Massachusetts Boston area meeting??

semordnilap said:
I can't do the 26th, so let's meet the afternoon of the 27th. Now... where? I have a newborn at home, so I'd prefer not to travel too far for the first meeting, in case I'm *paged* 😉 I live in Brookline, so I'm reasonably flexible, but I'd prefer not to go too deep downtown and have to deal with parking around there. That could be good for future, potentially warmer, get-toegthers.

And Joerg, sorry you can't make it! Hopefully we can make this into something more regular...
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The Brookline-Boston line on Beacon St. is generally good for parking. Is there a beer/burger joint or such nearby that would be suitable? Right around St. Mary's perhaps.

Can we have s show of hands?

Harry
 
semordnilap said:
I can't do the 26th, so let's meet the afternoon of the 27th. Now... where? I have a newborn at home, so I'd prefer not to travel too far for the first meeting, in case I'm *paged* 😉 I live in Brookline, so I'm reasonably flexible, but I'd prefer not to go too deep downtown and have to deal with parking around there. That could be good for future, potentially warmer, get-toegthers.

And Joerg, sorry you can't make it! Hopefully we can make this into something more regular...
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We seem to have settled on 27 March, and time is getting short. How about scouting that location I mentioned, the area around Beacon St/St. Mary's? That location is also convenient for T travel, being on the Green Line.

Can someone suggest alternatives with easy (Sunday) parking or T access?

Harry

Edit: We also need a head count. Perhaps a reiteration of attendees is in order. Please post your intention.
 
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hlockwood said:
We seem to have settled on 27 March, and time is getting short. How about scouting that location I mentioned, the area around Beacon St/St. Mary's? That location is also convenient for T travel, being on the Green Line.

Can someone suggest alternatives with easy (Sunday) parking or T access?

Harry
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I guess the beacon st. tavern is right there, right? Probably better than going to one of the restaurants, though I don't drink, so I don't care one way or another.

Question boils down to: do we want to go out shooting or just meet up? There are more people walking around Cambridge than St. Mary's, if that's the goal, and it's easy enough to get to Harvard, even if parking can take a minute or two.
 
Contact with our NY brothers & sisters

Contact with our NY brothers & sisters

I contacted "Calzone" in NY to tap into their group's experience with RF meet-ups. I hope he doesn't mind my quoting him here.

Here are his comments:

"Harry,

Damaso kinda set up the first Meet-Up, but somehow because of my flamboyant personality, and my self efacing humor, I kinda got the responsibility to coordinate the monthly Meet-Ups.

Our luck and sucsess has been due to keeping things casual, fun and with no real structure other than pick a place and a time, but be aware that you might be surprised by how many people show up.

We have been lucky with no-one getting stiffed paying for someone elses food or drink. But as time went on we evolved a culture where I come early and explained to a staff person that an unpredictable amount of people might show up and that they will be coming and going. They suggested that seperate bills would be maintained and they requested collecting and holding credit/debit cards from everyone.

I also explained that there would be mucho expensive cameras so that the staff was aware to take extra care.

I recommend just creating a safe place, where even SLR's are welcome. A large group tends to moderate itself in a very democratic manner so even though we are a group of characters that are a bit crazy everyone kinda has fun.

Over time we all have gotten very familiar, and we have gotten together in smaller groups outside the big meet-ups to shoot various neighborhoods.

I found luck to offer door prizes that was really me getting rid of exess stuff. I in turn have been rewarded with lots of film from guys that went digital. Also some guys try to sell excess gear. The gear thymes also seem to be ice breakers. I was bragging about bringing my new Mamiya 6 to a Meet-Up and I even named it "Junior," but Cristian brought a Linhoff view camera to top me that had a huge Rangefinder.

We have had Meet-Ups that only 6 people showed up, but we have also had mobs where there were too many people to count, perhaps close to 35-40 with all the coming and goings, but every Meet-Up was good. That's why we have regulars and all these new people showing up.

I hope this helps. Good Luck.

Cal"

As a retiree, I may have a more flexible schedule than some folks here. So, I'd be willing to to scout out a meeting place (a la Calzone) and surrounding area for transportation/parking conditions. But I'll need some feedback from interested participants. I can start with the St. Mary's location and move on to other suggested venues. Also, I do need an idea of the number of participants. Table for 3?, 5? 15?....

