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.