"The hilly Schumacher Trail provides a closer look at some of Summit County's most pristine scenery." - Summit Metro Parks
Drummer Greg Boyd was able to reunite his onetime Cincinnati band 'Ghostman & Sandman' for a couple of area shows - I brought my camera to the Thursday's show on Friday. The last time I saw them play was in January of 2009(photos). 'Ghostman' play there own, unique brand of surf rock - it was a blast as usual. I enjoyed the two openers as well - 'Ancestral Pearls' and the jangly, spastic Shit-Box Jimmy.
A little while back the Knight Foundation sponsored an Akron2Detroit trip to tour some neighborhoods to see what was working and what the challenges were. When the group returned they started doing the same thing but here at home. They ended up deciding to open it up to the public and held the first Akron2Akron neighborhood tour in Firestone Park on Saturday. Rick Stockburger led the way starting from the Firestone Park Community Center which is right across from the elementary school. We took a walk through the residential neighborhood, to the Bridgestone Technical Center, The Library, The Aster Business District and grabbed some drinks after at Park Place Pub. 
Missile Toe, "The World's Greatest Christmas Band," takes your favorite Christmas songs and turns them into punk rock rave-ups. I always love seeing them and it was cool in the Museum - I'm glad they had them play in the front under the glass atrium - as you can see in the photos it was a really great setting. I also love that the Museum has good, local beers on tap - I had an Elevator Winter Warmer and a Thirsty Dog Citra Dog. 
Emma and Tony, two friends of mine who I know through Laura, got married over the weekend. I always know there is going to be a paid wedding photographer at these things and everyone else will be snapping like crazy with their cellphones - but I still can't resist getting a few good shots with my gear. My goal this to not intrude on the professional guy's turf too much- so I tried to limit myself.
If you don't know where the reference in the title comes from you should probably drop what you're doing and go watch "Three Amigos" - and perhaps examine what other poor decisions led you to this point in your life in general.
Black Friday is always one of my favorite days - but not because I do serious shopping - because my family and I head to Cleveland and drink our Black Friday. This year we decided to start out at Hofbrauhaus to try and beat the large crowds that have been showing up since it opened recently. When we got there it was nearly empty but when we left there was already a line to get in. After drinks and food we headed over to the West Side Market and then on to Nano Brew. We used to always stop in Great Lakes for a Christmas Ale but with all the little ones it is usually too crowded to bother. After a brief nap back at home we headed downtown Akron for the Tree Lighting and fireworks - which seem to get better every year. A full day - Laura and I were in bed not much later than 9 o'clock.
Last night my Dad took the whole family to the preview of "Deck the Hall 2014" at Stan Hywet Hall. The Manor House was decorated with the theme of "Christmas Around the World" - each room a different country. I didn't shot any photos of the rooms because the last time I was here for this event I got busted after taking this photo. The outside is one of the biggest holiday lighting displays in Northeast Ohio and it is really beautiful. I usually like to wait to do Christmas-y things until after Thanksgiving - but with the cold weather and snow on the ground this was a worthwhile exception.
Yesterday morning I had a job to shoot at the "Downtown Transit Center". I needed to be there early to catch the buses lines up and have the best chance of catching the ones I needed to photograph. It was freezing outside but I was appropriately bundled up. When people see the way I layer up in the winter I often get the, "you must be really cold!" -the opposite is true, "I'm warm - that is why I dressed like this". Watching people walk to their buses in a hoodie and sweatpants blew my mind... 
Saturday night The Beyonders put together a show for the release of their first CD. They played with Cleveland power pop band Herzog and Akron surf band The Kahuna Kings. I've been friends with Beyonders' guitar player Dave Rich since I used to play in bands and at this point I could probably put together a real nice photo book of his musical projects over the years. In fact it is pretty much how I learned to shoot concert photography...
Laura and I decided to get a couple more of our hikes in for the Fall Hiking Spree today. It was clear as a bell in Akron as we headed out to Twinsburg to do our first hike on the Ledges Trail at Liberty Park. I don't know what I was thinking by wearing a pair of tennis shoes - there was a couple of inches of snow on the ground at the top of Summit County. I watched on TV and Facebook the heavy, lake effect snow falling up North the previous evening but for some reason it didn't register with us. Anyways - I was able to keep my feet fairly dry and it made for a beautiful hike. I always enjoy the snow for a while - and it was pretty today - come March it will be a different story.
Laura and I take to heart the old phrase, "be a tourist in your own town" - but use it a little more regionally. With that in mind we decided to get a hotel in Cleveland near Playhouse Square and enjoy a couple of days of activities up North. We first tried a couple of brew-pub-only-offerings at Great Lakes Brewing - but as usual it was too busy to try and get a table. So we headed across the street to Market Garden and had a beer and an appetizer. Next we moved on to Platform Beer Co. I've wanted to get up and visit Platform since they opened this Summer. I've done photography work for the owner's other business, The Cleveland Brew Shop, and had been following their progress on social media with the new brewery since it was in the planning stages. They did not disappoint.
