Something New

The other day, I wanted a new wallpaper for my iPhone. I have a gazillion images in my library, so I started with the ones that I had in my screen saver. Feel free to use on your phone if you want :)

The End of Summer in Cincinnati. Fireworks!

Summer in Cincinnati goes out with a bang on Labor Day weekend. Since 1977, WEBN, a local radio station puts on one of the best fireworks displays in the midwest (which I still don't know why Cincinnati is considered midwest, since we're neither in the middle of the country nor in the West...). WEBN teams up with Rozzi fireworks for the pyrotechnics and synchronize the display to an original soundtrack each year.

For the past many years, I've watched the fireworks on tv. It's HD, and the sound is really good. On top of that, I don't have to deal with the TRAFFIC. This year, however was different. I was asked to be the photographer at an event, and for four hours, my lighting guy (Roman :) and I shot images of people in front of a fireworks backdrop. It was a long night, and I was pretty much ready to go home since I'd been on my feet for four hours. I told Roman that if I can't get a good view of the fireworks, I wanted to go home. Somehow, some way, I was able to get a prime spot overlooking the city, right in front! I set up my tripod, and following is my first attempt at shooting fireworks with my camera on the tripod. I found that ISO 100, 15 seconds at f12 was a pretty good way to get these shots.

India

I recently had the opportunity to visit India with my company's philanthropic organization, OneSight - a family of charitable vision care programs dedicated to improving vision through outreach, research and education. Through OneSight, Luxottica employees, doctors, partners and other community volunteers give the gift of sight.

My team and I traveled to the city of Jodhpur in the city of Rajasthan. It was a desert city - hot and dusty! We were able to help about 9,500 people see! Below are some of my favorite shots of the city.

Lucinda at the Madison

Lucinda Williams performed at the Madison Theatre on June 10, 2009. I had a great view from right in front of the stage. I had no idea that cameras were allowed, and I only had my point & shoot with me. All of these were shot with my Panasonic Lumix dmc-tz5 with available light. Click on the images to see them bigger.

It came from the Fridge...

One day recently at work, I spotted something strange in the fridge. It disturbed me a little, so I had to document it. I'm beginning to wonder who in the world I work with.

Jon and Marsha

More scans from back in the day. This is Jon and Marsha, believe it or not, in Marsha's back yard. The year is 1991 or so, after Marsha's little brother's baptism. Jon and Marsha used to date, until Jon came out. By the time these pictures were taken, all was out in the open, and they were still best of friends. And to this day, they still are!

I had just discovered that I loved photography, and I took these pictures, posing them along the fence and on the farm.

Trivets

I've been on vacation and have been scanning in all my film photos. Here's one that I took in college in my "icon" days. I was never able to dig really deep into who I was as a photographer then. I took a lot of photos of icons and symbols. This is one of my favorite symbols of Cincinnati.

Trivet Antique and Boutique was a Cincinnati landmark. The old downtown shop smelled pretty bad, but the items were original vintage. They had beads, clothes, incense, patches - anything from the 60s you could imagine - and yes, they were originals! Sadly, they closed their doors in 2000.

Oleo Lord

This was taken on the way up to the north Dayton area. If you're not familiar with this ginormous sculpture, here's a youtube video with a song from Haywood Banks - it's actually quite funny. The performance is from the Bob & Tom show. I also found this blog, "the son of god blog, as interpreted by his web creationist."

We are all happy

I did not win one of these. But I could have if I'd really wanted to. Really.

I'm coming back, really.

I think the mission to Guatemala, the subsequent illness, learning I'm allergic to my cats and the new job have had a toll!

But I'm coming back. Really. I have all kinds of fun pictures to post including this one I took when I visited Amy in Akron.

But for today, Roman and I are going to Kings Island to celebrate our 11th anniversary!

My birds.

Roman tries to tell me they're not MY birds, but I'm not havin' any of that. They dine at the outdoor table I set for them. They're my guests who leave empty sunflower seed shells all over my back yard. And that's ok - they need to eat! Because of all that snow we were getting, I was worried about them, so I kept their bellies full. And took lots of pictures with my new lens - the one I picked up at B&H Photo in New York a couple weeks ago..

Lazy Sunday

It's Sunday night, and I've had a headache ALL weekend long. I haven't had a headache like this in a long time, and I forgot how much they suck. I tried to go to bed early tonight, around 9:30, but by 10, I was still wide awake, pondering my possible future photography career and how to get there.

