Thursday, October 8, 2015

Watching You From Above

After every wedding that Brandon and I shoot we try to go out and do some exploring or climbing. It doesn't always work out and sometimes we're just too exhausted from shooting the wedding, but a couple weeks ago we managed to have a very successful night.


A quick self-portrait.




Brandon topping it out.




I love looking down onto intersections like this. It's unreal to sit several stories up and watch people drive around the city or walk along the sidewalk laughing and drunkenly talking about the evening's events. Yeah, it's amazing the way sound travels between buildings through the night air. 






While on out way down.
"What are you doing?!" -Drunk Girls



I could sit quietly on a rooftop all night long and watch the world below. It's an incredible feeling. 



Photos taken with a Canon 6D, using a Canon 20mm f/2.8 and a Rokinon 8mm fisheye.

Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Road Trip: Day 5 - Death Valley National Park

As much as I loved this trip, I have been terrible at blogging about it. I started out strong but then got busy and started neglecting the blog. So as I try to get caught up with blog posts I'll throw in the final posts from Kaylah and I's big trip back out west.

Death Valley National Park is unbelievable. It's hot, it's dry, and it can kill you. People seriously die here from wandering too far from their cars and then getting disoriented and succumbing to the heat, but don't let that deter you from visiting, just bring lots of water. 

It was 117 degrees when we visited. The sand was sparkly and I went to pick some up so that I could get a closer look and it burned my fingers. By the time we made it back into the car the soles of our shoes had begun to melt. The entire car smelled like burning rubber. 

Despite the heat, Death Valley is a truly beautiful and amazing place. The photos don't do it much justice. It's yet another place that you simply have to experience for yourself.















Photos taken with a Canon 6D, using a Canon 135mm f/2.0 and Canon 20mm f/2.8 lens.

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

We Only Come Out At Night

Night is obviously my favorite time to shoot photos. The darkness is in most cases a necessity when it comes to photographing and exploring the places that I like to go. It's also a lot of fun being out at night. It's a different world, with different people (night people as I call them). This is just a random sampling of some of the night photography that I've done lately.

Brandon waiting for an RTA train to pass.




Watching traffic fly past on Route 90.



Catching light trails.



The 9.



Self-portrait in everyone's favorite alley.



Stupid skywalk.



A perfect night for reflections on the river.





Photos taken with a Canon 6D, using a Canon 20mm f/2.8, and Rokinon 8mm fisheye.

Monday, October 5, 2015

Lately

I sort of abandoned my blog for a bit. It was unintentional. I've just been busy and distracted. I have a dozen or so posts full of photos, all I have to do is finish typing them up. Client work always comes first though and when you spend hours and hours in front of the computer every day it's difficult to spend any additional time staring at a computer screen. I guess what it comes down to is that I would much rather be out taking photos than sitting inside writing about photos. That being said, I'm going to try to devote a little bit of time this week to getting some blog posts finished.

Lately I have been trying to get out to shoot as much as possible. It's tough when I have so much work to do but that work can also be a driving force to get away from my desk and get outside. A couple weeks ago Kaylah and I met up with Jason, Jake, and Anji at the Fifth Street Arcade to hear a lecture on Cleveland history and eat really good food. The lecture was fascinating, and afterwards we headed out to poke around some lesser known areas.


The line between functioning and abandoned. 



I have no idea how old this sign is but I'm guessing it's pretty old, and also no longer true.



Trying to kill some time, me, Kaylah, and Jason stopped by this old favorite. Unfortunately it burned down only a couple days later.





Train rides.




While spending some time in Cuyahoga Falls working on an ongoing project for the city, I couldn't help snagging this self-portrait in front of the old Ohio Edison Dam.



Brandon and I spent a night trying, and failing, to get some new spots. 



The night took a dramatic turn shortly before taking this photo when we heard ten gun shots from just down the street.



Chaos ensued and police and EMS were immediately all over the place. One person died, two others were injured. Later that night several houses were shot up on the east side, resulting in yet another death. It's sad and disgusting when someone can value human life so little that they can fire shots into a crowd without feeling any remorse. 



Brandon got a new camera and a couple new lenses so obviously we needed to get out and put it to the test.




The interior of the wheelhouse. 



Too many stairs. 





Photos taken with a Canon 6D, using a Canon 20mm f/2.8 and a Canon 50mm f/1.4.