6.1.23Middletown’s CarnegieOccasionally I get to photograph historic places that have been forgotten, abandoned, and left to rot. Photographing these spaces is always a mixed bag for me; while I love capturing an old space after its heyday and before further transformation, it’s also incredibly sad that these places have been neglected. Tack on the varying threat of physical harm while navigating these spaces as well as the rush of excitement and it’s a rollercoaster of emotion every time. Today, I photographed the empty Carnegie Library in Middletown for its owner, an affable architect who had big plans for it up until recently. While it’s in less than stellar shape, I could tell the owner worked to mitigate the ailing condition of this place. This one wasn’t left to rot when it came under his possession. He cares about every inch of it and has a vision for what it can be one day despite it all. Regardless, he’s selling it after five years of trying and failing to convince the city to help him get it off the ground. His passion for this building is commensurate with the hurt in his voice when he speaks of selling it. Despite his efforts and thorough plans to breathe life back into this important piece of built history, he’s concluded he’s no longer the one to do it. I appreciate people like him—people who care about the past and seek to preserve a piece of it so the future can be a little brighter. I truly wish it had worked out for him.

6.2.23Tiffany & JustinJustin and Annie get married tomorrow. Tonight was the rehearsal and dinner at The Columns—a place I photographed nearly every month over the course of two years during its development. It was really nice to get to enjoy it as a guest for once. Anyway, Tiffany and Justin (pictured) are two of my best friends and getting a photo of them together in their respective elements was a great little bonus today. As a groomsman in the wedding, I’m really looking forward to being even a tiny part of Justin and Annie’s big day while we party with our friends. Tiffany and Steven are staying with us at our house, making the whole weekend even more fun.

6.3.23Mr. KohlJustin is a married man! All the groomsmen got together mid-morning at Netherland Plaza to get suited up, drink bourbon, and take photos with Justin on his wedding day. As we approached go-time for the ceremony, we cleared our heads, got into position, and stood like statues off to the side while Justin and Annie were legally and spiritually joined on the altar by her Rabbi brother. Afterward, we gathered in the reception hall and had an absolute blast raising Justin and Annie into the ceiling during the Hora dance. The wedding was by far the most lavish, energetic, and fun wedding I think I’ve ever attended, and knowing I got to be a special part of it was truly an incredible feeling. By the end of the night, with my aching body fighting fatigue, I collapsed into bed happy and satisfied that all of Justin and Annie’s friends and family were able to give them the day they’ve wanted for so long.

6.4.23One More Round at the NetherlandA post-wedding brunch was held in the Continental Room the next morning. We groggily took our house guests to Unataza (that Sunday ritual is important) before heading over to the Netherland one last time. After breakfast, Tiffany and Steven’s plane failed to arrive, rerouting them back to our house for one more evening. Sitting on the porch with a pizza and good friends until the sun goes down is a top-three activity, in my opinion. I was so wrapped up in being present with them, I actually forgot to take a photo.

6.5.23Canadian WildfiresReuters reports the wildfires spreading through Canada are on track to be the worst the country has ever experienced. 120,000 people have been displaced at the time of this writing, and thousands more are under evacuation orders. Quebec, northeast of Ohio, is experiencing the worst of the fires. They’re so intense, we’re seeing smoke from all the way up north travel down to us. That smoke thickens the sky with a heavy haze and morphs the sun into a dim, red glowing orb you can stare at directly without hurting your eyes. I truly feel awful for everyone directly affected up there.

6.6.23Little Known GardenI still need to hit this place up.

6.7.23Lingering HazeThe air quality is still pretty abysmal here. After photographing an event at CAM, I rushed home, got Myrtle, and we drove up to 15th Street in Newport to check out the view before it disappeared for the evening. I figured it would look wild. It would later grow dimmer and redder as it sunk into the horizon. I tried getting over to another vantage point before it went down, but there wasn’t enough time. If you’re worried you don’t have enough time to catch the sunset in a specific location, you were too late 10 minutes ago.

6.8.23River City SunsetSome good light bouncing off The Fairfield tonight.

