02.02.12
For the past few years I’ve taken a “Photo Trip” on New Years Day. Never really having a plan, I’ve ended up everywhere from Eastern Kentucky to Southern Indiana. I’ve recently run into a problem in that I’ve taken so many one day trips that I’ve “day tripped” to every state and county within 150 miles of Fort Thomas. So this year I decided to skip my normal New Years Day trip and planned a 2 day West Virgina trip. I spent a week or so planning my route and decided on hitting 16 Mail Pouch barns throughout West Virginia. Starting directly east of Cincinnati via route 32, then shooting north to Morgantown, West Virginia the first day, then around Morgantown and southwest towards home the second. The first day was not so successful as I discovered barns were missing and I had bad GPS data for some so I thought my 16 barns in 2 days was just a dream.
The first day ended with a visit with my bluegrass friends Trae and Jamie Lynn Buckner. I met Trae and Jamie Lynn a few years back when they played at Poppy Mountain Bluegrass Festival and have become a big fan of their band “The Hillbilly Gypsies” ever since. If you like traditional “ol’ tymie” bluegrass you should check them out!
Day two of my trip took me searching north of Morgantown. Day two also taught me that West Virginia in not so friendly to iPhones. After locating and shooting a couple of barns I was headed to my third “subject” of the day when I totally lost my signal and ended up in Pennsylvania. Once I had a decent signal I was 20 miles into Pennsylvania and decided to Google my way to some Pennsylvania barns. I soon discovered that southern Pennsylvania is full of Mail Pouch barns so I decided to forgo my planned route. Deciding to discover Pennsylvania was a good choice because the barns I shot there took me over my original 16. I ended up shooting a total of 21 Mail Pouch barns in 2 days!
I’m aware that most of you reading this story are not as into Mail Pouch barns as I am, and typically a road trip like this one would include some other nice countryside shots. But this trip was all about getting as many Mail Pouches as I could, so for those people I say “Get over it”, I’m sick that way! And as I tell Betsy, “It could be worse, I could have a lot worse hobbies”.
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08.09.11
I recently visited The Fort Thomas Military and Community Museum and decided it would be a great place to shoot some 360º panoramic photographs. The image above is a shot of the Military History Room. Click on the link below to be taken “into” the room through an interactive 360º tour of Fort Thomas’ rich military history. Be aware this is a large file, but worth the wait. Also, be sure to click on the “full screen” icon once the page loads to get the whole experience.
I will be returning to the museum soon to shoot a couple of rooms from the recently opened Beverly Hills Supper Club display.
If you’re from Northern Kentucky or Southern Ohio and remember the Beverly Hills Supper Club fire, I’m sure you’ll enjoy the new exhibit prepared by students of Northern Kentucky University.
City of Fort Thomas Museum
940 Cochran
Fort Thomas, KY 41075-2314
(859) 815-8481
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05.26.11
Ok, so that’s a goofy reference to a Willie Nelson song. But since it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything to BluegrassPhotography.Net I thought I’d start this post out goofy.
It’s been a while because the weather here in the Cinicinnati Tri-State area has been horrible. Although we know it could be worse. All we’ve had to deal with is rain every day. If we think that’s bad, we need to think about the people in the mid-west that have had everything taken away from them by Mother Nature’s furry. As a matter of fact, this post is dedicated to them!
Back to the photograph….. For some unknown reason, I find myself shooting the “Big Mac” bridge quite often. I have no idea why. It’s not like I have a thing for McDonald’s. As a matter of fact, unless I’m desperate I won’t even eat there. I do however drive past, or over the “Big Mac” every morning so I guess it catches my attention. On this particular morning I approached the river and saw the fog, so I decided to head towards the riverfront in Bellevue and see if there was a good shot to be had. I ended up on Don Pablo’s deck at 7:30 in the morning to grab this image.
For those “photo geeks” out there, this image is comprised of 20 vertical shots stitched together to create a 13000 x 4000 pixel image at 72 dpi! For those non-photo geeks, it’s big enough to make a 200″ x 60″ photograph!
Again, as we complain about our weather…. it could be worse! Please keep the mid-west tornado victims in your prayers and if you find it in your heart to help financially you can do so here.
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02.12.11
I’ve been wanting to make a run to West Virginia for quite a while. If you’re a regular on my blog you read in my last post that I headed that way a few weeks back but missed it by a few counties. Finally I decided to go for it on the last Saturday in January. Whenever I go out on one of my photo trips I try my best think about the cost of gas and plan the trip accordingly. This was not one of those well thought out trips! The first three hours were spent driving out route 32, which I had done just the weekend before.
