Weekend on Wheels

I left the studio on my Trek around 5:30pm on Friday evening - there was a steady rain but I was determined to ride. I met a few friends at R. Shea Brewing for a drink before the grand opening of Blimp City Bike and Hike in their new location across the street. The opening was supposed to include the first Moon Ride of the season but the ride was canceled because of the wet conditions of the Towpath. The opening was still a good time with beer, food, music and five bikes raffled for free.

After the party I rode to Sara's house. I woke in the morning and rode to Highland Square for 'Block to the Lock'. That kicked off with a meeting led by Councilman Swirsky and then a group ride to Glendale Cemetery and then onto the seasonal opening of the Mustill Store. After lunch and music I rode out to Peninsula and had a beer at the Winking Lizard. I ended my day back at R. Shea meeting a friend for a drink.

A weekend not getting in a car is a great weekend.

That One Time Downtown

This month's installment of 'That One Time Downtown' was held at Baxter's Bar and emceed by David Giffels(regular emcee Heather Burns was out of town). Three very different but compelling speakers told stories. Jazz musician Theron Brown told a story of getting lost in Tokyo and tied it into his experience of living in his adopted home town of Akron. Karen Starr spoke about her times at the Carousel Dinner Theater on Waterloo. Chuck Ayers closed the night telling his experience on May 4th 1970 at Kent State while working for the Beacon Journal.

Tortola

I just got back from an extended weekend on Tortola in the British Virgin Islands. I was there to shoot one of my closest friend's weddings - I'm still working through those photos and videos and will have that post soon. 

Tortola was absolutely amazing, if you look up "tropical island" it should just show you a photo of Tortola. I flew into St. Thomas and took a ferry over - which was part of the fun. Tortola is small and relatively undeveloped - and even though you need a passport they speak English and use the US dollar. We all stayed at the Long Bay Beach Club and it mostly felt like we had the place to ourselves. If you want lots of action this is not the place for you - this is a chill vacation spot. 

I did rent a bike in Road Town - the biggest city - and rode it back to the hotel and then back to Road Town the next day. It was a beautiful ride but it is not for amateurs - a couple of killer hills and very narrow roads(plus you have to get used to riding on the "wrong" side of the street).

Winter Saturday in Spring

Yesterday my friend, Fran, invited me to an open house at the future home of HiHo Brewing Co. The building is on Front Street in Cuyahoga Falls and is mostly just a shell right now - but they had the floor plans posted and it looks like it will be real cool spot. A variety of beers were available to sample and all were good - my favorite being the Session Red Rye IPA. They are projecting a fall opening(so probably spring as I joked).

When all the beer was polished off at HiHo we headed into to the Valley for a hike and some barn exploration at the Wetmore Trailhead. It was a beautiful winter hike - in April.

Color Implosion

When I put in an order for photography gear I usually tack on a few rolls of film - sometimes restocking Kodak Tri-X 400 and other times trying some interesting sounding films I've never used before. This time I tried out a film by Adox called "Color Implosion!" which is a C41 negative film that bills itself as having "imploding colors, bursting red, and toxic grains". About the only thing I would agree with them on is the "toxic grain" as this is a super grainy film - it almost looks like over exposed ISO 1600 film. I experimented with it in a few different situations - night with flash, bright daylight, magic hour, and set at ISO 100 and 400. 

This is a film I wouldn't ever buy again - in fact the only reason I can see to buy this film would be if you want to make sure people know you are shooting film - as there would be no other reason to go for such a grainy washed out look. I guess some might people like its "vintage/instagram-y" feel but I think this just looks like poorly exposed old film. There is just nothing that sets it apart enough to make it worthwhile. 

Anyway, check it out - I still came away with a few photos I liked enough to share.

The Show

So what is this? Its my new teaching tool - for teaching myself. Much like the original intention of this blog, "to shoot, edit and post a photo everyday" the goal of the show will be to record a new one every week. This first episode is a simple "week in review" with some b-roll footage over top. I learned so much about photography by my constant posting and searching for things to post that I hope to do the same for my videography. 

A few years back I made a series on YouTube called BrewView that was all craft beer reviews - doing that show gave me the knowledge to be able to offer video services when clients started asking. Now I want to step it up even more. I've become fairly proficient in Premier Pro but know I have plenty more to learn - I'd also like to figure out Adobe After Effects to add some animations and special effects. 

I'll try to make the videos more engaging as I go on - for now I just had to get myself behind(and in front) of the camera...

Collide at The Cricket

On Friday night Collide, the new arts group in Cuyahoga Falls, put on an event in collaboration with ArtsNow that included spoken word, poetry, music, live art and photography/art displays at the Cashmere Cricket. Food was provided by Flury's Cafe and great beer was for sale at the bar. Ace Epps was the MC and also read poetry with the backing of a trio from Falls Music School. The atmosphere in the room was amazing. The poets had people in stitches one moment and near tears the next.