New Year, New Me

Not really - I just shaved and cut my hair. Happy New Year!

Indoor Droning

My DJI Mavic has a mode called "tripod" which slows down its movements - you would use for slower cinematic shots or flying indoors. I decided to try it out in the studio and capture some images of the drone in flight. I took off and the drone instantly started wandering as warning screens flashed. I promptly freaked out and crashed it into a light stand and the corner breaking two of the propellers. Fortunately I had replacements and no other damage was done. I re-calibrated everything and the drone then hovered perfectly and I captured these photos. Bedsides my pilot error, I'm not sure what went wrong the first time.

Snowy Nephews

My sister had a specific concept in mind for her Christmas Cards this year - but as the mercury started dropping we decided to scrap it until next year and meet down at Szalay's Farm. We used the granary and old red barn as the backdrop and the snow really started to come down - I'd say it was a spur of the moment plan that came together perfectly! I didn't want to share these until after her Christmas Cards had gone out - so now here are a few of my favorites.

In general I don't do a lot of portraits for families - but this holiday season I've done a fair bit of it. The work mostly comes word-of-mouth as I don't really show this kind of thing in my portfolio.

2017

Vlogging in the Gorge on an ice cold day!

Christmas Morning

I wanted to learn how to make video footage from my DSLR look like it was filmed on a old Super 8 - so I shot some footage yesterday morning and watched a few tutorials on Youtube and here it is. Enjoy!

Furnishing Eternity

David Giffels dropped by the studio last summer to get an updated author profile and a couple casual shots as well. He needed them for his new book - 'Furnishing Eternity' - the book ships on January 2nd and can be ordered now. He gave me a proof of the book which I read last Fall. I'm not a book reviewer(or good writer for that matter) but I love to read and the book is fantastic. The book deals with mortality - from the passing of his mom and best friend and the realization that his dad won't be around forever. I'm not a believer in things happening for a reason - but there are coincidences that make life interesting. For example a day after finishing the book David's dad called me and came to the studio to have me scan some old negatives from when he was a kid. I've met David's dad numerous times over the years - but there is still something about having a conversation with a man you just read a book about. There were also a few instances in the book where David was telling a story about his best friend, John, and I thought to myself - oh yeah - I remember that - I was there that night! The descriptions of losing a best friend are poignant no matter what, more so when you know them, and then even more when yours dies a few weeks later - which is what happened to me. Anyways - the book would still be amazing without any of those connections.

You can order it HERE and read an actual review HERE.

The Year in Review

2017 was another great year for my photography - both personal and professional. Professionally I picked up many new clients, did some really cool one-off jobs, and moved farther into the video realm. I also took a lot of short, fun trips that were cool to photograph for myself(this blog). Some of the gear upgrades I made were really beneficial too - getting the drone and GoPro made for some very interesting shots - but the main thing was buying the Canon EOS 5D MKIV. This camera is just a joy to use - it is the realization of what digital should be. The image quality is fantastic but what I really love is that I don't have to think about it - the camera feels like an extension of my hand(and ignore the reviews - it is a fantastic video machine too).

So click HERE to see the REVIEW and lets make 2018 another great year! Happy Holidays!

Winter Over the Gorge

This is kind of like my "Fall in the Gorge" drone photo essay - but in the Winter with snow. We all know how much a blanket of snow changes our Ohio landscape - I think the transformation is even more apparent from the sky.

Throwbacks Throwback

My friend Josh's Dad knows that I like old school technology - especially cameras. He was cleaning out his attic and dropped off this video gear that was his Dad's to me at the studio. I found the Mansfield Reporter viewer thing to be particularly interesting - a device for previewing/editing 8mm(I'm sure they were common I've just never seen one). I haven't done the research on exactly what I have here - I'm much more of a still camera expert - but I will.

I was too busy yesterday to get my "Throwback Thursday" post up but in a way this feels like a big throwback. Spending a Friday night photographing and posting about vintage camera gear is giving me deja vous - as that was often something I would be doing on an uneventful weekend night when this blog started. In fact - shooting my vintage cameras is how I began to learn studio-style lighting.

Nephews in the Snow

Yesterday I photographed my nephews for my sister in the heavy, lake effect snow down at Szalay's Farm. I didn't want to "scoop" my sister's Christmas Cards by sharing those photos yet(as cute as they are) but I did capture some video. So here is a short, fun video of the kids in the snow.

