Posts Tagged ‘Bluegrass Photography’

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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I figured that once my boys left Saint Catherine of Siena school I’d stop shooting the Junior High play every year. But with my wife being the school secretary, and lots of friends having kids in the play I decided why not. The fact that they were doing Godspell intrigued me also, since it was the one and only play I’ve ever been in. My Church youth group did a very small version of Godspell way back in 1979 and I played Jesus. Yes, Jesus. For those of you that know me, please keep your comments to yourselves :-)

Here’s the entire gallery. 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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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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Every September for the past 12 years I have ventured off to the Poppy Mountain Bluegrass Festival in Morehead, Kentucky. I started off the first year as a “Poppy Virgin” only going for the closing weekend but over the years have become the “Poppy-razzi” on the mountain. As the “official” photographer I once again went nuts with the camera this year. Although still haven’t come close to my record 2400 shots taken a couple of years ago.

I’d like to thank Marty Stevens for bringing back our old Poppy Mountain! We have missed it over the past few years. I’d also like to thank all my friends on Poppy for putting up with me always having my camera in their face. Especially the jammers trying to play music with my flash going off!

Lastly, I’d like to dedicate this year’s gallery to our old friend Ralph Smith! He was missed this year and will always be in our hearts.

You’ll find all the photos here. Enjoy!

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Findlay Market in downtown Cincinnati is state’s oldest continuously operated public market. Findlay is the sole remaining market of 9 that once served the city. The market has been on my list of things to shoot for a while now, and last Saturday morning I finally decided to check it off the list.

I wanted to start shooting early as the delivery people arrived and the vendors setup for the day but I didn’t get there till about 8:30. By then the market was bursting with energy! I was surprised at the crowds of shoppers jamming the isles in search their goods. The energy at Findlay Market is something so special that can’t be explained or even photographed well enough for one to understand, it has to be experienced. The people at the market, both vendors and visitors are as unique as the market itself. Once I was walking around shooting, I decided to highlight the people of Findlay Market. I’ve attempted to capture the “Faces of Findlay Market” in this gallery. While I was going through the photos editing, I decided the market in some ways has a romantic feel about it so I have attempted to enhance the photos to capture that feeling. Take a look and let me know if you think I’ve successfully done so.

Here’s the entire gallery of “Faces of Findlay Market”. Enjoy!

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