Happy Memorial Day

Never forget?

Hartville Flea Market

Today Laura and I went out to the Hartville Flea Market - they have everything from your favorite Nazi memorabilia to the sparkly hats you need and anything else you could want to make your house look like the inside of a T.G.I.Friday's. I actually picked up a few cool old Minoltas and a couple of paperbacks.

Los Acros

When Laura and I first started dating we often ate at this Mexican restaurant - it kinda became "our place" - then we realized, "hey, this place isn't very good". Anyways - it changed ownerships and name so we decided to try it again. It was pretty good.

The reason the lighting looks strange is because I had the flash sitting on the table - so it kinda gave us that campfire/flashlight under the face look....

The Square Deal

One of the most common complaints about the web is the lack of local coverage - all that changed recently for the Highland Square area of Akron. This week The Square Deal went online billing itself as "The only source for daily Highland Square news". The news-blog is very informative and is a must read for anyone who resides in or visits the West Akron region.

Life's a Beach

So after waking up absolutely freezing in my tent in Paw Paw we hit the road for Virginia Beach. We had three days of perfect beach weather. Seafood, beer and lots of sun was what we did, how we do. I always plan to take such great, amazing photographs when I travel but when you only have a few days at the beach the main goal becomes relaxation. Not to say I didn't get good shots - they are just mostly 'vacation pics'. I do think my vacation pics are probably better than your average joe with a point and shoot - but I didn't feel like setting up strobes on piers at sunset instead of spending that extra few minutes on the beach...

Paw Paw

Since Laura and I didn't leave until she got off work we decided to stop and camp to break up the drive. We ended up camping in Paw Paw on the West Virginia/Maryland border. The campsite was between the Potomac River and remnants of The Cumberland and Ohio Canal. The area reminded me a little of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park - a bike towpath along an old canal route. The coolest thing is the Paw Paw Tunnel - a 3118 foot canal tunnel.  We hiked about half way through the tunnel before it got to cold and dark (if you ever go bring a flashlight) - it is deceivingly long.  

Virginia Beach

I just got home.....this is Rudee Inlet. Full story tomorrow.

Wheels Up!

I'm off on vacation - there will be no new posts until I get back on Sunday....

Robot & Friend

A few years ago I was walking in Highland Square with my friend Pete when a couple of dudes came up, stuck a gun in our faces, and asked for our money. We didn't have any. Needless to say I was pretty shook up. Later in the evening I was hanging out at my friend Josh's and still feeling quite uneasy. He wound up this little robot and put it in front of me. As it started to march along he said, "this should cheer you up!"

Josh made a big mistake and has been gone for about a year and will be for one more. I miss him. This robot standing on my monitor keeps my memories of him fresh....

Youngstown II

On Friday I went to Youngstown with Laura and our friend Lindsey to see Peter Milo play at The Lemon Grove. Like the last time I went to Youngstown I brought my older camera, a Rebel XT. Its kind of frustrating using my Rebel when I've become so used to the much better working of my Canon 7D - but I'm still to nervous to carry the 7D in the rougher parts of town. I really notice the much better image quality I get from my new camera when I go to process the images. Anyways - Pete put on a really good show and was backed by his brother and friend Eric.

Akron Art Museum

Today I had to head downtown to pay my utilities bill. I decided to bring my camera, pop a few extra quarters in the meter, and walk around a bit. I took a bunch of photos but these two of the Akron Art Museum were my favorite. The bottom one is the museum reflected in a building across the street.

Shelter from the Storm

During the storm I was messing around with my tripod and some long exposures. My roommate wanted the TV off during the worst of the lightning so I decided might as well have some fun with my camera. The above shot is a 30 second exposure looking out of my window. The bottom shot is a 30 second exposure in my family room.

Four Cylinders of Fun

So all I wanted to do was change my oil, air filter, and add some coolant - sounds easy enough - but this is a car and I know going in that even the simplest task never turns out easy. So the oil filter turns out to be in a near impossible place to reach - add an additional 10 minutes fumbling for a tool that will work. Air filter time - no problem right? Remove the cover of the air filter housing, pull out air filter, insert new air filter - but wait, turns out a chipmunk or some other furry creature made a home in my air filter.

Hiding Out

Mia's 4th

On Saturday night I went over to my friend Sara's house to celebrate the birthday of her and my close friend Wes's daughter Mia. At these kind of parties I make it a point to try and capture some unique moments or angles because there are so many other cameras around constantly snapping. The technique of bouncing the flash off the ceiling can usually be used to great effect also.

Silver Creek Metro Park

Yesterday my friend Lindsey and I picked up her dad's dog and went for a hike at Silver Creek. I hadn't been out there for a few years so it was nice to hike a trail that I didn't know like the back of my hand. In the above photo I used a few Photoshop filters to give it a more "old school" look. I put a pastel blue gradient map layer on at about 50% transparency and a high pass filter at about 15%. I also added a decent bit of sharpening and a vignette.

This is Rudy rolling around on the beach. The only thing I really did to this photo was some color balance adjustment and I added some saturation to give it more pop.

Reflections

These are some of my latest "random acts of photography" - just some fun snapshots taken when I happen to have my camera on me. I've always wanted to take a shot like the one above and everything was just in the perfect position for it.

Below is The Shoes - there have been one pair or another hanging in this general area ever since I started hanging out in Highland Square. In this shot I used a Photoshop above and beyond where I'm usually willing to go with it. I used a 'lens blur' filter to make it appear as if only the shoes were in sharp focus(like I had used a really wide aperture at a closer distance).

May 4th 2010

On May 4th 1970 the National Guard opened fire on Kent State students wounding nine and killing four. Yesterday I went to observe the 40th Anniversary Commemoration. There were speeches by family members of the killed and wounded as well as Jerry Casale of Devo, Mary Vecchio, May 4 eyewitness; John Filo, esteemed 1970 KSU photographer; Gene Young, Jackson State massacre eyewitness; Russ Miller and more. Many of the speakers put events into modern context and spoke of current politics - which to me made the event more interesting and relevant.

Self Portrait

Today I decided to do some more lighting practice. I took about thirty self portraits adjusting my flashes' power and locations. This was one of my favorites(lighting-wise). My set up was a speedlight on each side of me both shot into umbrellas at full power, and a speedlight directly in front of me at half power with a diffuser on.

I was wearing my Kent shirt in honor of the May 4th victims - today was the 40th anniversary.

Miracle In Richfield

I love going to estate sales because you never know what you're gonna find - plus there is a certain guilty pleasure/voyeuristic quality to searching through someone's whole life. On Saturday I had this sweet find - an LP documentary of the 1975-76 'Miracle in Richfield' Cavaliers. This was the first play-off Cavs team and it featured Austin Carr, "Bingo" Smith, and Campy Russell. It as an appropriate find for right now considering that the 'miracle' ended in the Eastern Conference Finals to the Boston Celtics. There will be a different ending this year though. The record is narrated by Joe Tait.

Weekend Lovers