Monday, June 30, 2014

Week Off(of this)

In the Bucket Laura took a week long vacation and I took a week off of blogging - of course I didn't take any time off of shooting photographs... 
 We used the week to get some stuff done around the house...and drink good beer of course(often both at the same time)... So here are some random photos from our week.

Monday, June 23, 2014

Ducked into the Game

Duck into The Game Laura and I did shopping for some home renovation and then stopped at The Lockview for a few drinks. We decided to walk down to Bricco for some dinner - but on our walk we heard some serious cover-rocking. We trekked over to the gates of Canal Park and with a little alcohol in our systems were moving our feets. "Lets try out 'The Game'" - the newish restaurant at the stadium- we said simultaneously. We watched 'Wild Ave' relive the past, ate some great food, and drank some Thirsty Dog beer on the patio - we would have even caught part of a Rubber Ducks game but a storm rolled in - so we finished our delicious duck bacon blt and fish tacos inside looking out. I haven't heard a bad thing about 'The Game' so I'll add to the chorus....check it out - especially on a game night....

Sunday, June 22, 2014

Cathedral Tower

Cathedral Tower


Last night I was driving and I noticed how good the light was on the "Cathedral Tower"(or "Rex's Erection" as us locals call it). I haven't ever photographed it up close so I pulled over. I had my 85mm lens on my camera - much too long to capture the whole tower - so I shot a series of nine photos. I then merged them in Photoshop - resulting in an image 15,000 pixels tall - the detail is really cool. This is a smaller version - 5,000 pixels - but still pretty detailed when viewed full size(click through to flickr for that).



The history of this concrete monstrosity is well documented - check out the Beacon article here.



Since the tower can be seen for such a long distance I always thought it would be cool to do a photo project depicting it with all different locations with unique foregrounds... ...when I get the time.

Saturday, June 21, 2014

Food Truck Friday

BeachComber Yesterday I grabbed some great food and photos at Child Guidance and Family Solution's 'Food Truck Friday' - on the corner of Forge and East Market. It was hard to decide where to order from - but I went with Wholly Frijoles - I'm a sucker for Mexican. I didn't regret it - I had a few different tacos which were outstanding. I really didn't need to eat anything else - but since part of the money benefits the kids - I ordered a strawberry/banana crepe with caramel and whipped cream from Premier Crepes. It was amazing, I mean really, really amazing.
If you work in or near Downtown I can't imagine a better Summer lunch option than this event. Check it out ....I'll definitely be back.

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Ode to the Widest of Angles

Andrew My cousin Jeff let me borrow his Canon 10-22mm lens on a Thanksgiving weekend back in 2007 - I put it on my Rebel XT and was blown away by the results. I had never shot anything that wide and with that kind of dramatic distortion before.  I wanted it.  That Winter I was working third shift at Boston Mills - I decided when the season was over I wanted to get more serious about photography. I was able to easily save a decent chunk of change working those hours - there was no one around to spend my money with! So after the season I bought a new flash, a set of radio triggers, a 50mm, and the Sigma 10-20mm f/4. That Sigma was rarely ever off of my Rebel and was often on my next camera (the recently deceased) Canon 7D. I loved it. It was awesome for shooting bands in small venues - my favorite thing to do at the time - and I also used to capture sweeping landscape, dramatic portraits, and everything else in between.  
The lens began to sit on the shelf more and more as I purchased different lenses for the 7D....and now that I have a 6D the lens is pretty much useless to me. So when my buddy tweeted about wanting a wide angle but not sure about dropping the scratch on one I offered to make a deal on my Sigma. Thats Andrew above with my trusty ol' lens on his 60D(and I just wiped a tear from my eye). That lens never took a bad shot I didn't make it. I am glad its getting back to its roots though - mostly shooting live rock and roll.
Pour some out tonight for my homey 10-20mm.

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Trashed Tracks

Roller Coaster Tonight I took some shots of the flood damage to the tracks of the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad where Yellow Creek topped the canal era culvert under Riverview Road. The power of water never ceases to amaze - not to mention that the flood rose high enough to go over the tracks, road and Towpath Trail here. Having worked in the Valley for so long floods bum me out - so you usually don't see much of this kind of thing from me....
No photos in this set are cropped - kind a challenge for myself tonight. All primes so I "zoomed" with my feet and then presented you with all available pixels...

Sunday, June 15, 2014

Saturday Bookends

Burritos! On Saturday morning Laura and I were in the mood for something good for breakfast and we didn't have much in the house. We decided to head down to the Farmer's Market at Howe Meadow and get some burritos from our favorite stand run by Spice Kitchen and Bar. Their breakfast burritos are out of this world - they don't give them away though - 9 bucks a pop.
 Of course I used the trip as a chance to mess around with my new 85mm lens - which looks great.

