"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"
