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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Super Bowl Sunday I ventured off to Green County, Ohio to capture 5 covered bridges. Thinking Green County is only about 50 minutes away, I figured I could get up the drive around the county, grab some nice snowy covered bridges and get back in time for kickoff. Wrong! For the first time,  my favorite website for locating bridges and barns sent me off in the wrong direction. 40 miles to be exact. I followed my trusty iPod GPS only to find myself in the middle of no where. I’ve been in the middle of no where before, and actually found what I was looking for, but not this time. No bridge. And not even a creek or river to put a bridge over!

I eventually found the bridge I was searching out, but the 80 mile round trip to the empty field didn’t help my schedule. All said and done, I ended up shooting the 5 bridges I went to shoot. My timing was way off though. I was out for seven and a half hours from my front door to Green County and back. I missed the first quarter of the game, but I figure there will be another Super Bowl next year, and who knows how long these bridges will be around.

Click here to see the Green County covered bridges and more. Enjoy!

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The man I met while shooting the Elmwood Motel in Ulysses, Kentucky told me about this abandoned house on Route 23 outside of Louisa. Apparently it has quite a history as there are multiple websites referring to it’s past resident, Dr. Francis Elam Burgess. Born 1914. Physician, surgeon, poet and songwriter. I’m glad I ran across it when I did, in it’s “abandoned” state as it has recently been purchased and soon to be rennovated by Martin County entrepreneur Jim Booth.

I plan on keeping updated on the progress of the rennovation and would like to return someday to shoot the second life of this beautiful estate.

Take a look at the entire gallery here. Enjoy!

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This place was awesome! I ran across this little motel on Route 23 in Ulysses, Kentucky. I pulled up the hill to shoot and noticed some people unloading a house next door. Usually if I see someone close by I’ll ask if I can shoot so I walked over to introduce myself and ask permission to take some photos. As it turns out this man’s family owns the property and his parents ran the place until the mid 70s. As much as I enjoy the mystery of shooting old abandoned places I do often think I would like to know their history. Which is what made this such a great find. I chatted with this man for quite a while. As a matter of fact I think he enjoyed telling me his stories as much as I enjoyed hearing them. He actually had the original signs in his barn, which he gladly shared and posed for photos (look for him and his dog in the gallery). I think it’s great that this man is so proud of his family being a part of so many families vacations thoughout the years. Tuns out the reason they are moving stuff out of the house is that his mother is very sick in the hospital. He said she has forever refused to leave the house, but unfortunately it seems she’ll be moving into a home, never to return to the Elmwood.

Here’s the rest of gallery. Enjoy!

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Just outside of Prestonsburg, Kentucky I drove past this house thinking it wasn’t much. But just around the corner I stopped for a Dew and decided to turn back around and take a closer look. I’m glad I turned around because I really enjoyed shooting this house, and I got to meet a Floyd County Sheriff! I thought I was headed to jail, but he turned out to be a nice guy. He did tell me to leave, but actually followed me around while I shot. It’s like he knew he should have made me leave, but wanted to let me stay. All said and done, he let me shoot everything I wanted to!

Here’s the rest of the gallery. Enjoy!

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I found this little church on my way to Prestonsburg, Kentucky last week. I typically stop and shoot these “little white churches” and go on about my business. I often find them on my way home from a camping trip on Sunday mornings. I’ve thought many times about stopping and attending a service, but I’m paranoid they may be snake handlers! Joking aside, maybe one day I’ll work up the courage to stop in one of these little churches.

Here’s just a couple more. 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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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 never travel more than 50 miles away from home without searching the web for Mail Pouch opportunities near where I’m traveling. Irecently traveled to Prestonsburg, KY for work and discovered I would be passing near these 2 barns.

I located the first just outside of town on Route 114 (Old Middle Creek Rd.). My normal method for shooting on private property is to shoot as though I’m supposed to be there. If I can see for sure someone is home, and I don’t fear being shot at, I’ll ask. If it appears no one is around I just go for it and pray there’s no “killer” dogs around. As soon as I got out of the car a dog ran up to me barking, which sent me running back to the car. Just as I got my hand on the door a lady yelled to me, “he won’t bite!”. I wonder how many people have heard that right before getting bit? I’m a trusting sole so I stopped running and the dog was indeed fine. Although he did bark the entire time I was shooting, he was fine with me being there. After I introduced myself and asked if I could shoot the barn she said that would be fine and that it has been shot many times in the past and is “on that computer Internet thingy”.

The second barn was less than a mile away on the same road. I almost drove right past it because it’s hidden behind some trees. This made it difficult to shoot an overall shot. I did get some overall shots, but nothing I was happy with. I love the red versions of the barns so I shot some detail shots and 12 image panoramic (shown above).

Click here to see the entire gallery. Enjoy!

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