Posts Tagged ‘Ohio’

Shots of Great American Ballpark during the Paul McCartney show.

Here’s the entire gallery. Enjoy!

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Bluegrass friends have told me for years that I should check out the Appalachian Uprising Bluegrass Festival. So when I saw that Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, one of my favorites, was playing at the Uprising I decided this was my year to check it out. Great decision! I have been to both very large and very small festivals and I’d put this one right in the mix of the top festivals in the country. The lineup was, and always been great for a festival of this size. You’d have to be a bluegrass fan to understand, but I’m always amazed that national acts play at such small venues. To those not into bluegrass, it would be like, say the Eagles playing at your county fair. The main difference is of course the Eagles would not come out afterwards and jam with their fans. But that’s just bluegrass!

The one thing that stood out to me about this festival was that it was attended by not just bluegrass fans, but due to the lineup also included a rather “different” crowd. I’ve never been to a Grateful Dead show, but after the Uprising, I feel like I’ve experienced something rather close to one. A good part of the crowd was “Deadhead Like”. The other thing that stood out to me was that a lot of the younger non-bluegrass types brought their children. There were tons kids running around all weekend. Not teenagers, but younger. As you’ll see in the galleries, the kids really caught my eye. Not that kids aren’t at most bluegrass festivals, but as you’ll see in the photos, the “bluegrass kids” have never stood out to me like these kid.

Lastly, I should mention that the lineup met every expectation. As I noted, Nitty Gritty Dirt band is one of my favorites so there are a ton of shots of them playing. John McEuen (banjo player) even came over to me during one of the songs and asked that I get a shot of him showing the head of his new Deering banjo. Then gave me his business card to send it to him. Sam Bush was great as usual. And of course Del McCuory Band was great. Del even played with Sam Bush for a few.

If you’ve never been to the Uprising, put it on your list of must see shows!

Here’s the entire gallery. Enjoy!

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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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I love contrast in a photograph. In this case, historical contrast. This was an awesome find! I saw this sign back in February from atop a parking garage in downtown Cincinnati. The weather was just not suitable for shooting but I took note to return at some point and shoot these two department store signs.

I’m not a big Macy’s shopper, but more of a “remember Shillitos” person. I have fond memories of my mom taking us down to Shillitos to view the Christmas windows, and have our picture taken with Santa Claus. That’s back when everyone traveled to downtown Cincinnati to take in all the holiday festivities. I don’t remember frequent trips to downtown, but I sure do remember those holiday trips! How about you? Although the dates do not match up, my memories have me in line with Ralphie from “A Christmas Story”.

How about you? Remember Shillitos, standing in line for Santa, taking in the windows downtown or Christmas on Fountain Square?

Here’s a few more of the Shillitos and Macy’s signs. Enjoy!

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I love old brick walls. Even better than an old brick wall showing it’s age with slight deterioration is an old brick wall with an old hand-painted sign on it. If you’ve browsed my galleries at all you’ve probably ran across some of my images capturing these old marks in advertising history. Every time I find a sign on an old brick wall I find myself wondering about it’s history. Who painted the sign, Is the company represented in the sign still in business, are there other signs hidden beneath the visible sign?

Today I ran into a sign (maybe best described as artwork) that may very well be the subject of a photographer wondering the same things in the future, I wonder today. Driving through downtown Cincinnati I ran into a sign being created right before my very eyes. Portuguese-born Alexandre Farto has been commissioned by BLDG, a Covington based studio, to create Cincinnati’s own original “Urban Structure” as Alexandre describes his art.

VHILS is the tag name of Portuguese graffiti/street artist Alexandre Farto (1987—) He gained prominence when his work of a face carved into a wall appeared alongside a picture by street artist Banksy at the Cans Festival in London in 2008. Not long ago, street artists were objects of scorn, stigmatized to the point of risking jail time in order to smear their messages in alleyways and on overpasses. Lately, however, with a growing public appreciation for all things graffiti, urban communication is no longer such a target of public disdain, but rather is increasingly being appreciated as high art.

Here’s the rest of the gallery. Enjoy.

BLDG will be hosting a release event Friday, April 15 from 7-11 PM. For additional information visit the BLDG website.

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Spring is in the air! Or is that rain? No matter what time the beautiful spring days show up in Cincinnati, the Cincinnati Home & Garden show always appears at the end of February. And I always end up at the show to shoot.

This year I decided to shoot the show in a BIG way. I took my pano-head tripod and shot these 360˚ panoramics. I think the gardens are the best part of the show so that’s mainly what I shot. I did however shoot the Watson’s booth also. Watson’s is one of our clients at White Design Studio and this year we designed their booth. Watson’s went BIG this year with what I assume is the largest booth at the show, so I figured I’d go BIG with my photos.

Check out the interactive panoramics by clicking on the photos below. You may notice some lag at first but after the entire panoramic loads you’ll be able to smoothly glide through the 2011 Cincinnati Home & Garden Show.

Enjoy!

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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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