Akron Craft Beer Festival 2014

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...

Color Fog

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.

Obviously I'll be posting lots of color film shots this next week....

The Only Place

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.

Northeast Ohio in October - nothing better - home.

Akron Explorer

I went out to shoot a specific building for a job one evening last week in Downtown. I thought I was going to have the perfect light but when I arrived at the building I realized the light was on the side that had no facade. It was going to have to be a morning shot.  I've since invested in an app for my tablet that shows me exactly where the light will fall on a place at a given time and date - and I got my photo on Sunday morning aided by it. Anyways - not one to waste good light I pulled out my Minolta X-700 loaded with Foma Fomapan 100 and went walking and shooting.

Around East Fourth

"Euclid Avenue"

About a month ago some friends and I went up to Cleveland to see a concert at the House of Blues(terrible venue by the way) and decided to make more of a trip out of it by getting dinner and drinks before hand. The House of Blues has a no DSLR policy so I didn't even bother bringing my Canon just to have it sit in a trunk on the streets of Cleveland. So I brought two film cameras - a point and shoot with color film to shoot my friends and my Minolta X-700 with Foma Fomapan 100 to shoot whatever else. The light was just right to stop and snap a few black and white photos of the area as we walked to a few different places before the show.....

Falling

Its that time - get out there.

Akron Marathon 2014

I had a press pass for the finish at the Akron Marathon this year because I was shooting for ReWorks to help promote their effort to make the Marathon a zero waste event. Since I had some friends running I decided to get there early and document more of the overall event. I arrived around 6:15 - I wanted to make sure I could get decent parking, watch some warm-up activity, and be in good position for the 7am start. I then made my way down to high street and watched the leaders and some of my friends pass(at roughly the 3.5 mile mark) before heading down to the stadium to get to work. The buzz, excitement, and action in Canal Park was awesome. I was able to alternate between getting the images I needed for the job and cheering my friends across the finish.

Home Light

Sometimes I stand out in the cold for hours to get some great light, and sometime I set up lots of heavy strobes for the same reasons - but today I just walked into my bedroom to get some socks....

In Good Light

Sometimes you're not sure what you are shooting - but you make it look good anyways!
(Today's Work)

Last Summer Weekend

What perfect weather for the 'last official weekend of Summer'. On Friday I had a fire with some friends, on Saturday I wandered around the Porch Rokr Festival in Highland Square, and on Sunday I had Laura's company picnic and then got a nice hike in that evening. I love Fall, but we all know, it goes way too fast....

Another Morning in the Woods

I've always had a preference for sunrises to sunsets - but I've been too busy with work to get out in the morning much lately. I decided I had to do it this morning. I headed north on the Towpath from Boston and turned around at Jaite and took the Valley Bridle Trail back just as the sun was coming over the side of the Valley...

Custom Frames

This is the start of my new series based on objects I collect, reuse, save, or find in the woods.  In other words - the things that make Laura say, "What are you ever going to do with that?"  I've had this idea in my mind for a while and this is kind of my brain storming/test shots.  I definitely figured out the lighting style I want to use...  I just think the overall concept needs some work.    

Weekend Things

I started off the weekend at the Emily Davis Gallery for the closing reception of 'Never Not Working: The Art and Influence of John Puglia' which included a silent auction - I picked up a few pieces. It was great to see such a strong turn out again to remember John - it was probably even better attended than the opening.

Main Street Modern

I usually don't post too much of my professional work here but I wanted to give my new clients a plug. I started shooting the inventory for the Canton business Main Street Modern, Ohio's largest Mid-Century Modern furniture dealer. I'm photographing their furniture that will be for sale online and also for a few of their affiliate vendors and partnerships. They are open to the public for retail sales on Saturdays from 10-3. Its one of those gigs where I need to be careful - they have so much cool stuff I could easily see myself walking out of there on trade and never getting paid!

I should have some more interesting news coming out of this deal very soon - I'll have photos and details about that at the appropriate time.  

Catawba Island(Road Trip IV)

With it seemingly switching to Fall over night I figured I better wrap up my 'End Of Summer Road Trip series' - before I'm no longer in the mood to look at Summer-y photos... we left off with Laura an I driving down the road after having our brake lines repaired....

Heading down Route 2 East you pass farms, orchards, and lake related businesses but everything is dominated by the gigantic cooling tower of the Davis-Besse Nuclear Plant - it was in this looming shadow that we decided on our next destination - Catawba Island Brewing. The small brewery and tasting room aren't actually on Catawba Island but right before you would turn off to get there. We walked in and bellied up to the bar and discussed the selections with bartender - when the words "its a black IPA" came out of his mouth Laura cut him off and ordered one of those - which was an excellent choice because it was one of the best we had ever tasted.

The Fall Hiking Spree

Summit MetroParks' Fall Hiking Spree is really nostalgic for me - for years my family(including my Grandma) all participated in it together. The fall air, the cookouts, the beautiful trails - they were all missed and left behind when I went to college. Later work(especially the farm) made it hard for me to complete the Spree - but last year Laura and I finished my first one since the 90's. Not that I need an excuse to get into the woods - but it is nice to have a goal and a specific place to go. This evening we started the 2014 Hiking Spree at the Chuckery...we were talking about how green everything is - but by the time we finish most of the leaves will be gone...

Random Analogue

Here are a few random leftover photos from my last two rolls of film. They didn't fit with my other blogs, but I liked them and wanted to share them with my legions of adoring fans... enjoy.

Heirloom Tomatoes

Martha Stewart Living is an amazing magazine - for the photography. I've flipped through it over at my parent's house multiple times - and she/or her editor is sparing no expense visually. I always particularly notice the food photography - be it the garden items or the cooked dishes - the lighting is always spot on perfect. Food photography is something I haven't messed around with too often - I always think of trying it after I cook something - but eating my dish warm usually wins out. So last week after I picked some tomatoes I decided to try and shoot them - the results came out really average. I emailed a copy to my friend Rick, a retired photographer, and he gave me advice in the way he often does, by asking "Why?" "Why that background?" "Why the pasta?" "Why is this there?" etc. So today after picking some heirlooms I decided to try again....and above is the result. Its definitely better but I still don't think its Martha Level yet.

- but there are more tomatoes ripening on the vine....