Flight of Fancy 2017

Erin and I headed downtown last night to Akron Coffee Roasters to take part in the coffee tasting game "Flight of Fancy". There are four different coffees that need to be identified. The experts amongst us did that by visual inspection, aroma, cupping(a standardized method coffee buyers use taste coffee) and with a pour over of each. I'm definitely not a coffee expert but I do have much more of a palate for the flavors than I did when I participated last year...I just listen when the origins are being debated though.

The ACR crew also put out a nice spread of food and drink for after the tasting.(I would have been better at blind identifying the beers).

Black and White Fail

So I pretty much got none of this analogue equation right. I'm not even sure which part of it I did the worst. Let me back up:

On Earthquaker Day last Summer I shot two rolls of film - one roll of color in my Pentax K1000 and one roll of the new Film Ferrania P30 black and white. The color film - expired Fuji Press 400 film - came out well and with an interesting and different look like you would expect some from some old film(view that here) - but the black and white was a bomb. I bought 5 rolls of P30 from a kickstarter where a group was trying to resurrect the famed Film Ferrania(they bought their old factory). I had seen some images online and was excited to try it out.

Yeti Squad Ride #2

Dirty River Bicycle Works held their second, weekly, intro to exploring, group ride. We rode a little on the road and a little off. I captured some footage with my GoPro and added some Winter-style color-grading in Premiere Pro. 

Come out next week - just wear a few layers!

Snow Angels

Last Saturday I went on a Snow Angles mission to take some photos for Akron Life Magazine. I've volunteered and photographed with the Snow Angels a number of times and I always enjoy the experience - the personal interactions being the best thing about it. We started off at the warehouse organizing, then went down to the Market Street Bridge, over to the Second Chance Village, and then to Grace Park - where there was a huge turnout.

Throw Back Thursday #1

I had been shooting with a digital camera for a few years - mostly the bands I went to see, hikes, and my family stuff - when I came across a mutual friend's photo-stream on flickr. I couldn't understand how he was making his portraits and pictures of his friends so fantastic - so I asked. He sent me a link to Lighting 101 on Strobist. I was instantly obsessed with learning off-camera lighting. Above was my first ever attempt - I didn't even have a way to trigger the flash yet - I simply made a long exposure and triggered it by hand(below photo). Meet the Beatles. I was on my way.

Christmas in the Studio

Every year I decorate my camera collection with Christmas lights and drink a Corsendonk Christmas Ale while listening to 'Once Upon A Christmas' by Dolly Parton & Kenny Rogers(don't ask).

The above shot is a 10 second exposure at f/16(the smallest my Sigma 35mm Art will go).

Ring Light

My studio is filled with decades worth of lighting equipment and modifiers and from time to time I set up one I haven't used before and try it out. There has been an Alien Bees 'ABR800' ring light on the shelf since I've been here and I finally decided to try it out the other day. Ring lights are used for even lighting, macro photography, and the distinct catchlight they leave in a portrait subject's eyes. I tested it with some selfies(or what we used to call "self-portraits").

HeadTrip Brewery

Erin and I checked out the soft opening of a new brewery in Stow on Saturday evening. The brewery is HeadTrip and they officially open on the 21rst. They had seven beers on tap and we ordered a couple of flights to try them all. Everything we had was solid - some a little better than others - but nothing "off" at all. It is a small cozy spot in a strip mall and a promising nano-brewery.

Drone Modes

On Friday evening I hit up my friend Ben to head out towards Summit Lake and test our some of the "active track" modes with the drone. Basically, you draw a box around what you want the drone to track(on your phone) and then select the mode. It can follow forward, backward, in profile, make circles or in a spot light mode where the drone stays put and just tracks the subject from that fixed point. We didn't have the room or time to test some of the modes - but in the video you can see we did the 'follow' and the 'profile' modes. I think the profile is a super cool look. The light was so awesome that I ended up shooting some footage of the old Firestone HQ and cutting that in - as well as a passing train. The goal is to do a multi-camera bicycle shoot in this style.

Black Friday

Our family took our Black Friday trip to Cleveland again this year - but instead of spending money at corporate chains - we do it at local breweries. We started the day with a walk along the Towpath Trail through the Flats. This section of the trail offers amazing views of Downtown Cleveland and the Cuyahoga River. It will be excellent when this section is able to be officially connected.  

Smoky Mountain Wedding Video

Fun times at Amanda & Woody's Wedding.

Woodyard Wedding

As I mentioned in the last post - my friends, Woody & Amanda, got married in the Smoky Mountains. There was an official wedding photographer and our friend Ben was shooting the reception - so I took some behind the scenes, hanging out, video and drone photos. It was an awesome cabin and an awesome weekend.

