CRWA in the News
Love that dirty water: Boston Herald
photographers Fed by brooks and streams, the Charles River flows
and twists 80 miles through the heart of MetroWest attracting wildlife
and humans in rich profusion. A solitary kayaker paddles through sun-dappled waters. Talons extended, a bald eagle swoops to a landing. Knee deep in shallow water, a husky fisherman reels in a striper. A yellow forsythia blossoms in a torrent of water rushing over a dam. More than 140 of the photographs they took are on display at the Adams Gallery at Suffolk University in Boston. The free exhibit, "Exploring the Charles: Boston
Herald Photo Project," runs through Sept. 8. From early May to mid-June, staffers were each assigned a stretch of the Charles as it snakes through 58 communities from Echo Lake in Hopkinton to Boston Harbor. A handful of photos from the July 4th celebration on the Esplanade were included. Mahoney said the project gave the staff chances to take photographs not found on their usual beats. Matthew West and Matt Stone, who usually cover sports, proved to be sensitive observers of nature. Stone’s photo of a sculpted stone angel in Natick gazing toward the river is one of the show’s most haunting. Leaving behind the crime scenes he normally covers, Mike Adaskaveg captures a jowly beagle, a picturesque vista of the Leonard Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge and a classic Boston scene of a tugboat chugging by a mist-enshrouded skyline. Mahoney said the project was partially inspired by a photo series about the Rio Grande published in the Dallas Morning News. While the show’s photos were taken with digital cameras, he said colors weren’t altered or manipulated "beyond accepted industry standards." "What you see is what you get," Mahoney said. Herald photographers found a river used for transportation and solitary meditation, recreation and lovers’ assignations. One of the show’s strengths is the sheer variety of life gathered on the Charles’ surface and shores. Naturally there are kayakers and fishermen, joggers and sailers, and even cows munching grass and nursing their calves. Through their viewfinders, Herald photographers found more than the usual suspects. John Wilcox snapped a Venetian-style gondola passing under a bridge. Faith Ninivaggi found a pair of determined old men playing bocce. Matthew West snapped a bearded Sikh from Millis displaying a handmade knife. Renee DeKona came upon a couple dancing the tango beneath a full moon. And Ted Fitzgerald discovered six circus elephants galumphing by the river’s edge. More than 140 photographs is a lot to digest, particularly in a single gallery. While sailboats gliding past the Boston skyline have accrued an iconic significance, the sheer number of boat, kayak and canoe shots could have been reduced for more human subjects. The Herald photographers often shot everyday scenes with fresh eyes. In a joyous sequence, Mark Garfinkel found a gaggle of protective geese and newborn goslings getting used to each other. Patrick Whitemore caught young lovers oblivious to the bustle around them. Michael Seamans discovered a homeless man nesting by the river’s edge with his shopping cart and a bottle of Bud. The exhibit reveals the softer, gentler side of the gritty Herald photo staff: no gunshot victims or crack mothers, no buxom hotties or Wingo promotions. Henry David Thoreau would mostly recognize this river where wild turkeys trot, blackbirds twitter and frogs croak. The human intrusion on nature is observed without rubbing viewers’ noses in it. Even littering looks lyrical. An abandoned car and junked machine rusting along the shore seem like the Bay State version of Spanish moss, a reminder of human vanity rather than environmental pollution. These photos reveal river life at an opportune time as late spring turns toward summer, attracting wild and human life in surprising variety. Though a modest river by global standards, the Charles exudes its own primal character, like the Bay State’s own Ganges, attracting pilgrims of several species. In Lisa Hornack’s photos, it appears as wide and placid as the Mississippi. Shooting from its Natick shoreline, Matt Stone captures a tumultuous river, cascading over rocks and dams like the Nile. And Tim Correira finds a stretch of snaking turns in Dedham that resembles the Mekong Delta. Like the Charles, the exhibit tends to meander, an effect Mahoney feels suits its subject. "We didn’t want a straight line," he said. "It think (the exhibit) has got a nice rivery flow." For Mahoney, "Exploring the Charles" captures the
many facets of a Bay State natural treasure. |