Arts2Youth

My friend Rick asked me to participate in his United Way Sponsored event #Art2Youth. It was a week long program that aimed to get gets involved with the arts and fight the so-called #SummerSlide. I participated in the two days involving photography - naturally. The kids were given film cameras and roll of film to shoot. Three other photographer and myself helped the kids load the cameras and gave them some pointers on how/what to shoot. Of course I shot myself a roll of film too(above photo). It was a really good time. I then came back a couple days later when the film was developed and the kids put posters together and presented them to each other.

Square Records 12th

Last night I went to Musica to see the Square Records 12th Anniversary Show. Faith Mountain kicked things off - a younger band that was well received. They were really rocking and can really play - its always nice to see some fresh blood in the music scene. Dan Melchior played next - he built up fuzzy layers with his guitar and loop pedal. Originally from near London he is a fairly recent Akron arrival. Beaten Awake reunited to close out the show and were awesome as always. They didn't play an overly long set but covered most of my favorites.

Growing Up Akron

On Friday I shot the annual Growing Up Akron event, which is a fundraiser for Child Guidance and Family Solutions and is held at Thirsty Dog Brewing. The weather and location were perfect - you can see how much people are enjoying themselves in the photos. There is food from multiple local restaurants - Nuevo, SkyWay, Swensons, Mustard Seed, Gino's, Retro Dog etc. - not to mention more Thirsty Dog Beer than you can shake a stick at. Roxymoron provided the musical entertainment, people wore their favorite Akron gear, there was cornhole and general mingling with a great crowd.

If you haven't been you should strongly consider attending next year. Come for the beer & fun - leave happy knowing you supported a great cause.

Life's a Beach

My family took a vacation last week to Isle of Palm, S.C. - a barrier island by Charleston. We spent a lot of time on the beach and in the ocean - it was great to see the ocean through the eyes of my nieces and nephews. I also had my bike with me and went on a few solo rides checking out some of the historic sites and scenery with my film cameras(those posts soon). Charleston is a great city - it is amazing how well preserved it is. This is a vacation spot I would definitely return to - there are a lot of things that we/I didn't even have time for(such as Fort Sumter).

Evening Hike

Sometimes I just feel like heading out into the woods and taking pretty pictures. I haven't done that enough this summer. Last evening I decided it was time - so I left my hectic week behind for a short hike at Virginia Kendall.

Demolition in Morning Light

I had made some good memories in this building in its various incarnations - a few Mexican Restaurants & Molly Brown's - so when I ran past yesterday morning and saw it mostly demolished I grabbed my camera. The light was perfect for some demo photos. The vacant building next to it was just starting to be torn down - and The Happening Lounge was going to be next. There is lots of talk about what is going to happen to State Road's iconic "Happening Lounge" sign. I hope someone snags it.

Akron2Akron with David Giffels

On Saturday David Giffels led a walking tour in Downtown Akron. He highlighted landmarks and stories from his book, 'The Hard Way on Purpose'. David's fond memories of coming of age in Akron are when most people remember Akron at its lowest - closed storefronts & abandoned buildings - pretty much a ghost town. The book is required reading for anyone from Akron, the Midwest, "the Rustbelt" or anyone interested in the Rustbelt. There was a post-tour reception on the roof of The Lockview where David hung out, talked and signed books.

Another great afternoon in Downtown Akron.

Torchbearers at Wingfoot Lake

Last night I went to Goodyear's Wingfoot Lake Blimp Hangar to photograph the Torchbearer's general membership meeting. It was obviously a pretty cool spot to have it. Before the meeting there was a guided tour of the facility. 

For the record - the Goodyear Blimps are not in the large black Airdock that Lockheed Martin owns by the Rubber Bowl - Wingfoot Lake is in Suffield.

Weekend in Ann Arbor

Last weekend Rick and I went up to Ann Arbor, Michigan to help out his niece and her husband with a few tasks around their new house. During the day we worked but on Friday and Saturday went out and explored the city a bit. I had no idea Ann Arbor was a city of over 100,000 people - from some reason I always imagined it as a little college town along the lines of Kent. It is actually a bustling place with lots to see. The artfest also happened to be going on which was really cool. Here are a couple photos I took while out for dinners and drinks.