Here are a few of my favorite photos.

Side Trip

My friends, Woody and Amanda, invited me their wedding in the Smoky Mountains last weekend. They had a big cabin rented for friends and family and since I had no shoots over the weekend I decided I could pull it off. On Thursday morning I photographed the Leiberth Award Breakfast, came home and edited the photos, packed up my things and decided to skip town early. I rented an Air BnB in Lexington on Thursday night, explored Knoxville on Friday, and hiked in the Smokys on Saturday afternoon before joining the crew at the cabin on Saturday evening. These are some of the photos from my side trips on the way down.

Fall in the Gorge

I had been hoping to fly my DJI Mavic Pro over The Gorge while the leaves were at peak color - and late yesterday afternoon I had my chance. It was pretty windy and my drone kept sending me warning but I didn't have any trouble. I really like that the Mavic lets me shoot in RAW mode - it makes editing the photos and bringing out the best possible. One thing I love about DJI is they seem to allow the hardware to work to its full potential with firmware updates coming through fairly often(unlike Canon who use software to cripple their cameras to keep the camera lines delineated).

Anyways, Fall in Northeast Ohio never ceases to amaze me. It is so beautiful and it was fun to explore from a new angle.  

Full Weekend

Erin and I didn't have a bunch of plans heading into the weekend but we ended up really getting around and doing a lot. On Friday I went out for a bike ride and met Erin at the Civic Theater for Pechakucha Akron. Saturday morning I rode with Ben and Andy to Erin's Winter Farmers Market at Old Trail School and from there we rode to check out the new Brew Kettle in Hudson(Erin met us after work.) In the evening Erin and I drove out to Rittman Orchard's Bent Ladder Cider tasting room and stopped on the way home at Wadsworth Brewing. After a lazy Sunday morning we drove to Cleveland for a snack at Croquette Patisserie, camera bag shopping at Dodd Photo, and then checked out the Jazz Age exhibition at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Lastly, we had dinner at my parents house on the way home. All in all a pretty awesome weekend!

Mounds & Bikes Video

The latest in my "Road Trip" Video series. This time we explore the Great Serpent Mound & Fort Ancient while enjoying a few hikes, bikes, and camping.

Halloween Charity Ball 2017

On Friday I shot the Halloween Charity Ball for the fourth year. It is always one of my favorite events to photograph - people in costume having a good time. This year the event raised money for Pechakucha Akron and Stewart's Caring Place. Roxymoron played the VIP room and there was the DJ and costume contest in the other. I had a blast as usual and dressed up in my annual thrift store women's costume.

Pre-Historic Ride

I've always wanted to explore some of the ancient American Indian sites in the southern half of Ohio so Erin planned a short trip for us that combined that with some cycling. She found us a rustic cabin that was only a few hundred feet from The Little Miami Scenic Trail - a paved bike path that ran right to the Fort Ancient Park. On our second full day we drove to the Great Serpent Mound - viewing that has been something I've wanted to do since my Ohio History class in elementary school. I didn't shoot a ton of photos on the trip but like the last few get-aways put more effort into making a video that will be posted in the next few days.

200 Plates

200PlatesSummitLake from Reimagining the Civic Commons on Vimeo.

Re-imagining the Civic Commons held a three day studio for the cities involved in Akron. One night they collaborated with The League of Creative Interventionists to put on a community meal at Summit Lake. The meal took place next to many of the park-like upgrades that have been funded by the program. It was cool to see the diversity of the group that sat down and ate together. This is a short video/slide show I made of the event.

Timecat in Colors

Every third Thursday throughout the Summer The Devil Strip and City of Akron sponsored concerts at Lock 4 Park. Last week after shooting a different gig downtown I made it to Lock 4 Live in time to catch Timecat. It was a fun to make some photos with all the different colors from the stage light show and with the LEDs that the Knight foundation had installed in the park.
As much as I love Autumn the winding down of these Summer events bums me out....

Dayton Video

Here is the road trip video from Dayton. It is a combination of footage from my GoPro, Mavic Pro Drone, and Canon 5D mkIV. Canon gets a lot of flak from all the internet commenters - but I'll tell you what - I barely have to touch that footage to make it look good. Also - with the new YouTube redesign I can't figure out how to resize the embedded videos. You should go "fullscreen" anyways I guess....