6.9.23Congrats, Keith & MarissaKeith and Marissa did the coolest thing I’ve seen at a wedding lately: they told the officiant to ask everyone to put away their phones for the ceremony. It was awesome and so much more enjoyable than watching friends get married through cousin Bridget’s, neighbor Larry’s, and Aunt Petuna’s video app raised high into the air despite the fact that a professional photographer is paid to document the event. They also had these cute custom drink stirrers made with their cat’s face on them. It makes me retroactively regret not doing this for my own wedding years ago.

6.10.23Tarbell SightingMet up with friends in Northside today for a photo walk. We got coffee at Collective, walked around the neighborhood a bit, had a less-than-stellar but not wholly unexpected experience with a rude barista at <redacted> who seemed to really dislike us for some reason, and ended up with beer and loaded fries at NSYC before heading home. Oh, and we saw Jim Tarbell en route to Ruth’s. Good morning and afternoon overall.

6.11.23Art AmplifiedArtWorks hired me to photograph their first annual Art Amplified event that took place over the course of a whole day around Over-the-Rhine. Live painting and drawing, music, and dancing at Alice, drinks and yoga at Somerset, dinner at Somerhaus with Wildweed in the kitchen and Revel on the wine, and a glorious post-sunset projection show by Brave Berlin. Dan and I climbed up to the neighboring Roadtripper’s roof for the projection and accompanying photo and only left when it began raining around 10 PM. While it was a long 12-hour day, I had a blast working with good people and photographing a fun, colorful, memorable event.

6.12.23So DramatiqueMonday ennui has returned for the most pampered, spoiled labradoodle in the Greater Cincinnati Area.

6.13.23A Wild Bush Void AppearsIt’s been a day of cats in Bellevue. Saw this little one on my walk to the coffee shop this morning, and then a chatty orange guy wandered up on our porch and taunted Myrtle behind the storm door.

6.14.23She’ll Beg a Food TruckMiller’s Fill-Inn, which was recently purchased and renamed to The Fill-Inn, had a food truck parked beside it over the last few days. We went down for burritos and quesadillas and Myrtle, in a move that surprised even me, begged at the window of the truck. We’ve been to countless food trucks with her over the years but I’ve never seen her sit beside the window like she did with this truck. Apparently she really liked the smell of the food they were cooking. To be fair, the food was exceptional and I totally understand her determination to try to cop a scrap from it.

6.15.23PodcastingSteve invited me onto his podcast, Streaming Things, to discuss the first episode of season two of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. We’ll be recording a show every week recapping new SNW episodes as they air, and the show we record will drop the day after. He’s not only doing SNW with me, though. His schedule is so full at the moment with shows to watch and cover that he has to organize them on a large calendar on the wall.

6.16.23Factory 52While in Norwood for something else, I went over to Factory 52 to scope it out for an upcoming job. I hadn’t been there since Travis and I photographed the soon-to-be-demolished buildings back in March of 2020—the last thing we did together before all hell broke loose. The whole area is impressive with a popular brewery, a food hall that’s going in nearby on the property, retail shops, and plenty of walkable areas with card sculptures and colorful murals. I want to go back to enjoy it instead of just doing recon soon.

6.17.23Chipotle EvolvesMaybe this isn’t anything new, but I didn’t realize Chipotle was putting in drive-throughs for pick-up orders until today. This one, a new location, is in Pleasant Ridge.

6.18.23Rescuing BeautyAfter working outside all day and riding our bikes (even with Myrtle!) around town, we ventured down to the train tracks to pick these brilliant red flowers that sprang up at the edge of the gravel. Ashley’s been eyeing them for a week from the bridge above that leads us to our street. “I need to get down there and see what those are soon,” she’d say. Today was the day. She took them home, put them in a glass milk pint, and staged them on the dining table.

6.19.23Single ExposureDidn’t leave the house today. Enough desk work kept me busy. Got as far as the porch before deciding today wasn’t a day to interact with the world beyond. I used the rain to justify being a hermit and thanked it for giving my garden a free drink and my water bill a break. This slower pace and insularity contrasts heavily with the previous few weeks but is by no means unwelcome.