Beer, Bikes, & Blues

On Wednesday a few friends and I try to get together for a ride - whoever shows up by the designated time is welcome(good turnout this week). Generally we meet at 69 Taps and pick a direction to head - we decided to ride out to Barberton. It was such a beautiful evening - crossing Summit Lake was pretty amazing - I was able to pull out my camera and snap a few photos.

Moon Ride

On Friday night I rode my bike into the Valley to go on Blimp City Bike and Hike's 'Moon Ride'. The above group left shortly after 8 heading South down the Towpath towards Akron. Along the way different parts of the group decided to stop or break off at different points. Some of us made the decision to ride out and get a drink at Old 97 on Kenmore Boulevard - and Freddy showed us a new way to get there which was quite interesting.

Bikes and beers - my new favorite way to make friends.

Ribbin and Ridin'

Last evening was so beautiful I had to get out. I rode my bike over to the Akron Art Museum's 'Downtown at Dusk' and took in some tunes. I've always been a fan of this event - sitting outside and drinking some Thirsty Dog beer and checking out the galleries(which happen to be free on Thursdays). As the sun was getting low in the sky I decided to head over to Main Street and check out the Ribfest. My friend Eric then met me for a couple cold ones at Baxter's.
Oh yeah - but there is never anything going on in Akron.
Which reminds me - I need to start getting ready for the Moon Ride at Blimp City Bike & Hike tonight.

Ansco No. 2

I loaded a roll of Kodak TMax 100 in my old Ansco No.2 box camera and took a couple of walks to test it out about a month or two back. I finally developed the film(in HC-110(b) and got it scanned and uploaded last week. I shot with a Lomo, from the hip type attitude. As you can see the camera clearly had some light-leaks and the lens, like many box cameras, is only sharp in the center - which when used right can be pretty cool. Also the camera needs to be held quite still - I'm guessing it must have a shutter around 1/50th. No matter what the outcome I always enjoy shooting a "new" vintage camera from my collection.

Akron Bike Party

Last Friday I participated in my first Akron Bike Party. I had heard about the every-third-Friday-of-the-month event but this was the first time my schedule allowed me to join. I rode down to Lock 3(the starting point) with my friend Woody. The theme this month was "glam" and some people dressed up and wore make-up, colorful boas were passed out, and glam-rock boomed from a speaker on a trailer. The destination was the original Strickland's by the old airdock. The ride was at a more leisurely pace than I'm used to - but that made it easy to make new friends and take in the sites(and some photos). I'll definitely be returning in the future.

Danstravaganza Night #2

The first night of ticket sales for Danstravaganza(previous post) went so well that a second show was added at Musica. This was more of a straight up rock and roll show than overall event. It was the same three bands rocking a smaller venue - and the night was again a blast.

Danstravaganza Night #1

Danstravaganza was a benefit concert at The Tangier - the goal was to build a running track at the school Dan Van Auken taught at before he passed away from cancer last year. Dan was an avid runner and much loved by his students, family and all of his many friends. Three bands that are no longer together reunited to raise money and many items were donated and auctioned off. The event was hosted by Stephen Bishop. It was a great evening to benefit the memory of an amazing man.

Houseguest

On Tuesday evening I shot a few photos of Houseguest. They were getting ready to practice for their first shows in a few years - shows that will raise toward the building of a running track to be enjoyed by future generations of Wadsworth students in honor of friend Dan VanAuken who died of cancer last year. The goal was to have some new photos for the article about the concerts in today's Enjoy section of the Beacon Journal. Unfortunately I guess we missed the deadline - as they used a photo I took of the band 7 years ago(which happened to be one of the first "real" photo shoots I had ever done). Oh well, it was still good to see everyone together again. There are still some tickets available for the show on Sunday at Musica - 'Drummer' and 'The Man I Fell In Love With' are the other two bands - should be awesome. I will be there both nights photographing(I pretty much taught myself how to shoot live concerts at Houseguest shows).

Detroit Part One

A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to document the Torchbearers Akron trip to Detroit - I'll have more about that fascinating experience in the next blog. Here I am posting some of the photos I had the chance to take when we had a bit of free time during the action packed trip. We were only there for a couple of days - but you'd find that hard to believe seeing all the pictures I took. I hadn't been to Detroit since 2003 or 04 - and I was so surprised by what I saw. Yes - the famous post-apocalyptic scenes still exist there - but the downtown area has been transformed and is bustling. More commentary later - here are some photos.