October 9: Lost in Boston

No in-depth story this time, but I’ll say this: the best part about being currently “between jobs” is that I have the freedom to take short-term gigs. I lucked out when, about a month ago, The Freedom Trail Foundation posted that they were looking for a publicity photographer with experience in photojournalism. If you know me, you know that I love history – I was involved with Reacting to the Past, a historical roleplaying class series, for four years and a summer in college, alternately as a player, preceptor, and publicist – and I love historical reenactment even more. I thought this would be a perfect gig for me – and so did they!

Phyllis Wheatley, left, and Crispus Attucks, right, laugh as they walk through the Granary Burying Ground on September 28, 2018.

Due to some lucky scheduling coincidences, I was able to make a weeklong “workcation” out of it. I didn’t do absolutely everything I wanted to, but when I wasn’t shooting, I made the rounds to nearly all of my Bostonian friends and their associated workplaces – Old North Church, the Old State House, etc. I learned that the clock in the Old State House, old as it is, actually loses five minutes every week, and an employee has to climb up into an attic space in the very high up clock tower to reset its very heavy and anvil-esque pendulum manually. I got to be involved with this process – not so much as a participant per se, but rather as a witness who realized how grateful she was not to have to climb up hundreds of stairs to squeeze into a dark wooden box every Monday. 

Lydia Mulliken, right, talks to tourists as children from The Eliot School play in the background on September 28, 2018, at Rachel Revere Square.

The only downside was that the eight-hour day of photoshooting with the Freedom Trail Foundation and walking something like four miles gave me a slight knee injury, but lesson learned for next time. I’ll be going back in a few weeks to do part two of the shoot, hopefully when the weather is better – the weather app had predicted sunshine up until the day before our scheduled photoshoot day! 

Left to right: Deborah Samson, Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford, and Hannah Mather Crocker walk near the Paul Revere House on September 28, 2018.

One really cool element of my trip was getting to photograph a certain Peter Slater, Jr., a spirited nineteen-year-old apprentice who participated in the Boston Tea Party. 

Mac Leslie, in character as Peter Slater, Jr., demonstrates to a tour group from Brooklyn how to show their enthusiasm during a town meeting on October 5, 2018, at the Boston Tea Party Ship and Museum.

Slater’s good friend Mac Leslie is an actor I worked with four years ago at New Century Theatre, and Mac had scheduled his last day working at the Tea Party Museum before taking on a new role as a theatre teacher. As a favor to Mac for getting me into the Museum for free (tickets are $30 otherwise), I documented the occasion as thoroughly as possible.

Mac Leslie, in character as Peter Slater, Jr., describes the Brig Beaver to a tour group on October 5, 2018, at the Boston Tea Party Ship and Museum.

Anyway, in the interest of keeping this post short, I will say: I learned a ton on this trip, everything was great, photo-wise and otherwise, and I’m psyched for part two.

Huzzah!

Edit: I returned for part two a few weeks later. Although the day was shorter and less physically intensive, I’d say we still had a good day – it was a day for anything we wanted to do or redo the first time but couldn’t, we did on the second go.

Elizabeth Oliver walks through the Granary Burying Ground during a photoshoot advertising the Freedom Trail Foundation’s fall/winter Lantern Tours.

We actually did a bunch of variations on this shot. Which of these two is your favorite?

Isaiah Thomas (“Not the basketball player,” as he likes to tell guests) tells a crowd about the history of the Granary Burying  Ground on October 26, 2018.

Hannah Mather Crocker, center, tells Mercy Otis Warren, left, and Elizabeth Oliver, right, a scary story in the Granary Burying Ground on October 26, 2018.

Left to right: Mercy Otis Warren, Elizabeth Warren, and Lydia Mulliken walk through Boston Common on October 26, 2018.

*Note: for privacy reasons, I have used the Players’ character names only.