotted, the mens testrone leves rose significantly and they acted accordingly. Yet the women just seemed to grab their female friend, arms locked, victor sign flashed, and asked me to have their photo taken. Hmmm... Whats up with that :)

Had a good time. Walked about 10 miles. Time for a nap!

Oh yea, got home and my 50mm Summicron was waiting for me. Why didn't it arrive yesterday so I could see if it was sealed well from the rain!
 
Stephen I had no idea that I was going to be able to go until this morning, and I had very little time to spend there. I live within walking distance of Fenway Park, and there was no way that I could get on a subway train (people were packed in the cars like sardines in a tin) so I walked down to Boylston St. in the Fens and took my pictures there near a pub. Then I walked back to a subway station and got a car home immediately.

I did get wet and so did my camera but it was fun and people were pretty much well behaved. What happened to me was no reaction to my RF camera, but lots of requests to take pictures of people with their cameras, with which I happily complied.

I think I got maybe one or two good shots - didn't take that many and it will be a while before I send them off to be processed - I'm giving A&I Labs a try with the processing...

Good luck with the Summicron - that's one sharp lens (literally speaking)! :)
 
Is 5 million the official estimate, that is the entire population of New England isn't it? I will pop on New England Cable News to see some coverage, I actually forgot about it yesterday as I was goofing around with the boy (I know, dumb Yankee fan). Glad that you got to enjoy the day.

Hey Steve, post some of your DSLR shots, we won't tell anyone how they were made. Love to see them.
 
Peter, we can always meet up at some point in the future. We are close enough.

I was at City Hall plaza while there. I bet you had far more people in the Fenway area that at City Hall. I also think the press regarding not having a rally at the plaze turned some away from that area. It was still a good crowd.

Subways crowded? Thats an understatement. Here is one shot I fired off while on the subway. It just caught my eye. I fired from the hip with the SLR that was around my neck and just kind of lying in my lap. The subway noise was more than enough to hide the shutter/autowind.

Rather than post the non RF shots here, I'll just provide a link to either my Photo.Net gallery, or a web page I'll create.

Fuji S2 Pro, 1600 ISO. I didn't do anything to the image, just shrunk it.
 
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Here are some of the images. I believe all were shot on a Fuji S2Pro digital SLR, or on my smaller P-100 digital P&S. I haven't done anything other than resize them. Some are also soft as I turned sharpening off so I can post-process then later.

Most everything was shot handheld in heavy overcast and rain. I used anything from ISO400 to ISO1600, and slow shutter speeds and wide apertures. You can see this info in the EXIF data which can be accessed by the little camera icon at the upper right of the image if you want the nitty gritty.

http://www.giantscalerc.com/rff-boston/index.html

You'll notice I spent more time photographing the environment, than the parade itself. Most of the parade stuff is on film which is out for developing.

If there is a photo that jumps out at you, let me know. I always like the feedback, especially on what people feel are keepers.
 
Wow Stephen you took a lot of pictures! I only took about a dozen or so... but then I was home by 11:30am! :)

The ones I personally liked were:
boston-DSCF3709 Pretty scary - looks like you were on the track but I did like the composition - looks like the train was leaving.
boston-DSCF4001 I liked the couple taking a break from the crowds - seemed to accentuate the throngs more than the actual picture of people 20-30 deep
and I liked the ones at the end in the station (Alewife?) with all the angles and asymmetry.
 
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