6.20.23Most Important OriginWork took me two streets over from the childhood house I consider to be the most important of my life. If ever a physical place could be infused with my memories, this modest little place at the end of a cul-de-sac on the east side of Cincinnati could scarcely contain the volume I keep with me today.With the exception of the first few months, I spent seven years of my life under this roof learning everything from how to walk to how to play. We moved out of it in 1993, but this place—more so than anywhere else my parents moved us—was always home to me.It’s where I played my first Nintendo, rode my first bike, saw my first baby bunny, picked up my first cicada, got my first insect sting, met my only sibling, made my first friend, rode my first school bus, suffered my first illness, ate my first gummy shark, saw my first movie, and the place where I remember feeling joy for the first time. I remember learning how morning light could pass through a translucent Lego brick and cast a colored shadow on the baseboard in the hallway—the same hallway that, at night, was the scariest route from the kitchen to the bathroom while invisible monsters nipped at my heels, always one step from “getting me.”I remember the nook by the china cabinet that I’d stand in and wait for my mom to come out of the bathroom in the morning so we could eat breakfast. I remember watching Nick at Night on the cabinet TV downstairs, the smell of my dad’s electric train set in the corner, and reading a book about dinosaurs at night in my room.The back yard was enormous and the street was never-ending in length to my child’s mind. It was, for a time, the center of my universe.When I walked that same street today, it felt remarkably tiny. My universe has greatly expanded in 30 years. It was comforting to see the house is in good shape and taken care of. Maybe one day I will get the chance to walk through it again.

6.21.23ChihulyThe show-stopping Chihuly sculpture, Rio Delle Torreselle Chandelier, suspended above the front desk at the Cincinnati Art Museum. Every time I see it, I cannot help imagining how anxiety-inducing the install was for this beautiful, fragile work of art. There has to be someone in that museum who can retell the story about that process. Apparently it’s dusted once a year by two conservationists working from either side of the piece.

6.22.23Rest in PeaceAs I sat down across from Steve in the podcast studio, I placed my phone with the Notes app already on the screen in the cradle across from the microphone. Headphones went on, I adjusted the glass of wine on the coaster in front of me, and Steve’s finger hovered over the bright red ‘record’ button on the control panel. It was in that moment that I saw a notification that Ashley was calling.I was not prepared for the sounds that would come from the other end of the line. Every time I asked her what was happening, I grew exponentially more panicked when she couldn’t coherently express the reason for the sorrow she was experiencing. After a grueling eternity of confusion and fear, she momentarily overcame her sobs to tell me one of her relatives unexpectedly died—someone she’d seen merely 24 hours prior at another relative’s funeral.Podcasting was no longer on the itinerary. Instead, we focused on easing her grief. A UDF milkshake. Some funny dog videos on Instagram. Listening, not talking. An early bed time.Linda was a great person and one of my favorites from Ashley’s side of the family. She never had a bad thing to say about anybody. She was always pleasant. Always kind, never rude or in a bad mood. Always lighthearted. She didn’t seemingly buy into the bullshit others tried feeding her, and she lived life in a way that makes a lot of sense to me. We will miss her.

6.23.23The JackalopeDoes anyone remember how America’s Funniest People had a supremely unfunny bit that involved Dave Coulier doing a little voice for a character called the Jackalope? Its catchphrase was something akin to “fast as fast can be, you’ll never catch me!” Anyway, I cannot see rabbits with antlers without thinking of it and I will probably take that to my grave.

6.24.23Schwartz’s PointWe finally went to a show with a group of friends at Schwartz’s Point tonight. After a nice dinner at Kanji, we all walked over to claim our reservation and began chipping away at the drink minimum. I like jazz well enough, but it’s not something I turn on when I want to focus on the music. It’s always been pleasant background noise. But as I watched the drummer use various instruments to make different sounds at intervals I couldn’t anticipate, and as the upright bass player picked away at nearly silent strings in an irregular fashion, I felt myself appreciate the genre more than I had before. That said, every jazz song begins sounding different from the one played before it prior to becoming completely indistinguishable from the others by the end. I do not have an ear for it, but I do like it.