So I got out of bed, went downstairs, and took a Tylenol PM. Those kinds of pills always make me non-functioning in the mornings, but ultimately, they do help me sleep...

I turned on the TV, and Brothers and Sisters was on. One of the characters (Rebecca) was pondering a career in photography. Does that mean anything? Hmmm... the hall light that I thought was burned out just flickered back on. I think that's a sign.

I think I'm going to buy that new lens soon so I can take more low-light shots. The only thing is, do I want the 85 mm one or the 50mm? And thinking ahead, do I want the Canon EOS 5D or the 40D? I guess I need to make some kind of business plan to figure out what in photography it really is that I want to do. Life's too short to not pursue a dream. I mean, I have an excellent job right now, but I really think I would be happier taking pictures.

In the next few months, I'm going to get some photography books about portraiture, weddings, and alternative processes. Oh, and I guess business plans (the part I hate).

The hall light just went off, and I think the Tylenol PM is kicking in. Must mean it's time to go to bed. But I think I'll finish watching Brothers & Sisters. I still have that damn headache, though.

Say it Ain't So!

Concord, Massachusetts-based Polaroid Corp. announced last week that it plans to close factories in Massachusetts as well as Mexico and the Netherlands that make film formats for industrial and consumer uses.

I'm DEVASTATED! The only hope I'm holding out comes in the following sentence:

Polaroid -- which stopped making instant cameras over the past couple years -- is seeking a partner to acquire licensing rights, in hopes that another firm will continue making the instant film and keep limited supplies available.

Please, someone, partner with Polaroid! my wonderful husband just got me the amazing ProPack for me to use for emulsion-lift art. And I was seriously considering dropping a few hundred bucks on a Daylab printer (it copies your prints or slides onto Polaroid film).

I'm thinking I may still invest in one, stock up on film and really try to create as many pieces as possible. I love this technique, and I hate the thought of having to give it up!

If anybody needs any ideas for what to get me for Christmas (or any time, really ;-), click here!

I Captured Cincinnati

Recently, CiN Weekly decided to run a collaborative photo contest called Capture Cincinnati. The concept was great:

CiN Weekly, in collaboration with C-Change, is proud to announce a new era in book publishing: collaborative publishing. A book published for you, written by you, edited by you. Your best photos, plus our best photos, plus our combined editing means this book is truly the best of Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky.

Apparently the contest started in early September, but I didn’t find out about it until three days before the contest ended. It would have been nice to know about it sooner, but I managed to post eight photos that I had easy access to. (Most of my photos are archived on DVDs, and I didn’t have the time to go through them all.)

I'm not sure if any of my pictures will end up in the book, but I checked out the site today, and some of my pictures were in the "greatest" pages:


I don’t know what constitutes “greatest.” The only other category is “freshest,” which I assume means posted most recently. Anyway, I’m in the “greatest” category, and that’s just fine with me. I guess I’ll have to wait until my book arrives to see if I’m actually in it!

What does brown do for you?

Typically, at this time of year, I ache to get outside with my camera to capture the changing leaves. We had such a dry summer this year, and everything that’s not green is ugly brown.

It’s not pretty. Does nothing for me. Makes me want to hibernate in my down blanket and veg in front of the television.

But wait. Hopefully weather.com doesn’t lie. Their fall foliage map says that, as of October 12, we’re still “patchy” - almost to “near peak” - then onto “peak.” So it looks like I have another couple weeks! Woo-hoo!

A few years ago, on November 5, 2005, I got some amazing shots. Roman and I had just dropped off my old word processor (that saved my life in college!) at my mom’s house. (She said she could use it, even though she has a computer...) It was still early enough in the morning that the light was really nice. These shots were taken when the fog had almost completely lifted from the lake. Mom lives on a golf course, and we had driven past the lake when I made Roman turn around. Just a week before, I had purchased my Canon 60D, but I still didn’t know how to use it, and I hadn’t even put the batteries in it! I had it with me, but I didn’t want to waste any time. I used the Nikon 5700 to get these shots, and the shots I got that day are some of my favorites. The colors were so vibrant, and the sky was so blue!

It’s times like these you learn to live again. It’s times like these you learn to love photography again.