8.1.21New SpacesWe checked out the new space at Eden Park this morning after getting coffee from Unataza. If you walk this loop five times, it equals a mile. There’s a little bridge over a small pond, a gazebo, a basketball court, and a play area for kids. It’s mostly straw at the moment, but I can visualize what it’ll look like in a few years’ time, and I’m sure it’ll look great. Overall good use of this space compared to the empty field that preceded it.

8.2.21Car WashNorthern Kentucky has a lot of really good stuff like this. Too new to be retro, but too crusty to look new. I’m carrying my mirrorless around with me less and less these days since I use it full time for work now, and I’m thankful my iPhone will at least shoot in RAW.

8.3.21A CupHad dinner with Katie, my former colleague, and her fiancée. We talked about what we’re doing post-publishing life and how we navigated our being laid off. She told me about how immediately after we were let go, Local 12 hired someone to fill her position. My first reaction, I admit, was quiet fury. How dare they get rid of us and have the balls to hire someone new into her position like that. It was a slap in the face. Then, after the initial shock wore off, I remembered what someone said to me Friday night in reference to this new era of Refined: “It’s…not good.” They told me this while at the Five Points show I was photographing, and at the time it largely fell on deaf ears. I didn’t care to hear about the site; I haven’t even returned to it since March 9th, and unfollowed it on all channels. But hearing about her position being filled juxtaposed with what that person said to me, I realized everything was fine for us. I realized what Local 12 did was throw away something good and hired individuals to ride the coattails of the success we earned so they can produce sub-par content driven by the Sales team. Not having my name attached to something that lame is a major relief.

8.4.21A Little PartyI photographed a small gathering at the Art Museum tonight. The artists of Future Retrieval had a meet and greet and a dozen people showed up. They mostly stayed in the courtyard, thank god. My flash was dead and it wouldn’t have helped me anyway because I couldn’t use it in the gallery due to the no flash photography policy. This ended up being an unintentional long exposure due to how dim it was in the exhibit. I didn’t feel like shooting at 10000 ISO, so I went with 1250 with a 1/4 sec shutter. Had to prop up on the corner of a door frame to ensure it was sharp enough.

8.5.21Yard “Helper”Little baby doodle girl has been in the yard with me for the last two days while I built the raised flower bed. She thinks that by placing her ball directly in the path of where I’m working, I will play fetch with her. Well, jokes on me because I throw that thing whenever it’s in the way, and she gets what she wants.

8.6.21First FridayMet up with some old coworkers at Darkness and had many beers before retiring to my house a few blocks south to continue the party on the deck. It was First Friday in Bellevue, which means there was a greater number of people roaming the Avenue. It’s always so nice to see so many people out and about.

8.7.2180s Night at BircusJenny, one of my old coworkers who I met up with last night (left in photo), is in an 80s cover band. They played at Bircus tonight, so we all went to go see her do her thing. I was unaware of how awesome Bircus had grown over the years since I was last there. It was a load of fun.

8.8.21Stricker’s GroveWe went to Stricker’s Grove with some friends today. Drank my weight in tiny cups of Mountain Dew, won at mini-golf, ate a green snow cone, rode the Tornado twice, and finished off a roll of film. All of it for $15, too. Good day overall.

8.9.21Dusty EveningThere’s something about summer skies when they’re like this.

8.10.21IngallsYears ago, I would sit in Bruegger’s Bagels in the Ingalls Building on Sunday mornings and drink my coffee with the paper. Today, I downed a coffee on the sidewalk and photographed it as a boutique hotel. I think it’s been about 6 years since I last stepped foot inside the world’s first reinforced concrete skyscraper. Luminaut hired me to photograph their finished work inside the hotel, starting with the common areas. The staircase was probably my favorite feature due to its gradual upward curve around the hanging chandelier. They did a tremendously good job combining Ingalls’ original architecture with a modern aesthetic.

8.11.21Late BloomerThis monstrosity was left hanging on the underside of the porch. It’s so alarmingly large, I thought it was a tarantula at first glance. While I haven’t seen Brood X cicadas in well over a month at this point, there is still a cicada presence around these parts. I am guessing this is one of those seasonal, annual ones that’s unassociated with the 17-year emergence. Either way, they missed the party.