Dayton

Erin and I decided to load up the bikes and get one more Summer road trip in. We picked Dayton because neither of us had been to the downtown and the bike lanes, trails and brewery scene looked strong. As my friend Rick said, "An experiment in breweries making any place a destination". Which, I do find to be true, and not just because I travel other places to try out their breweries, but also because every time I do I usually meet people at the breweries who know Akron(or Cleveland) because of our brewery scene. Breweries and bike infrastructure are tourist draws. Every time there is an article in Akron about improving bike lanes or adding trails there are always so many negative comments - bike lanes make our community a better place to live but they are also a draw. I've yet to ever have someone tell me about how they enjoyed visiting a city because the traffic flowed so well or that there was really good parking. It is always about friendly, walkable neighborhoods, cool local shops/restaurants/breweries, and great parks with hiking and biking. Anyways - if fast cars and strip malls with up front parking are your thing there are plenty of suburbs for you.

A Year of B&W

This is an expired roll of Kodak TMax that was in my camera for almost an entire year. I started this roll sometime last summer at the Akron Farm & Flea and finished it this summer at the Akron Art Museum's 'Downtown @ Dusk'. It must not have been stored very well because TMax should be very low grain - and this came out very grainy. I developed it in Kodak HC-110 dilution b.

Pokemon Go! Downtown

I'm not going to pretend like I knew anything about Pokemon Go! or "augmented reality" games - I've never had any kind of game on my cellphone. All I know is when it came out I would see people walking around Downtown staring at their phones. I though the trend had subsided so when the Knight Foundation hired me to shoot their Pokemon event downtown I kind of thought it would be a bust. Nope! Downtown was packed with roving groups of people staring at their phones! It was pretty remarkable. Erin stopped by to show me what was going on(on the screens) and I enjoyed wandering around the city covering the event.

More Fuji Color

These are a few more shots with the expired Fuji Press 400 film and my Pentax K1000 that didn't fit with the Earthquaker Day photos from the last post. Many of these were shot at Lock 3 during Stems set at the Signal Tree Festival(above).

Earthquaker Day in Color

On August 5 I rode my bike downtown Akron to the second annual Earthquaker Day. Earthquaker Devices, the internationally acclaimed guitar pedal manufacturer, held a festival again this year. There were tours, clinics, vendors, food, music and more. I brought a couple film cameras with me - I shot the early part of the day with my Minolta X-700 and a new b&w film(haven't developed those yet) and the later part of the day with my Pentax K-1000 and some expired Fuji Press 400 film - these are those shots. Most of these photos are of 'Fringe Candidate' and specifically Karl - for obvious reasons...

Eclipse

Like anything that is over-hyped I have a tendency to steer away from it - plus I had a lot of work to do. So I hadn't tracked down any special glasses, lens filters or made any plans. I also figured there would be well prepared photographers taking amazing photos - so what would be the point in my half-assed attempts. As the peak started to near I walked outside and tried to use my front facing camera over my shoulder to see what was happening. That didn't work. So I grabbed a ND filter and put it over the lens - still - just a flare. I grabbed a red filter that was laying around and doubled up - still nothing. OK - now I kinda wanted to see what was happening - I grabbed my Canon 6D(decided against pointing the 5D at the sun) and I put the two filters over the lens and set the camera to its smallest aperture and fastest shutter speed. I put the camera into live view mode and there it was - the moon moving over the sun on the back of my camera. Pretty cool. "Oh wait", I thought to myself ...."I can also take photos with this thing...."

Bubbles!

The Akron Art Museum hired me to shoot a family event they were holding - there were all kinds of activities but the main event was 2X world record holder, DrURawesome, who makes gigantic bubbles. It made for some great photography!

The Sun Also Rises

Since my gimp leg kept me up most of the night I decided to pay it back by dragging it around Kendall this morning - it had been far too long since I watched the sunrise in the Cuyahoga Valley anyways. I guess there are a few reasons I don't get out in the woods as much anymore - most of my hiking time is now biking time, I feel like I've pretty thoroughly covered The Valley with my camera over the years, I'm shooting all the time as my day job now, and maybe this one is stupid - but it seems kind of ridiculous for me to lug thousands of dollars worth of gear knowing people will look at it on tiny phone screens - so like most - I'm happy to take the iphone snap and just post it to Instagram...

Regardless - I am glad I took the time to enjoy a beautiful morning in the park - and maybe I'll print one of these big - something a phone still can't do.

