Downtown at Dusk 2021

I've been going to Downtown at Dusk at the Akron Art Museum as long as I can remember. I enjoy the live music but also the chance to be outside on a Summer evening and hang out with friends and run into acquaintances. Last night checked everyone of those boxes.

Tunnels and Fireworks

Our buddy Mike was heading back to LA after hanging out here in Ohio for about a month. We sent him off with some tunnel riding and fireworks. Video of the experience at the end of this post.

Riding Across Ohio

For the last 4 years I have spent 4th of July riding my bike and camping and the last three of them across Ohio. We have done the Ohio to Erie Trail and this was similar but we modified the route to skip some of the less interesting sections and to explore some new territory - towns, trails, parks and roads. We spent 5 days and rode 380 miles. A friend dropped us off in Cincinnati and we rode our route back home. We were in some heavy rain for the first few hours but other than that we had great weather and a great time. Bike camping is my favorite way to travel.

New Sign Day

My friend Mike Marras is a metal artist who mostly fabricates metal sculptures from pieces and parts of steel. He worked with my buds over at Dirty River Bicycle Works to design and install a sign on their new building. I wanted to document the process so I took some photos and made a video. Again - the Canon R5 impressed - the slow motion footage looks fantastic(bottom of this post).

Working in Louisville

A couple friends of mine work for a media production company and they needed a camera operator to shoot a TV pilot season in Louisville, KY. I was in! I've been to Louisville a couple of times and really enjoyed it and I also looked forward to the learning experience this work would be. Being a Canon shooter there was definitely a learning curve with the Sony FX3's but I believe I pulled it off. I brought my GoPro and Canon 5DIV along to shoot some behind the scene images and my evening outings. - my R5 was getting a warranty repair at Canon.

Yeti Squad

The Yeti Squad ride is a Sunday Morning group ride hosted at and by Dirty River Bicycle Works. I only make a few of them a year because Sunday morning is me and Erin's chill time - but I wanted to get out ot this one to see friends and meet some of the friends from the YouTube Channel. It was a great time and I'm glad I got up and made it out.

Toledo Weekend

Erin had a Farmer's Market to work at in Downtown Toledo so I tagged along and we made a cycling weekend out of it. We actually stayed outside of the city on the Maumee River and a Towpath. We had a great weekend with some awesome rides, beer and food.

Tri-X in Rodinal

I shot a roll of Kodak Tri-X last fall and early winter in my new(to me) Minolta XD11 - I just developed it in Rodinal. This was my first time using Rodinal for Tri-X - it doesn't look all that different from my usual go to HC-110(b). I like using one-shot style developers because it is so easy. I've read that these two developers render the grain differently but I need to put them side by side on the light table to really notice. I think I captured a lot of the great winter light in these - one of the few things I like about winter in Ohio - magic hour lasts all day. 

North Bend Rail Trail

On Saturday I had a photo shoot along the Towpath at FT. Larauns near Bolivar for the Ohio & Erie Canalway - I decided to leave at 6 am and ride my bike there(50 miles). After the shoot I rode over to Dundee, OH to a HipCamp site Erin had found. Ben rode down and joined us after work - it was a beautiful spot. In the morning we headed to meet the gang in West Virginia to ride the North Bend Rail Trail. We had an absolute blast. I only carried my Canon with me on the first day because of the weather but at the end of this post I have GoPro footage from most of the trip. 

April Snow at Lock 2

Well, I'll take those 80s we had just a bit ago - but between two shoots today this little walk at Lock 2 was undeniably beautiful. Also - snow is white not grey ...and though I shot these with my Canon R5 and 35mm f/1.4 lens even if you just have your phone make sure to "over-expose" your photos. Your mushy, dark snow photos suck and they don't have to. 

Massillon by Bike

My friend Zack and I rode the Towpath Trail to Massillon to meet some friends for lunch at Paradigm Shift. They had camped the night before in Bolivar. We headed back North all together hitting the Muskingum Trail and a few more brew spots. 

Oregon Space Trail of Doom

On Saturday afternoon I went for a gravel ride with a bunch of camera stuff: I had my drone, 2 GoPros, Canon R5 & of course my phone. These are the images I shot when I got to Dirty River Bicycle Works to see Oregon Space Trail of Doom and then when we went to Magic City Brewing after.(at the bottom is the video with the other gear). Anyways, it was so great to see some rad live music again after a year and people in general. 

Spring Riding

Well the first day of Spring did not disappoint. Erin and I met Ben at the shop to get her Crust set up tubeless and then we met a couple other friends who were heading out in the same direction. We hit some of the industrial gravel before connecting to the Freedom Trail to Kent where we stopped for some beers in the sun. AJ & Micah kept moving and we took the Hike & Bike back with one more outdoor beer stop. 

I was shooting with my Canon EOS 6D and a 24mm f/1.4L lens.  

Single Speeding

I used a bunch of parts that I had sitting around and a few that were given to me by Dirty River Bicycle Works to build up my first single speed bicycle. Ben also built himself one but the opposite way - out of all new parts. For a first ride we went out to the old roundhouse in Kent and had a few beers. Erin was also on a new bike - her first gravel bike - a Crust Bombora. I had my Canon 5DIV with me and snapped some images. 

Wheel Build

Erin has been building her own new bicycle - a Crust Bombora. The other night we went to Dirty River Bicycle Works and the owner, Otis, taught her how to build a wheel. I was super impressed. Wheel building is something that I have never attempted as I have a hard time even trueing a wheel(straightening it). I'm excited for Erin to finish her bike and for the adventures we will undertake with it.

Birthday in the Sun

It was Brad's birthday on Sunday and we decided it was nice enough to get together outdoors and social distance. It was great to actually ride with other humans and see some faces. We had brunch on the patio of Magic City Brewing, then took some crowlers to an abandoned bridge before ending the day at our friend Kenny's brewery - Missing Falls. The winter light was perfect and I took a ton of photos - here is a sampling.

In the Sun

It felt nice to get some sun over the weekend....and it was just warm enough to be able to hang outside a bit. On Saturday I went for a ride towards Kent and took some new roads and trails. I was working on a video and stopped at a bridge to try out some filming techniques. I also took some still photos with my Canon EOS R5 and vintage wide-angle Minolta Rokkor 28mm. Check out the photos & the GoPro video.

Vintage Lenses, Modern Camera

I bought an adapter for 15 bucks from Amazon that allows me to put my vintage Minolta Rokkor lenses onto my Canon EOS R5. I'm surprised how well built/machined it is at that price and the lenses and adapter all fit together nicely - not too loose, not too tight. There are no electrical contacts so it is basically a piece of plastic with metal mounts on each end. The camera doesn't even realize there is a lens on so you have to go into the menus and set it to let you fire the shutter without a lens. Then everything works as it would with a manual lens - except for the auto-diaphragm. Basically you set the aperture on the lens, manually focus and set everything else in camera. I don't see why the camera couldn't confirm focus like it does when a regular Canon lens is on the camera in MF mode but it doesn't - so focusing can be a little tricky as it is purely visual. That being said since it is a mirrorless camera you can zoom in. Nothing about this set up is quick - but it is just a fun way to use some of my favorite lenses for hobby work.