Missile Toe

Missile Toe is the "World's Greatest Christmas Band" and I have seen them many times over the years - and they have graced these blog posts many times too. On this night however they were doing rock & roll and punk covers for a friend's bday. They were awesome as usual and I had a blast. Weasel Face also played - they do a Ramones cover set. I just brought my Canon EOS R8 and my 35mm 1.4 because I rode my bike and it was raining. My Sigma 35 is my favorite lens for things like this and the light was good enough that I got away with some decent shots without a flash.

To Shoot or Not to Shoot

I drove to Pittsburgh for a surprise birthday party last weekend. Besides a brewery stop on the way out we spent most of the time hanging out at a friend's house. When I got home I realized how few photos I really took. I try to remind myself to shoot some of these moments but at the same time I often get caught up in just enjoying myself. I definitely feel people have a tendency to over document things and not enjoy the moment enough - all those IG video stories - moments experienced through the screen instead of directly through your own eyes, only to be swiped past once and the forgotten....but at the same time I am so glad I have captured moments of friends that are no longer around. Also a reason I still think photography can be more powerful than cellphone vids. 

 Anyways - maybe I actually struck the perfect balance on this night - a couple fun shots to look bak on - but an evening of great conversation with the camera often in its bag too.

Abandoned and Freezing

The temperature was only 11 degrees but I stil wanted to get out and do something. A short bike ride downtown to meet up with friends and explore an abandoned factory? Why not - that is what we do in the Rust Belt. I have friends who have been to this place before and they said how interesting it was - the company left it as a complete time capsule - nothing had been removed. There was still a lot of cool old stuff in the offices(the stuff looters and tweakers don't care about but that photographers and arm-chair historians like me find interesting), but all of the much else of the metal and parts that could be removed had been. It is just wild to me that all of this left behind could have been simply it write-off, just left to rot and become the city's problem(not uncommon around here).