Posts Tagged ‘Cincinnati’

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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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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I’ve read about this little restaurant right down the road from my office on Eastern Avenue, Cincinnati, OH so last week I thought I’d run down at lunch and shoot some of the signs. Unfortunately they’re not open for lunch so I couldn’t go in. I hear the inside is better than the outside for old sign lovers. I guess I’ll have to stop by for dinner one night, although as I understand it, I’ll have to wait quite a while to get in. Apparently the owner (previous owner of Neon’s on Main Street) has come up with another winner. Read all about Terry’s here.

Although there’s not many photos, you can see the rest of them here. Enjoy!

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This is a follow-up to a recent post covering my trip to the American Sign Museum in Cincinnati. My original post was a test to confirm the settings and possible issues concerning 360° panoramics. The image above is a panoramic image in it’s “flattened” state.

Here’s the entire gallery. Enjoy!

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I’ve always had a passion for old beer advertising and brewing items. I guess it’s from my mom being an antique dealer for so many years and taking us along on our own family versions of “American Pickers”. I remember getting up very early one Saturday every month packing up and going to the Burlington, Kentucky antique show. It was way back then that I started my addition to old beer signs. Although my collection of brewery goodies is long gone, my fascination with Cincinnati’s brewing history still remains.

With it’s wave of German immigrants in the 1880s Cincinnati quickly became the brewing capital of world. The Hudepohl Brewing Company was established in 1885 by one such immigrant, Ludwig Hudepohl II. By the time prohibition hit, Hudepohl was one of the top 5 breweries in the city. Here’s a timeline of Cincinnati brewing history.

This Hudepohl facility was built in 1946 and operated until 1987 when the production was relocated to the Schoenling Brewing Company’s plant on Central Parkway in Cincinnati. In 2007 demolition of the building began but has since been halted for what reason I’m not sure.

I actually started this past Saturday morning with a trip to an abandoned military facility in Indiana in mind but decided I didn’t really feel up to  driving 2 hours with the possibility of not gaining access so decided instead to run over the the Hudepohl plant. I’m glad I did! This turned out to be one of my best abandoned explorations to date. I even met a couple of new friends that were there shooting, and it’s always nice to have someone with you in an old structure like this.

Here’s the entire gallery. Enjoy!

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After a long weekend doing things I “had” to do, cutting grass, getting the camper ready for the summer, and cleaning the garage, I decided Sunday after dinner it was time to do something I “wanted” to do, shoot some photos!

A friend of mine who shall remain nameless as he would be upset that he suggested I break the law by trespassing, and he’s a “man of the cloth” to boot, told me about an abandoned factory on the Loveland Bike Trail. After some Google work I found out the factory is the remains of the Peters Cartridge Company. Here’s some information on the company: Peters Cartridge Company.

So I drive up to Loveland and get out only to find two guys standing there shooting some cellphone photos. They seemed into it so I asked if they wanted to “explore” with me. They were up for it, although the one guy seemed a bit paranoid about the many warning signs! After being “greeted” by a very nice guard dog, no kidding, we found a way in. We explored the first two floors seemingly keeping an eye on each other for safety’s sake when somewhere between the second and third floors I realized they were gone! I think the one guy talked the other into leaving! So I was on my own, although I did have my trusty (not), iPhone should something bad happen.

Waiting till after dinner turned out to be a not so good decision as the light was very harsh, although some of the shots are better with the harsh light. In general I would have preferred more even lighting so there may be a return trip in my future.

This turned out to be the “mother of all explorations” for me. I’ve seen more interesting abandoned places in the way of colors and textures, but this wins the “really huge abandoned building” award. At times I felt like I was in a submarine, yet I was quite a few floors above the ground. If you look at the tower you’ll see a set of windows right below the “P”. That’s how far I made it before I decided I was pushing my luck!

I hope you enjoy these shots as much as I enjoyed shooting them, and stay tuned for a return visit with better lighting conditions, and next time I’ll go to the basement!

Here’s the entire gallery. Enjoy!

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I picked up my new camera (Canon 5D Mark II) last Friday but was so busy I didn’t really shoot with it till Wednesday of this week. I had Wednesday night free so I planned on just going out and looking to find something to shoot and ended up down at the riverfront shooting the skyline once again. The Reds were playing the first night game of the year and a photographer I was talking to told me they were having fireworks after the game, win or loose. I didn’t really want to spend the next couple of hours there, since I really don’t care for watching baseball in the stadium so staring at the stadium from the outside without beer and hot dogs just didn’t sound thrilling. But as I said I was talking to another photographer and before I knew it the game was almost over so I decided to stick around. I was nice to be able to hang out and have some “photo talk” with someone that shares the passion. I found out from him (Jim from Highland Heights), that I’m not the only one goofy enough to get up at 5 AM on any given Saturday and just head out looking for something to shoot. And to top it off, he’s a Canon guy!

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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