8.12.21It’s Too Hot Out HereAfter spending most of the day indoors due to excessive heat and humidity, Ashley and I went out on the deck after the sun went down just to exercise the dog. While outside, we noticed a massive cloud seizing with lightning in the far distance. Seeing no storms on the weather radar, we assumed this was the result of heat lightning. I’d already brought my camera down to get a photo of the moon, so I started firing at the cloud hoping to score a well-lit frame. Somewhere in those 400 shutter clicks, I got what I came for.

8.13.21A Curious FriendThis little stray let me pet her tonight. She reminded me of a cat we had for a couple of days when I was very young. My parents found a little black kitten outside our house during a big storm and brought her inside to keep her safe. They called her Stormy at the time, presumably because either my sister or I wanted to name her. We ended up giving her away to someone because half of us are allergic to cats, but she made enough of an impression on my young mind that I still think about her to this day.

8.14.21Boba Bottom“There is no greater joy than having two layers of popping boba at the bottom of your cup.” -Abraham Lincoln

8.15.21Community ServiceI started the day scaling my neighbor’s house to climb in her window so I could unlock her door for her. The day then proceeded to be filled with yard work, but not my own—Ashley and I cleared the neglected, empty lot across the street if the tall grass and overgrown weeds. I also repaired the old fence so it stood upright and removed what felt like miles of vines that had snaked their way through the chain links over the years. I then mowed my neighbor’s lawn and trimmed around the landscaping, burning through three rechargeable batteries to so do. I am tired but in such a way that feels really good. It feels nice to feel useful in a community.

8.16.21Waiting PatientlyThe scene whenever Ashley leaves the car. If there’s an open window, Myrtle’s head will be through it.

8.17.21Routing New GroovesI got a commission to make a thing for someone and I got to use my router. This was a plunge cut I’ve never done until today. It doesn’t look like much, and really it isn’t much, but it took some work to line it up properly and build a suitable fence to keep the router stable.

8.18.21My Grandfather’s CollectionMy dad and I drove out to see my grandfather today. It's been years since I'd seen him, and it was great to reconnect. He has an incredible collection of milk bottles in a room above his garage that he's been working on for over 30 years. There are bottles from farms in Ohio, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and many other states, including a bottle from Honolulu, where he lived for two years. His collection had bottles from as far away as England, the paper caps that used to keep them sealed, and various other bits of paraphernalia relating to the industry. It's one of the most unique collections I've seen. Three generations of Armstrong men sat in that room and discussed various topics for a while before heading downstairs to check out his workshop—an addition I don't remember from the last time I was at his house in the late-90s/early-2000s. It was a great afternoon overall.

8.19.21Every Piece Is ImportantAshley had a fancy work dinner at Jeff Ruby’s tonight, leaving myself and the dog to figure out our night together. Following tradition, that means I order a pizza and give the occasional pepperoni to Myrtle while watching TV.

8.20.21BackdropsKendal Floral paid me to create large images for three backdrops they were going to put up during the Wellness Festival at Smale Park. I used Adobe’s Super Resolution feature to get them as large as possible and sent them the files to pass along to their printer. While the warmth of the images looks a little cooler than I’d intended, they turned out good overall. I was surprised by how sharp they were at that size.

8.21.21Oneonta Train StationChelsea and Vince got married along the river at the Inn at Oneonta tonight. After the cake was cut and everyone started dancing, that was my cue to begin an hours long solo journey around the property to check out what I could find. Little sitting areas were scattered throughout and tucked away in places one might miss if they weren’t looking carefully. It was easy to get turned around until I got the lay of the land. The highlight for me was this old train station that stood directly opposite the reception area. The inside left a lot to be desired, but it was still interesting to check out. I ended up sitting on the station platform until everyone was finished. Being the designed driver isn’t the best.

8.22.21Tremendous Prep WorkDespite staying out late at the wedding last night, I had a bright and early 8 AM shoot at ICON at Smale Park. GBBN wanted photos of crews offloading for a show, and they set up a time to photograph Brad Paisley’s load-in. While the Foo Fighters’ security were difficult to work with, Paisley’s didn’t have nearly as many restrictions, making it considerably easier to do my job. I stood in the sun for two and a half hours photographing people offload semis, put lights together, video boards, string cables and chains from the rafters above, and various other show-related activities. In the time I was there, the stage went from relatively empty to almost completely filled. According to a crew member, most of the people there were locals hired to set up the show by Paisley’s crew. It’s amazing how many hands it takes to set up something like this. I understand why tickets to big shows have high price tags now that it’s obvious how many people it takes to make it happen.