Although I planned this trip to shoot six Mail Pouch barns I had located, as usual I found some other great shots along the way. I ran across the scene above on this old dirt road I probably shouldn’t have been on to begin with. After all I drove through a creek to get to it. I also ran across the Bob Evans Farm in Rio Grande, Ohio. When I saw the sign along Route 32 I thought about a Bob Evans menu I had seen of the Bob Evans logo painted on the side of an old barn so I figured I’d drive the few miles off the main path to check it out. Unfortunately I was let down. Either the barn I had seen on the menu was somewhere else or Photoshop trickery.
Even though I’m glad I finally made my West Virginia trip and had some good captures I have a feeling the “Mountain State” is still on my short list for the next trip. I think it will end up a weekender.
Here’s the entire gallery. Enjoy!
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01.31.11
I’ve been wanting to take a trip to shoot West Virginia’s Mail Pouch barns ever since one of my boys gave me a book of Mail Pouch barns in West Virginia shot by Steve Shaluta for Christmas. Last Saturday I was packing up to venture off to “Almost Heaven… West Virginia” when Betsy reminded me we had a “date” at 7:00 that night! So much for West Virginia. Since I already had long johns, 3 shirts, 2 pair of socks and my hiking boots on I decided to head out, with no destination.
I thought I had shot every Mail Pouch barn within a hundred or so miles from home but soon learned not so! I decided to head out Ohio Route 32 east since I hadn’t been out that way. I ended up hitting Highland, Pike, Jackson, Scioto and Adams counties, shooting 6 Mail Pouch barns including re-shooting one that I had shot way back in 2000. That was my first Mail Pouch photo, long before I became obsessed.
Although my goal is to shoot Mail Pouch barns, I usually end up running across so many other great scenes that catch my eye. Those usually end up being the better shots of the day. Like the shot above. I discovered this barn and bails of hay driving up a steep hill in Adams County. It’s one of those shots that just appear. It’s scenes like this that keep me going out on my day-long drives.
By the way, one week later, yesterday, I made my trip to West Virginia. But since I only hit 2 counties I plan a return weekend long trip soon.
Take a look at the whole gallery here. Enjoy!
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12.20.10
Merry Christmas to all my visitors on BluegrassPhotography.Net. I had contemplated a more “politically correct” message, but those of you that know me personally know that’s not my thing!
This image is a crop of a stained glass window I shot while Betsy and I were in Casa Careyes, Mexico a few years back. I know that photos of Mexico have nothing to do with Christmas, but if you’d like to see more photos from our trip, click the galleries link below. These are not your typical “vacation” photos. Just ask my wife… she’ll tell you, “We went to Mexico and he shot hundreds of photos, of everything but us”. My goal was to shoot anything but “tourist” shots.
If you’ve been a subscriber to my blog for a while you may have already read my previous post about our trip. If you’ve not seen the photos take a look at the galleries here. Enjoy!
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11.10.10
This past Monday Night Football broadcast in Cincinnati meant two things. The Bengals would be beaten in front of the entire county, and photographers would flock to the usual “Light Up Cincinnati” spots to shoot the skyline.
I’ve not heard about an official Light Up Cincinnati in quite a while, but this was closest thing to it we’ve had in years. I wasn’t even aware that both stadiums were going to be lit until my drive home from work Monday night and saw Great American Ballpark lit up. I later learned that the ballpark was lit in memory of Sparky Anderson who had passed away on the 4th of November.
After dinner I headed out and hit Newport Central Catholic first, then off to Devou Park, Covington Landing and Mike Fink’s parking lot. Most of this gallery are panoramic shots, although there are a few single image photographs as well. The panoramics range from 12 to 32 images wide. Unfortunately they cannot be appreciated fully in the galleries because I have to make them smaller for web viewing. The full-sized files are huge, ranging from just over 100 MB to close to 350 MB on the largest. The largest is a whopping 172″ wide by 68″ high at 72 dpi.
Here’s the entire gallery from Monday night. Enjoy!
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10.21.10
Here’s a few shots I grabbed on a recent trip to Rowan County, Kentucky. I’ve passed both this barn and “Dehart’s Bible and Tire” a few times a year for the past 12 years so decided it was about time to stop and shoot them.
I have considered shooting a collection of Quilt Barns but decided that if I would take shooting those as serious as I do the Mail Pouch barns I’d never be home on the weekends. I’ve noticed more and more of these showing up in Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana. Maybe when I run out of Mail Pouch barns I’ll start shooting these.
Take a look at the rest of the gallery here. Enjoy!
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