Usually I have to drive for miles and sometimes hours to find a new abandoned house. So when I found this one 4 houses away from my own home I had to shoot it. An abandoned house in Fort Thomas is a rarity so I had to shoot this one.

To be honest, this house isn’t abandoned but it certainly looks like it. Betsy tells me, after talking to a Fort Thomas fireman, that the owners have tried to sell this place for quite a while. Not sure if it’s the economy or the fact that they have an indoor pool but apparently they have given up selling and decided to tear it down and re-build. The Fort Thomas fire department has been up there cutting holes in the walls and the roof and doing their own version of destruction. I assume they have been given permission to perform training there.

After I got back from shooting Michael asked me if the pool had rounded corners so he could skateboard in it. I told him that I had better not find out he’s been in there because he could get busted for trespassing. His response, “So dad, how did you get these pictures?”. I hate it when my kids put me in my place!

If you have any insight into the history of this house I’d love to hear about it.

Here’s the entire gallery. Enjoy!

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Last Saturday I had to run over to Cincinnati’s west end to drop off something to a supplier and figured I’d shoot some stuff while I was out. I’ve had a list of shots I’ve wanted to get in that part of town for a while. Most importantly I wanted to sneak into an abandoned church next to my supplier’s shop. The First German Reformed Church along Freeman Avenue has been on my list for quite a while so I was excited over the prospect of shooting it. There’s only one way to “get in” to the abandoned church. A 24″ pathway between 2 buildings. I was a bit paranoid as I worked my way down the path, but as I got closer to the one opening I started to feel a bit cocky. I was actually getting ready to trespass to shoot an abandoned church. I was about 4 feet from the opening when I noticed fresh footprints in the snow right in front of me. I mean very fresh! If you know anything about Freeman Avenue in Cincinnati, you know it’s not a great place to be with a few grand in camera gear, in an abandoned building, where there MAY be someone with you! Well so much for the church. I chickened out and hit the road. I will however make my way back. I’ve just got to!

Not to be deterred by my willingness to stay alive I decided to hit some of the other spots I’ve been wanting to shoot. I’ve recently become interested in old signs and the west end of Cincinnati is filled with them. From an old brewery, a wide variety of churches and pawn shops to recent signs of “Hope”, the west end is filled with visual eye candy. Depending on your taste of eye candy of course!

Check out the entire gallery here. Enjoy!

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I was on my way home after a very long day of shooting through east Kentucky not quite knowing how I was going to get home when I “stumbled across” Grayson, Kentucky. Which is the eastern end of the AA Highway, a straight shot home. Right as I pulled on the AA Highway I ran across this Mail Pouch barn. It’s always nice to be surprised by one of these, afterall I had spent my day driving 4 hours to shoot one further south (which I did), so this one a welcome added bonus for the day. The lighting was very bad. Almost dusk, just all around bad light but I wouldn’t walk away without shooting it. I will go back at some point and re-shoot this one.

Here’s the gallery with the rest. Enjoy!

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For the past few years I’ve gotten up on New Years Day and gone out for an all day photo trip. This year I missed New Years Day by a couple of days. This gallery is from my first photo trip of 2010, January 3. My goal was to shoot a Mail Pouch barn in Adams County, Ohio. I did end up shooting that particular barn (Adams County barn), along with 3 others, a couple of Churches and some other barns. The last Mail Pouch Barn in the gallery is the only Mail Pouch Barn in the country with all four sides painted with Mail Pouch advertising. There are a few close-up shots of Harley Warrick’s signature.

Here’s my first road trip of 2010 gallery. Enjoy!

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I was on my way down to pick my son up from work tonight and decided to take my camera along for the heck of it. Driving down the hill towards Newport on the Levi I saw this awesome sunset. Since the last time I had my tripod setup at the Levi some idiot rent-a-cop tried to have me arrested (to long of a story to go into here), I decided to go down on the river below the Levi to shoot.

The lower shot here is the whole panoramic comprised of 17 photos stitched together, and the upper shot is a cropped section of the panoramic.

Thanks for looking!

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I’ve driven past this house on Route 32 east of Newtown for years and decided to finally get some shots. I ran over at lunch last week hoping to get inside. I love to go into old abandonded houses like this. Lots of textures and colors. But even more interesting is thinking of the history of old places like this.

Here’s the entire gallery. Enjoy!

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We had our first major snowfall of the year today. Although having lived in North Dakota for close to 3 years I’d have to say this is nothing. I do however have to admit that the cold bothers me quite a bit more than it did 30 years ago in Minot, North Dakota. I shot this 18 image panorama on my way home tonight. There are also some shots of the Old Towne Center in Mariemont, Ohio which I shot at lunchtime today. There’s one showing what I see from my office window and another that shows our office.

See the rest here. Enjoy!

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I found this Bavarian’s sign painted on the side of a neighborhood bar in Covington, Kentucky a block from the Mainstrasse area. If you know of any old signs painted on the sides of buildings in the greater Cincinnati area I’d love to shoot them. Please drop me an email with a description of the sign and location. I would appreciate the tip!

Click here to see more of this sign, including some closeup detail shots. Enjoy!

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Betsy and I took a ride a few days after Christmas just to get away after all the holiday craziness. Well, for me it was to find this barn. I’m assuming she came along for the ride just to get away?

This is on Route 128 just outside of Miamitown, Ohio. I hate finding a barn with a bunch of “modern” stuff around it, which this one did. The light was also messing with me so I just shot a few. I have at least one shot showing each of the 3 sides. This particular shot was with the sun right behind the barn so I didn’t expect much. With some work, I think it turned out fine.

See the other sides here. Enjoy!

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Well it’s been quite a while since I’ve posted anything new so I thought I’d post an image I shot today. I was running out to the feed store in the county to get my ice melt for the year and ran across this home made flag on an old barn in Campbell County.

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