Growing Up Akron 2017

I've been shooting Growing Up Akron, which is a charity event for Child Guidance and Family Solutions, for a number of years now. It is a really fun event to cover as it is held at Thirsty Dog Brewery and has a very laid back vibe. This year I brought my drone to get some aerial shots and then put together this slide show of the event.

Akron AleFest

Last year I volunteered and poured beer for the first Akron AleFest - this year I photographed it and drank beer. The AleFest takes place under the trolley barn downtown and focuses on Ohio Breweries. Great beer and food in a unique venue - what not to like?

Downtown at Dusk

Downtown at Dusk is one of my favorite weekly summer events in Akron. It takes place every Thursday - I love to go and have a few beers and mingle with friends. Last week Half-Cleveland played and put on a great show.

Ratz2Derby

I haven't posted a blog about my Wednesday night bike rides for a while - but I still do ride with a varying, loose based group every Wednesday. Last week we opened the group up for a slower roll for our third annual ride to the Demolition Derby at the Summit County Fair. The turnout was great and instead of taking stills I brought my GoPro and cut this little video of the ride.

Common Threads - Summit Lake

The latest in the Common Threads series focused on the people of Summit Lake. The event kicked off with some music and dancing by 'Congo to Akron' and was a lot of fun. Being a really hot day we then moved inside for the open format discussion. Summit Lake has a lot going for it and I'm glad organisations like the Knight Foundation and Ohio & Erie Canalway Coalition have been focusing energies there. People still seem to have a negative perception of the area - hopefully events like this will help to change that.

Live at Lock 4

The Devil Strip hosted their monthly Live at Lock 4 event last night. They had a food truck, beer trailer, and three bands - and it was finally great weather. I rode my bike down and took a few drone shots and some shots of Relaxer with my 5D mark IV. I love that there are so many outdoor events in downtown these days...

From Above

I picked up a DJI Mavic Pro drone a few weeks ago. My goal is to use it for some of the video projects I have in the works and for some event photos too. I've been mostly just practicing flying it and have just started dabbling with the camera settings. These photos were all shot flying from the studio in the RAW format DNG. They are pretty impressive for the little camera. The above shot is looking down on the plaza my studio is in.

I'm working on a video about the drone today too - the 4k footage is really nice.

Snow Angels - Christmas in July

The Akron Snow Angels are a group that works to help the homeless by providing necessities on the spot. Most of their missions take place during the cold months but for the third year there was also a Christmas in July event. Essentials were passed out and a free lunch was provided - the big guy in the red suit also showed up to deliver school supplies to children.

A Roll of Tri-X

I started this roll of Kodak Tri-X in my Minolta X-700 sometime last winter. I took it on a few hikes, out to PA, and finished it back at the studio. I've been shooting more film this summer - I just need to get around to developing it(and getting the color developed). I also just received some new Italian monochrome film from a Kickstarter I invested in - I'm excited to see what that will look like. In other words, stay tuned for more analog.

Finger Lakes Video

Here is my latest road trip video - the first containing drone footage! The couple of opening shots are actually from the first two times I ever flew the drone - it is on beginner mode and I haven't changed any of the default settings from the camera. It wasn't that hard to fly - albeit a little nerve wracking. I'm sure it will get easier - and I'll dive into the menus to improve the footage.
The trip was awesome and the rest of the video is a mix of GoPro footage and 5DmkIV footage.

Finger Lakes Reunion

I spent the Fourth of July Weekend in the Finger Lakes for the second year in a row. It was a kind of anniversary/reunion for Kyle and Getta's reception last year and a group of us rented the same house. We enjoyed some great sightseeing, swimming, hiking, beer & wine tastings, and some good chill time with a great group of people. This was my third time in the Finger Lakes and I feel like there is still plenty more to discover - I love this region of the country.  

Open Streets Akron

The Knight Foundation along with the City of Akron and other sponsors hosted an Open Streets event on Sunday. The idea is to close streets to automobile traffic to allow pedestrians and bikes to explore the streets from a different perspective. There were all kinds of activities along the way. The route had parts of Kenmore BLVD and Firestone Park joined by the Towpath around Summit Lake. It was quite windy but otherwise a perfect day.

Akron2Akron - Parks of West Akron

The City's planning director, Jason Segendy, led a walking tour in the Wallhaven area focusing on the parks in the neighborhood. He discussed their history, current use, and possible plans for the future or improvement. He also said he considered it a little of a fact finding mission to see what the people on the walk thought about them. It made for an interesting walk, discussion and back and forth. It was a beautiful day to learn about another part of our city and meet other interesting-ed people.