Harry
 
hlockwood said:
I contacted "Calzone" in NY to tap into their group's experience with RF meet-ups. I hope he doesn't mind my quoting him here.

Here are his comments:

"Harry,

Damaso kinda set up the first Meet-Up, but somehow because of my flamboyant personality, and my self efacing humor, I kinda got the responsibility to coordinate the monthly Meet-Ups.

Our luck and sucsess has been due to keeping things casual, fun and with no real structure other than pick a place and a time, but be aware that you might be surprised by how many people show up.

We have been lucky with no-one getting stiffed paying for someone elses food or drink. But as time went on we evolved a culture where I come early and explained to a staff person that an unpredictable amount of people might show up and that they will be coming and going. They suggested that seperate bills would be maintained and they requested collecting and holding credit/debit cards from everyone.

I also explained that there would be mucho expensive cameras so that the staff was aware to take extra care.

I recommend just creating a safe place, where even SLR's are welcome. A large group tends to moderate itself in a very democratic manner so even though we are a group of characters that are a bit crazy everyone kinda has fun.

Over time we all have gotten very familiar, and we have gotten together in smaller groups outside the big meet-ups to shoot various neighborhoods.

I found luck to offer door prizes that was really me getting rid of exess stuff. I in turn have been rewarded with lots of film from guys that went digital. Also some guys try to sell excess gear. The gear thymes also seem to be ice breakers. I was bragging about bringing my new Mamiya 6 to a Meet-Up and I even named it "Junior," but Cristian brought a Linhoff view camera to top me that had a huge Rangefinder.

We have had Meet-Ups that only 6 people showed up, but we have also had mobs where there were too many people to count, perhaps close to 35-40 with all the coming and goings, but every Meet-Up was good. That's why we have regulars and all these new people showing up.

I hope this helps. Good Luck.

Cal"

As a retiree, I may have a more flexible schedule than some folks here. So, I'd be willing to to scout out a meeting place (a la Calzone) and surrounding area for transportation/parking conditions. But I'll need some feedback from interested participants. I can start with the St. Mary's location and move on to other suggested venues. Also, I do need an idea of the number of participants. Table for 3?, 5? 15?....

Harry
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Greetings from New York. You guys have a great-great city BTW. I did some work at The Frances Bitter National lab and really enjoyed the live music scene in Boston. BTW the cars and especially the cabs don't stop for pedestrians here in New York.

Cal

Cal
 
Thanks for your help, Cal!

I'll be there. Even if we just start with a small meet-up, I'm sure we'll gain momentum over time, and with better weather.

As for Brookline:
At St. Mary's I know the Beacon St. Tavern. In Washington Square there's the Public House and American Craft. I don't know what's up in Coolidge Corner as well, but there will surely be parking there. Anyway, Sunday afternoon shouldn't be a worst-case for parking and seating.

Someone had suggested Shay's in Harvard Square a while back. Being on the other side of the river, Harvard Square seems a lot if we're just meeting up. So unless there are any objections, I say we stick with Brookline/Boston for now, and we could make a Harvard Square shooting expedition when the weather's better.

Sooo... who's in?
 
Thanks for all that effort, Harry and Cal!

I've been lurking around the edges of this thread, partly because getting to the city for me means losing the entire afternoon, and partly because I can't commit to a date as my wife has had a crazy few months at work. So I can only offer a real lame "maybe" at the moment.
 
So what kinda gear do you guys have?

If I wasn't so broke, I'd get a chrome 28 Cron ASPH, but right now I got this retro 28/3.5 Canon/Serenar for mostly street shooting. This lens is tiny and the Canon VF'er is kinda nice BTW. I figure the bigger lens would allow me to get closer shots because the general population will thing I'm shooting behind them. Here in New York its easy to have bad boundry's and get close.

Harry are you hiding a 28 Cron in your arsenal?

Cal
 
Calzone said:
So what kinda gear do you guys have?

If I wasn't so broke, I'd get a chrome 28 Cron ASPH, but right now I got this retro 28/3.5 Canon/Serenar for mostly street shooting. This lens is tiny and the Canon VF'er is kinda nice BTW. I figure the bigger lens would allow me to get closer shots because the general population will thing I'm shooting behind them. Here in New York its easy to have bad boundry's and get close.

Harry are you hiding a 28 Cron in your arsenal?

Cal
Click to expand...

No such luck, Cal. My 28mm is the Hexanon f2.8 which plays nicely on my HexRF.

Harry
 
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