8.23.212Productive Days Aren’t Always PhotographicSome days you wake up early to photograph crews unloading multiple semis worth of AV equipment for a well-known artist, and other days you spend all day editing images of a three-story condo you shot days ago only have time to take a picture of your bathroom. This isn’t an image anyone but I will look at twice, and that’s fine. Every time I walk into the kitchen at the end of the night to place my glass into the sink and head up to bed, I catch a glimpse of this room—the one I spent Christmas of last year lightly renovating—and it makes me feel accomplished in a very small way.

8.24.21The Pitch CincyWorking with Luminaut is so satisfying because even though their expectations are high, the challenging jobs they give me end up leveling up my knowledge of architectural photography faster than anything else I do. They gave me their rendering and I recreated it as closely as I could, then I spent time cleaning it up in Photoshop. I remove a lot of small stuff from images like this when I get it into my computer just to give it an extra clean look before I give it to them, but this one took a little extra effort to get right because the screens above the bar were not on when I took the photo. The process of digitally adding the images, which I pulled from my archive to get around any licensing issues, was easy despite taking time. The job took me the entire day to shoot and process, but I got it done and sent it back to them already. When I’m able to turn something around in a little over 12 hours, it’s very satisfying; the client gets what they need quickly and I get to clear it from my job queue without sacrificing quality.

8.25.21A Familiar BillboardWhile headed out of Downtown this morning, I noticed a billboard with an image I made for the Cincinnati Art Museum. It will always be a little awesome to see something I worked on blown up and printed this large.

8.26.21IRL ModsI’ve always wanted a magazine rack to hold the issues I’m currently reading. Instead of getting one, I end up stacking them on my bedside table where I’d rather place my water at night. While looking online for a design I could make with wood, I came upon a Wayfair entry that had the above side table with a U-shaped bit attached to the legs. I already had that exact table sans U-shaped bit, so I modified the one I had to match the one I saw online using scrap wood and leftover grey paint. I also put my iPad into it at night since the charger is nearby. The satisfaction of making something 200% more functional while scratching a builder itch without purchasing anything additional cannot be overstated.

8.27.21Late Evening Dari RunAt the start of summer, I was made aware of the Silver Grove Dari Bar by way of an assignment from Fort Thomas Matters. Our empty fridge left us with little choice but to seek out food tonight, and as it was raining buckets, the car was the only option. Not wanting to hit a drive thru, we opted to revisit the drive-in Dari Bar and had burgers, fries, fried cheesy hash browns, and a cherry shake. The bad weather staved off most of the clientele for the night, leaving us as one of only a handful of cars there to get food.

8.28.21She Went Swimming!Myrtle went swimming in a hidden watering hole in Mariemont today. She was so happy, she cried as she held her stick in her jaws and paddled back to us. Never have I ever seen a dog love swimming as much as she does.

8.29.21Upgraded Teleconferencing BackgroundSince moving into our home a year ago, I’ve done little to my office besides reworking my desk. Today, I changed the wall directly behind me to be more colorful and visually interesting. It took 2.5 coats of paint and one pine board with a couple of brackets to get it to where I wanted it. While the second visual doesn’t adequately capture it, the room is darker and has more of a lounge vibe to it after the sun goes down. I envision this space being better suited to late-night Star Trek episodes and reading in my chair than it was before, as well as a better background for when I need to hop on a teleconferencing call.

8.30.211 Alexander CirclePhotographed 1 Alexander Circle in Fort Thomas today. Essentially a mansion, the property was in a very bad state until a developer swooped in to fix it up. Among the many features that make it appealing, its abundance of pocket doors is the quality I think I’m attracted to most. It’s too big of a house for me, but if I could take a few of these pocket doors and put them in my own home, I would. Photographing them is always a little awkward, but I’ve found that going at them at an angle and removing about 20% of the door from the frame is effective in showcasing its purpose.

8.31.21Brand ManagementNo matter how boring it is today, always photograph brands on shelves for tomorrow. Some of the best photos I’ve seen are ones that include logos from bygone eras and forgotten products.