This morning Leadership Akron had a breakfast celebrating their 30 years - and gave my Dad the second Dave Lieberth Community Vision Award. The morning started with mingling and a breakfast - followed by speeches interspersed with video clips(put together really nicely by Wasted Talent Media). Some of my Dad's friends and colleagues spoke about him and Leadership Akron. Then Mark Scheffler road a a rickshaw out with Dave Lieberth in the back - who pressed a button on a boombox and a curtain fell and Revolution Pie launched into 'I wanna Hold Your Hand' while Akron leaders started biking around the Knight Center. It was really cool - they gave my Dad a bike and he rode off with them. My Dad is a big oldies fan and bike enthusiast so it was a great way to end the morning. Not to mention the 500 hundred friendly faces and the parade of people telling me how much they respect Dad. My whole family left the event beaming. 
On Friday night I photographed the 2014 Halloween Charity Ball at The Tangier benefiting Victim Assistance Program & The Akron Rotary Camp. There were two rooms at the party: the VIP room was in the Cabaret - and had a more relaxed atmosphere with a band playing, good food and high-end drink, the main room was the more uptempo dance party and costume contest. Both had well-taken-advantage-of open bars and everyone really seemed to be having a blast(me included). I roamed and shot photos in both spaces and covered the costume contest - which was a lot of fun. I have a small selection of some of my favorite shots from the night here and i put a large gallery with a few hundred photos on the events website. 
"Laura and Coco"
Today I photographed a few of my most recent camera acquisitions and I decided I would update and finally finish my camera page. Well, hours later and I'm not even close to done with the website. I've added a bunch of cameras and worked on the behind the scenes html that will organize and make the collection searchable and categorized by make - but I still have a ways to go. I guess I'd forgotten how many camera I have and how time consuming writing code can be. Anyways - you can check the progress with the link on the right of the page and I will update you when I finally do finish it - hopefully soon. 
Sunday morning I had run my first road race in years and when I woke up on Monday I was extremely sore. I figured I'd head down to my usual spot, Big Bend, and walk for a while on the Towpath to try and stretch out. Of course I brought my camera and I'm glad I did. I've shot at Big Bend tons of times now but one of the great things about Ohio is places almost never look the same way twice. This morning the sun was rising and burning through the fog and everything was gleaming and frost covered. I took photos from the same angles I had before but the different weather, season, and time of day made them look different. Sometimes it can be boring shooting the same things over again - times like this it is exciting. 
Tonight my parents had everyone over to eat dinner, carve pumpkins, and taste some beers they picked up on a recent trip. Laura and mine came out the best, of course, but don't tell everyone else. 
When shooting photos like the above one - I usually end up with the view in the photos below. Always trailing - and jogging to catch up. I bet this is a familiar scene for anyone that loves to take pictures...
Yesterday afternoon I knew that I wanted to go for a reasonably long hike in the Valley - but I also knew that it would be swarmed with people. I decided to park at the Valley Picnic Area on Riverview Road and pick up the Plateau & Oak Hill Trails. It was a good call as I only passed a few other hikers...
From Wikipedia:
This afternoon I went for a hike at the Springfield Bog and although the park opened in 2011 this was my first time there. The park is an old farm field that has a couple of bogs and is being returned to prairie land - the trail is basically a large loop around the field. I know this doesn't sound too exciting but being there with all the fall color I found it quite beautiful. The sun was dodging in and out from behind the clouds which could really make for some cool lighting on the fall foliage. A few different times I found myself standing in the same place for a while just waiting for the light to hit. The hike improved all the more when the Goodyear Blimp(or "The Blimp" as we say in Akron) flew overhead. After my hike I drove through the surrounding countryside and the colors were beyond spectacular. 
Last week I decided I wanted to try and capture some fall colors with the beautiful film Kodak Ektar 100. I didn't have too much time though so I loaded up the Fuji GSW690III and headed down to nearby Big Bend and shot a roll. When I was taking these photos I thought I captured something pretty special - but after developing them I felt like they were only OK. Its definitely easier catching Fall with digital - but I've gone out with my Canon and thought I did quite well until I returned home and saw them on the screen too. Autumn colors are just so awesome I guess anything less than magical perfection is a letdown in photography... for me anyways...
A few Fridays ago Laura and I continued our quest to complete the 'Fall Hiking Spree' out at Silver Creek Metro Park. Afterwards we stopped by Rittman Orchards. I had my Pentax K1000 loaded with Kodak Gold 400 with me to document it all...
