Opening Day for Trails

The Rails to Trails Conservancy(along with other local and national partners) sponsored Trail Opening Days across the country. I rode my bike up to the Cleveland one at Merwin's Wharf. I went on the bike tour to check out the latest addition to the Towpath Trail - I actually didn't realize these parts were open yet. After the event I rode over to the new restaurant, Good Company, and met Erin for lunch. Afterwards I rode home capping a 90 mile day on the bike. 

As usual when I ride I brought my Canon 6D and nifty fifty combo - in general I'm happy enough with the images from this lightweight combo - my main problem with the cheap, plastic lens is actual the colors I get from it(it always takes a little extra editing work to make them look ok).  

Riding the Towpath

Even though we ride year around I am so glad the weather is finally breaking!

Fringe Candidate

On Friday I went to Musica to catch a few of my friends' bands play - White Lighter, Stems and Fringe Candidate. It got a bit rowdy by the end as you can see.

Kyle's Birthday!

My good friend Kyle turned 40 and had a birthday party around downtown Cuyahoga Falls. We started at HiHo Brewing, went to Crave Cantina for dinner, and finished off the evening at the bar at the Sheraton. It was a really great time with different groups moving through as the night went on.

Burned

I rode my bicycle into the Valley and by the Everett Road Covered Bridge to check out a house that I had heard burned down. It had been heavily vandalized the last few years. I really wish that the Park had the resources to take care of properties this. Even though it wasn't the most historic structure it is still sad.

Slo-Mo B-Roll

This is my latest bicycle. A 1986 Schwinn built up with more modern components and with a respray. I decided to attempt to shoot some of the slow motion b-roll that is so popular with YouTube creators these days...

it me.

Here is a my latest selfie - actually it is a studio test shot. This is pretty much my standard, basic professional head shot style.

St. Pat's

On St. Patrick's Day I bounced around Akron on my bicycle with a few friends. Here are a few snaps from the day.

Rubber City Ratz

Last night we rode out to Kent and hit the Moon Tower Trails in the woods, had some drinks and snacks at 101 Bottles and then rode back. I brought along my Canon 6D and Nifty Fifty - the perfect lightweight riding set-up that still has that low light and full frame goodness. Editing these photos does make me realize how spoiled I've become with my Canon 5DIV and L & Sigma Art lenses - but the 6D is still a very capable camera(especially since most people look at images on the phone). 

Weekend

Last week was all work, sleep and not much fun since I had a pretty bad cold. I started to feel a little better by Friday - which was good because I had a 40 mile bike "race" on Saturday. Even though I wasn't 100% I ended up having a great Saturday & Sunday. So this is a post of the weekend adventures. 

The Dreemers/The Beyonderers

On Friday night I went to Musica to catch two of my favorite Akron bands - The Beyonderers & The Dreemers. I shot with three lenses - my ultra-wide Canon 16-35mm, Sigma Art 35mm f/1.4, and a Canon 85mm. It is fun to shoot at 16mm with the exaggerated perspective but I try not to overdo it. I also popped my flash at low power in many of the photos just to add a little separation - Musica is very dark. 

New Projects

I'm working on a couple of social media projects with my studio photography at the moment. One is a new feature on my Instagram page I'm calling #MinoltaMonday. With my extensive vintage Minolta collection I've decided to start sharing a camera each week and its story(here). The other project is on my cycling Instagram page(here) ZipperCityCycles - for that I have photographed all of my bicycles and I am writing their stories. There is this large roll of seamless gray paper I found and I used it for both - I really like the look. This time of year when Winter starts to drag I always seem to jump back into trying to improve my studio photography and doing personal projects. 

Akron Coffee Roasters

I wanted to post a few of my favorite photos that I have made for Akron Coffee Roasters - now all I can think about is Spring after looking at this image. Spring.... 

Whiskertin

Whiskertin Lighting has been putting together a new website to expand their business online and over the last few months I have been shooting the images for them. We've done a mix of shooting in their showroom, at the locations they've installed at, and product photography-style shots. Here is a small selection of a few of my favorites. 

Some Things!

The above photo is from the newish Southern Tier Brewing in Cleveland - I was up there for a shoot in the Key Tower. I don't have a coherent post to make right now but that doesn't mean I haven't been shooting some personal stuff. I've been making images on my way to and from other gigs and I've also been doing an Instagram takeover of Summit Peeks(click HERE). So check out about a week and half worth of these somewhat random photos. 

Snow Globe Akron

On my way home from a shoot last night I stopped and met Erin & friends for Musica's newish Happy Hour on Thursdays. When we walked out it was a GD winter wonderland. I was parked a few blocks away so I snapped as we walked to the car. Apparently it was a little preview of what we are about to get tomorrow. 

Earthquaker Devices

I've been the product photographer for Earthquaker devices for a little over a year now but I hadn't posted anything about it here yet(just some hints on social media). Earthquaker is a world renown guitar effect pedal company located in Akron, OH. I've known the owners and many of the employees from my years playing in bands so it was really cool to get this gig. When I walk into the shop to pick up new item its like visiting a bunch of friends. The few employees I didn't know when I started shooting there have now become friends or at least acquaintances(I even ride bicycles with some of them). Since almost everyone at the company is an artist in some form the are very particular about their photography - which always makes it a fun challenge. (Also - I get to see the new products before they are released!). 

Paris (Under)Exposed

When I pulled this roll out of the fix I thought to myself, "oh no, did I somehow just develop a roll of film I didn't expose?" Upon closer inspection I realized there was a little bit there - just vastly underexposed. It didn't take me long to realized I must have shot this roll of Ferrania P30 with my camera still set to ISO 400(because I usually shoot Tri-X400). There is a chance I realized this when I went into a Paris camera store to buy a few rolls of Kodak Tri-X and that I would have planned to try and develop for the mistake - but over the intervening months I had simply forgot. So anyway - most of the roll is a waste(or at least not worth editing and posting) but a few of these shots still came out kind of interesting.