6.25.23Day Trip“Are you up for a day trip?” Chris asked over text. I absolutely was. Our destination: Gary, Indiana—birthplace of the Jackson Five, home to one of the largest steel manufacturers in the country, and once known in newspaper headlines as ‘the murder capital of the United States.’If you know little about Gary, read up on it. The tale of its seemingly overnight founding, its rise to prominence in the 1960s, and its eventual slide into population decline and urban decay due to myriad factors is a tragic one. You can find articles online as recently as last year saying it’s the most depressing place to live in the country despite once being a place people poured into looking for work.Yes, Gary has work to do before it can reclaim its mantle as a desirable place to live. But according to Chris, someone who has visited many times over the last few decades, it’s looking a little better than it did before. The statistic that always fueled my curiosity about Gary was how 20% of it is abandoned—a number I can’t confirm but sadly seems accurate after having driven through a large swath of it. I’m not someone who breaks into abandoned places for photos, but I do like photographing these forgotten and neglected places from the sidewalk.I’m debating whether or not I should do a blog post about the city and what I saw, but I want to make sure I’m respectful about it.After seeing Gary, we popped up to Chicago for a couple hours before heading home. This pleasant little scene of kids tossing football with Chicago in the far distance across Lake Michigan at Rainbow Beach Park was the surprise frame I didn’t expect to get today.

6.26.23No More ConcessionsThere are signs that say we’re not allowed to walk our dog around Bellevue High School’s football field, but we did it anyway. Considering the state of the track, the rusting equipment on the weedy field, and the neglected buildings, I don’t think our dog is going to have a negative impact on this place. It’s a shame it’s been left to rot like this; especially since it’s still actively used every year. There just isn’t money allocated to address it. Hell, the football program this past year was in danger of dissolving. I didn’t grow up here and don’t know what it looked like 20+ years ago when I would’ve been in high school, but I imagine it was better than it is today.

6.27.23Riding With the UBBCIt is my estimation that riding bikes with someone you like is the best way to experience being on a bicycle. It’s even better when your respective paces match each other and no extra effort is made to keep up on either side. When I ride with Bob and the UBBC, I get to experience that feeling.Though the air was becoming polluted with Quebec smoke, the UBBC still met in Washington Park and set course for Eli’s BBQ in the East End. The leisurely ride was pleasantly unburdened by the usual cavalcade of drivers hell-bent on making our ride more dangerous than it should be. Leading the pack, Bob and I discussed everything from bike rides to friends to the pros and cons of social media and everything in between.Of course, the BBQ at Eli’s was a highlight, too. And bonus: I think I’ve finally found the best way to use my Nikon while riding. It involves a lot of blind firing and timing, but the treat of later discovering what I managed to catch on the ride is a novelty worth repeating.I split off and took the Purple People Bridge back over to NKY on our way back, burning my lungs with the worsening air as I picked up the pace in a rush to get home to see Myrtle.

6.28.23Visibility IssuesAs mentioned in yesterday’s post, the air quality in our region is growing worse. In fact, it didn’t even seem this bad a month ago when the fires smoked us out the first time. The news said Chicago had the worst air quality of any city in the world yesterday; I’m betting Cincinnati is up there today.Normally I’d plan to stay indoors on a day like this and rely on the luxury of breathing central air, but I had to leave to assist Justin with taking his first professional headshot for someone in West Chester. Afterward, he treated me to Trophy Pizza and I went home to avoid being out in the air any longer.Before heading back, I stopped on O’Fallon to observe the visibility to downtown. As you can see, it’s not good. With thousands of fans coming to Cincinnati for the outdoor Taylor Swift shows this weekend, I’m worried the air quality will still be horrible.That is obviously the secondary concern. The fires in Canada, not the smoke in Cincinnati, is the biggest issue.

6.29.23Swiftly ApproachingCincinnati is gearing up for a Taylor Swift two-day visit at Paycor Stadium. As such, Taylor-mania is in full force. Bellevue even renamed Taylor Avenue temporarily to give her a nod. I knew she was one of the biggest acts of the modern age, but I don’t think Cincinnati’s had this big a performer visit since Paul McCartney played GABP in 2011.I have no opinion on Taylor Swift, but I’m genuinely happy so many are jazzed about her visit. It’s good to see people excited about something fun, and the economic impact she’ll bring to the region is wonderful.

6.30.23The Full SpectrumThe day began with a job photographing a dental implant presentation given by a Brooklyn surgeon in a classroom on the east side. The day ended with a rowdy, fun-filled drag performance in Eden Park. It’s a pain in the ass sometimes, but being a freelance photographer is a load of fun on days like this.