Archive for the ‘Travel’ Category

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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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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If you live in the greater Cincinnati area you know how they warned us all day yesterday and last night of the “great snowstorm of 2011″. Although we did get snow, I’ve certainly seen much worse. Since most people didn’t work, or left work early to beat the rush hour craziness, my drive home from Mariemont to Fort Thomas was rather peaceful. So peaceful that I decided to go through downtown and see if I could grab a shot of Fountain Square. The traffic in downtown Cincinnati seemed more like 5:00 on a Sunday morning than 6:00 on a Thursday night. As a matter of fact I actually parked in the middle of 5th Street, ran over and grabbed some shots. Since I did a “shoot and run” I didn’t take the time to take  my tripod. That was a mistake. This is one of those photos I’ll always look back on and think of a dozen things I could have done better. But I’m fine with that. After all my purpose for shooting Fountain Square tonight was to capture that snowy moment in time and I feel like I’ve done that.

Enjoy!

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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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I’ve been wanting to get into this Church along Freeman Avenue in downtown Cincinnati for a couple of years now. I actually went to shoot it about a year ago very early on a Saturday morning. I ended up not going in because as I approached the entrance I noticed fresh prints in the snow. As much as I enjoy shooting these old buildings, it’s not worth what may have been awaiting me in there. Of course it could have been my imagination I suppose. Still yet, I chickened out!

Having this place in the back of my mind ever since, I jumped at the chance to go shooting with another local “Abandoned” shooter. As a matter of fact this shooter happens to be a sort of a mentor of mine. I’ve appreciated his work for a while and always thought it would be great to shoot with him. After becoming FaceBook fans I would throw out the occasional comments on his shots and he asked about my stuff as well. All said and done we decided to meet up last Sunday and go shooting. I told him I had been wanting to shoot this Church for a while. Although he had shot it in the past we decided to meet up. I was excited about getting into this place. So much so that I “abandoned” my wife for part of the day… her birthday! Hopefully I made up for it later that day!

Once inside, I decided this place was worth the wait. I was surprised at the condition. Yes, it was beat up but I expected a lot more destruction. I actually only saw one bit of graffiti in the whole place. We were there about an hour, although I would like to have stayed longer. I’m not overly happy with what I came out with. I forgot to take my remote shutter release which is not a good thing in such low light and the fact that it was rather cold didn’t help the situation. I suppose I’ll just have to take another trip some time.

I want to thank my shooting friend for meeting up. I’d like to do it again sometime. I haven’t asked him about using his name so for now he’ll just have to remain a mystery.

Here’s the entire gallery. Enjoy!

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I was going through my photo archives tonight looking for something new to post and ran across this sunset from a few years back. I figured, what the heck when in doubt, post a sunset. After all everyone loves a sunset!

I shot this on our family vacation on Anna Marie Island in July of 2007. I shot it with my old Canon 5D. ISO 50, f29 with a 15 second exposure.

I was going to post a link to the gallery from our trip to Anna Marie, but after looking I discovered I’ve not posted them to the web. I hope you enjoy this one shot though! Kind of proves my wife’s point that I shoot all the family photos but she never gets to see them.

Thanks for looking!

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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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I’ve been waiting for the “crown” of the Great American Tower to be lit for quite a while now. I’m not sure if tonight was actually the first night it was lit or not, but on my way home from work I first noticed it lit so decided to take some shots. My first stop was on the lower side of Mount Adams facing west, and then off to the riverfront in Newport. I like the “old vs new” look of shot from Mount Adams with the P&G Towers in the same shot as the new Great American Tower. And the shots from Newport are interesting, but I see better shots coming in the future. I think it’s time for another “Light Up Cincinnati”!

There’s not many, but here’s the entire gallery. Enjoy!

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