Thursday, June 12, 2014

@85mm

New 85mm What do you do when you get a new camera lens? Throw it on the camera and take photos of everything around you of course. My Canon 85mm f/1.8 came in the mail today - its my first decent prime lens for digital. The idea is for it to be my portrait lens - and a short telephoto for landscape-type-things. Its the first lens for my new camera - and as I wrote the other day I plan to get a set of all primes(non-zooms or fixed focal length - for the uninitiated) for it. I did change my mind about the 50mm though after a talk with a friend/experienced pro-photographer. I think I'm going to get a 35mm for my standard lens instead and then add a wide angle - possibly 20mm - but I'm still researching the wide angle options. I already have a 50 if I need it.
Anywho - can't wait to really test this thing out....

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Maybe, I don't really wanna know....

Front Garden Here is a partial garden update. Everything is looking good so far and we've somehow managed to keep the deer out(for now). We've also trapped 9 chipmunks and they finally have seemed to stop coming around. I've decided I'm never planting anything "heirloom" again - it just grows way to slow for my yard. Gimmie those hybrids created by modern science....
I shot these with my 6D and 50mm lens - I added a vignettes and a healthy dose of contrast and vibrance in Photoshop.

Monday, June 9, 2014

@50mm

Down on Yellow On Saturday I went for a hike on the open part of the Langes Bridle Trail - my favorite part has been closed since the massive flood earlier this Spring. I took my Canon 6D with a single lens - my $100 Canon 50mm f/1.8. I originally bought the lens for my Rebel XT as a step up over my kit lens - and even though its feels like a toy it is decent optically. My main goal was to get more of a feel for the 50mm focal length as I've been considering buying a new 50mm lens. On my Rebel and 7D(because of their smaller sensors) it looked more like an 80mm lens. 50mm on a 'full frame camera' or a 35mm film camera is considered a 'normal lens' - the resulting photos are close to what your eyes would see. 
Anyways - the reason for all this is that I've decided I'm going to buy a set of three prime lenses for my new Canon 6D instead of an expensive zoom lens or two. Canon's 24-70mm f/2.8 lens is over two grand - I can come in under that with three lens that will have better image quality and wider apertures. The only thing lost is the convenience of not having to switch lenses and having to change what will be in the image with my feet instead of wrist - which isn't of great concern to me.  So I've been reading lots of mind-numbing lens reviews over the last few weeks...
OK, enough nerd talk for now - enjoy some photos.

Saturday, June 7, 2014

Rock and Roll

The Beyonders
It feels like I haven't seen and shot some live music for a long time - so it was good to get out Friday night to Musica to see The Beyonders and The Got it Need It. 'The Got It Need It' are a hard rocking bluesy duo from Canton who I've befriended and seen in their various incarnations over the years. Goody and Erik always rock - its a given.
This was my first time seeing 'The Beyonders' an "Interstellar Surf Band based out of Ohio's second moon, Akron" - also made up of old friends. They ruled - its rare for me to enjoy an instrumental band so much - but this was surf music taken to the edge of metal with some spaced out keyboard lines - and it worked.
I've said before that Musica is one of my least favorite local venues to photograph at - but with my new 6D's high ISO ability and a dose of Photoshop I was able to take decent photos and mostly without flash(snuck a few of flash shots in though).

Thursday, June 5, 2014

Light Tests Take-Off

Selfie Tonight I was trying out a few lighting ideas I have for some upcoming shoots. I also wanted to test my new camera with the lights - unfortunately it doesn't have the regular light hook-up built in. I have to use a hot-shoe converter and I wanted to make sure it worked right before I was in a situation with a client. Everything worked well. I used my remote trigger to focus and take my shots - you can see it in my hand above. I was thinking it would be awesome to get a second set of triggers and put one on my other camera - you know, so I could take a picture of myself taking a picture of myself. Yes, that's pretty much the best idea I've ever had.... photos of photos.....

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Red-Winged Blackbird

Red Winged Blackbird This little guy was hopping around on the lily pads in the Canal last week eating bugs. I captured a few cool photos of him and had posted one to my tumblr previuosly. A few people mentioned how much they liked it so here is one for the blog.
"Shooting blackbirds with a different tool..."

Monday, June 2, 2014

New to Nuevo

Nuevo Laura and I finally made our way downtown to the Gothic building to try out 'Nuevo Modern Mexican and Tequila Bar - or 'Nuevo'. There was a ton of buzz about this place before it opened but after it did I kept hearing 'blah' reviews. Even some trusted friends gave it a shoulder shrug. So we waited until the 'kinks' or whatever should have been worked out..... and either they were or I have no idea what my friends were thinking. We loved it - pretty much everything. Starting with a flight of three margaritas for me - $11 bucks for 'ritas with fresh squeezed juice seemed like a good deal - and the smoked salt on the rim was awesome(and I'm glad I didn't even have to be asked if I wanted them 'on the rocks' (of course I do - what do I look like, a tourist?)). Laura had the premium margarita which was also great. We were washing down chips and salsa(top-notch) and a delicious appetizer of perfectly prepared tuna.