About Ed Sokoloff

Edward Sokoloff, age 81, was born, brought up, and resides in Boston. He is a lawyer by profession. His interest in photography began about 50 years ago.

On occasion Ed brought his camera along to a party, event or home visit, and took pictures. If he really liked a picture, he would send a print to the person in it. Some of these chance pictures have been prominently displayed in the homes of those people for 15, 20 or 25 years.

For more than ten years as a volunteer, Ed has taken pictures at an annual one-week all expenses paid summer camp for kids with special medical needs. His close-up pictures are easily identifiable among the thousands of pictures taken by others.

In the year 2000, Ed moved from the suburbs to Boston. Living in Copley Square, he began eating dinner out on most nights. He started taking pictures of the front of each restaurant at which he ate. Eventually he glued together the different restaurant pictures, which he hung in a frame on the wall of his apartment. Although he had favorite eating places, he began eating mostly at restaurants new to him. He bought a larger frame, added new pictures to the originals, and the size of the frame kept growing from there. Eventually, the pictures were cut down to just the restaurant name, instead of the full front of the building.

This enjoyable pastime became the seed for the idea to create a large montage of different greater Boston restaurants. As Ed got further into the project, the concept expanded from conventional restaurants to eating establishments at many different venues, including bookstores, drive-in movies, hospitals, libraries, museums, and even former jails, a correctional institution, and a former public bathroom building. Also included were a cafe operated by people with physical and/or developmental disabilities, and a pay-what-you-can-afford restaurant. Generally, places qualified as long as they had food facilities which are open to the public.

Other Massachusetts food-related montages now include Boston’s Chinatown, Boston’s North End, Boston Public Market, greater Boston food trucks, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, and state-wide bagels, burgers, coffee, cupcakes, donuts, hot dogs, and ice cream. Also outside Massachusetts are Lincoln to Littleton NH and downtown Greenville SC montages.

Beginning in 2016, the montage concept expanded beyond food to History on Canvas, American Flags, Musical Instruments, Boston Area Catholic Churches, Charles River Boathouses, Friendly Scarecrows, and Nutcrackers/Snowmen, and state-wide Performing Arts Theatres and Bicycle Shops. New montages in process include state-wide breweries, cheeses, chocolates, breads, Irish pubs and tea rooms.

In San Francisco where the Marines Memorial Association’s Gold Star families’ annual event is held, Ed’s original American Flags montage is hung in the area of the Tribute Memorial Wall which contains the names of all military personnel lost in Iraq and Afghanistan since 9/11.