Common Threads - Middlebury

The latest in the monthly Common Threads series focused on Middlebury - getting to know the people who live and work there - or both. Middlebury faces many challenges - years of decline, overbuilt main thoroughfares, a Waste Management Transfer Station and more. But there is hope and energy in the neighborhood. We met in Compass Coffee which is part of The Well - one of the positive things happening in the area. Greg Milo started the conversation but turned it over to Zac Kohl to facilitate - he is the Executive Director of The Well CDC.

As always Common Threads goal is to bring people from diverse backgrounds to have a open discussion - the events are a collaboration between the Knight Foundation and Global Ties Akron.

Road Trip Vid!

Another one of my wildly popular road trip videos.

Beers, Bikes and a Tipi!

Last weekend Erin and I took a road trip to Southeastern Ohio. Erin found a couple unique places for us to stay near bike paths and breweries. I captured a lot of our biking with my GoPro - hopefully I'll get to that soon. Before we went I also decided to just take one lens with me - my Canon 24mm f/1.4L. I didn't want to have all kinds of gear on the bike and thought this would be a fun way to challenge myself.

Grow Green Compost Giveaway

Reworks gave away 8 cubic yards of food scrap compost to 6 community gardens this week. There was an application process and then the winners were randomly selected. One of Reworks' goals is to reduce food scraps ending up in landfills and this helps demonstrate one of the much better uses for all those fruit peels and veggie stems. It was pretty cool to get to check out these gardens. This is the kind of shoot that makes me love my job - getting to work with the passionate people at Reworks and meeting the great people who were enthusiastic about receiving this product.

Marathon Weekend Vid

This is my Marathon weekend video - kind of in the vlog style.

Akrun & Crawl

I shot the Akrun & Crawl hosted by Torchbearers on Saturday evening. For the second year they held it at night as a 'glow run' with glow sticks, lights and DJs on the course. I didn't stick around for too much of the "crawl" part of the event as I was running in the Cleveland Half--Marathon the next day.

Common Threads: North Hill

This episode of the monthly Common Threads took place at the North Hill Library and focused on the diverse people of the North Hill neighborhood. The intimate group led to an interesting and free-flowing conversation. After the conversation we wandered over to the Exchange House for a reception with food from the Western Fruit Basket. We were also treated to a short play that was coordinated with the Gum Dip Theatre.

Night at the Races

Last Saturday night my family attended a fundraiser for WABL(West Akron Baseball League). It was a 'Night at the Races' event where you can bet on pre-recorded horse races. There was also a silent auction, 50/50 raffle, other games, wine pull, Swenson's Food Truck, drinks and more. It was a fun time and you don't feel bad about gambling ....for a good cause.

Brewed

Last Sunday morning Akron Coffee Roasters and HiHo Brewing put on a joint tasting. We started with some tastes of coffee and then moved on to beers infused with that coffee. Albert explained the coffee's origin, processing and brewing method and then Jon discusses the special beers he had brewed for the event. There were also local pastries - sweet with the coffee and savory with the beer.

More Shiny Things

I recently started photographing for a new company in town that makes extrusion machines and their parts. Being that I shoot for another company in the business I wanted to do something to set the two apart. Usually I shoot product photography with a long lens and even use Photoshop to keep things square. In this case I decided to use my 35mm lens, use high-key lighting and more dramatic angles for effect.

Jane's Walk Weekend

Last weekend I attended and photographed three of the Akron Jane's Walks. Jane's Walks take place all over the world and describe themselves as, "...a movement of free, citizen-led walking tours inspired by Jane Jacobs. The walks get people to tell stories about their communities, explore their cities, and connect with neighbors.". The three I attended were: Main Street Revitalization(about the Tiger Grant to update Main), Ohio & Erie Canal(about the Cascade Locks and Mustill Store area), and My City Was Gone(about the Rock and Roll History of Akron). Akron2Akron Neighborhood Walking Tours collaborated on many of the walks. I would have liked to attend even more but my schedule didn't allow for it.

PechaKucha

PechaKucha is a quarterly speaker series where each speaker gets 20 slides and 20 seconds to talk about each. It's a cool format and I've thoroughly enjoyed everyone of them - this was episode VII. The location is always different and Greystone Hall had the perfect atmosphere. I wasn't working - I just snapped a few photos from my balcony seat. If you haven't attended one yet I strongly recommend that you do - and they sell out - so follow them on Facebook so you can grab a ticket when they announce the next one.