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.