Last night Laura and I attended the 'Akron Craft Beer Festival' at the Civic Theatre. Neither of us had ever been to a beer fest before so we only had a rough idea of what to expect. You grab a tasting glass as you enter and get to sample as many of the 51 different beers by the 23 different breweries represented as you want. Each brewery had their own table and was pouring roughly 2 oz. samples mostly from bottles. Highlights were BrewDog, LaTrappe, Dieu du Ciel, and MadTree - but everything we tried was pretty darn good(except for Ohio Brewing - but that goes without saying). The Fest was all over the theatre - the main area was the lobby but they had beers upstairs too - it was nice to be able to take in how beautiful The Civic really is(especially with beer in hand). There were "free" appetizers and heavier fare available for purchase.The also debuted a 45 minute documentary about craft breweries that was interesting - although Laura was a little upset about the lack of women in the movie(there was one). It could feel a little chaotic with all those thirsty drinkers roaming everywhere but all in all we had a blast. I definitely see returning in future years...
Today I developed 4 more rolls of color negative film. The last roll seemed to be a bit "fogged" which got me to thinking about if I'll ever do this again. I don't really save or lose money doing it, the lab I use costs almost the same, and there is no real creative advantage - you only hope to do it as well as the lab would(and you worry about being super meticulous with temperatures, timing, and chemical consistency). I guess I'm just not sure if the juice is worth the squeeze - I'm not that huge of a color film user to begin with(says the guy who just invested in a color film kickstarter) - the only benifit is the satisfaction of doing it myself. I guess if my lab goes out of business or I was doing a project that involved shooting a bunch of rolls in a brief period of time this would be worth it - anyways - I'm glad I tried it out and know how to do it. 
This morning I woke up and went for an early jog - I watched the blood moon eclipse over West Akron. While running down Aqueduct a large buck with a big set of horns burst out and ran next to me for a few seconds - I let out an audible "woah!!". As I returned home the moon was fully eclipsed. I showered, got dressed, and headed to the Valley. While driving down Riverview the Steam Engine No. 765 (which I thought had left town weeks ago) raced down the tracks. I parked and walked to Indigo Lake where a bald eagle was diving and swooping over the lake as the last of the fog burned off. I got none of that on film - but I shot and enjoyed a beautiful magic hour walk anyways. 
"Euclid Avenue"
Sometimes I stand out in the cold for hours to get some great light, and sometime I set up lots of heavy strobes for the same reasons - but today I just walked into my bedroom to get some socks.... 
Sometimes you're not sure what you are shooting - but you make it look good anyways!
What perfect weather for the 'last official weekend of Summer'. On Friday I had a fire with some friends, on Saturday I wandered around the Porch Rokr Festival in Highland Square, and on Sunday I had Laura's company picnic and then got a nice hike in that evening. I love Fall, but we all know, it goes way too fast....
I've always had a preference for sunrises to sunsets - but I've been too busy with work to get out in the morning much lately. I decided I had to do it this morning. I headed north on the Towpath from Boston and turned around at Jaite and took the Valley Bridle Trail back just as the sun was coming over the side of the Valley...
This is the start of my new series based on objects I collect, reuse, save, or find in the woods. In other words - the things that make Laura say, "What are you ever going to do with that?" I've had this idea in my mind for a while and this is kind of my brain storming/test shots. I definitely figured out the lighting style I want to use... I just think the overall concept needs some work. 
With it seemingly switching to Fall over night I figured I better wrap up my 'End Of Summer Road Trip series' - before I'm no longer in the mood to look at Summer-y photos... we left off with Laura an I driving down the road after having our brake lines repaired....
Summit MetroParks' Fall Hiking Spree is really nostalgic for me - for years my family(including my Grandma) all participated in it together. The fall air, the cookouts, the beautiful trails - they were all missed and left behind when I went to college. Later work(especially the farm) made it hard for me to complete the Spree - but last year Laura and I finished my first one since the 90's. Not that I need an excuse to get into the woods - but it is nice to have a goal and a specific place to go. This evening we started the 2014 Hiking Spree at the Chuckery...we were talking about how green everything is - but by the time we finish most of the leaves will be gone...
Here are a few random leftover photos from my last two rolls of film. They didn't fit with my other blogs, but I liked them and wanted to share them with my legions of adoring fans... enjoy.
Martha Stewart Living is an amazing magazine - for the photography. I've flipped through it over at my parent's house multiple times - and she/or her editor is sparing no expense visually. I always particularly notice the food photography - be it the garden items or the cooked dishes - the lighting is always spot on perfect. Food photography is something I haven't messed around with too often - I always think of trying it after I cook something - but eating my dish warm usually wins out. So last week after I picked some tomatoes I decided to try and shoot them - the results came out really average. I emailed a copy to my friend Rick, a retired photographer, and he gave me advice in the way he often does, by asking "Why?" "Why that background?" "Why the pasta?" "Why is this there?" etc. So today after picking some heirlooms I decided to try again....and above is the result. Its definitely better but I still don't think its Martha Level yet.
