5.1.26Draw the MundaneFelt inspired to draw some more this week.

5.2.26Trashurday NightI’m in a funk and I don’t know why. Just in a bad mood. We got invited out, but my heart wasn’t in it. Instead, we ordered Poke Hut and sat on the couch and watched old episodes of Jerry Springer on TV.I also randomly watched all of The Gate (1987) again.

5.3.26DetourAshley had a whole day planned out. We’d get up early, get coffee, and go to Trader’s World—a place neither of us had been to in 15+ years. But after talking to friends who’d been more recently, it was decided that Trader’s World was not something we’d probably be into.Instead, we planned on hitting up a couple of proven antique stores nearer to home. However, with the Flying Pig happening, road closures made that plan too difficult. Getting down to Riverside Antiques proved impossible due to road closures no matter which way we went, and we were up too early to go to any of the other nearby shops.In an effort to find our way back home along a route that didn’t involve marathoners, we drove past Burger Farm in Newtown and decided to make a pit stop. I hadn’t been to the nursery there in a long, long time. Ashley found some nice plants for our yard, and I enjoyed the copious amounts of novelty statues they had stocked, like Bigfoot and R2D2.

5.4.26Terrible RealityLearned of the sudden death of a friend and neighbor a couple of hours before my Monday night drawing class. I’m at a loss for words right now. More tomorrow.

5.5.26JudyI needed more space for this than was allowed. The caption for this entry is here.

5.6.26PatienceShe allowed me to place greenery on her head and take this picture. She’s the best dog in the world.

5.7.26Ride at NightWhile photographing an event at the Woodward this evening, a kid rode into my shot, and it suddenly made the shot of the exterior more lively.

5.8.26Getty ImagesI know, I know. Photos of a basketball hoop are comically overdone, but I had little else to photograph today.

5.9.26PareidoliaSeeing meaningful shapes, like faces or letters, in natural formations can be chalked up to the pareidolia phenomenon. While eating a caesar salad, I saw my last name’s initial.I’ll have a better post tomorrow, I promise.

5.10.26Mother’s DayI agreed to do a Mother’s Day photo booth for an acquaintance at the coffee shop I frequent. They have a child’s play place next door, and they wanted to have a booth set up so moms could take professional photos with their kids on their special day. While this is not something I normally do, I thought it would be good to get out of my comfort zone, make some money, and add something new to my list of recent work.Long story short: it went well, but it drained me. I was a zombie the rest of the day. Kids are not for me, and I don’t like working with them. They’re unpredictable, largely ungovernable, and (depending on the temperament of the kid) nearly impossible to work with. I do not think I will do this sort of thing again.Forgive the weirdness of the photo; I didn’t want to post someone’s kid on my site without consent, so I stylized the image to get around it by focusing the camera on a 35mm lens I use for an SLR.

5.11.26Deeper RootsGrabbed coffee at DRC on 4th Street and couldn’t stop myself from snapping a photo of the street on the way back to the truck. It’s just so pretty on that part of downtown. I will always have a soft spot for 4th.

5.12.26Opportunity For Something DifferentI was hired to photograph two days of Arts Impact Ohio for the Ohio Arts Council based in Columbus. The two-day event brought arts organizations from across the state to Cincinnati for a variety of lectures and events around town.They met at The Graduate up in Clifton to kick things off. I have loads of photos of people laughing and speakers at podiums, but this image was the one that sticks with me best. It’s not a great shot or anything; I just liked how the convex reflective surface captured the mundane (a lunch line) in a unique way. There’s only so many ways to make something like that interesting, and this was an opportunity to do something different with it.

5.13.26Susan and RichI see Susan and Rich regularly at Art Museum Founders events. They’re my favorite couple I see at those get togethers because they’re kind, genuinely fun to talk to, and have always taken time to stop and say hello to me in a room full of people. Rich, a photographer himself, introduced himself to me years ago at one of the first events I photographed for the Art Museum, and knowing there’s a friendly face in the crowd who understands what it’s like to do this job makes me feel better.Anyway, Rich told me he drops in from time to time to read my site, and I just wanted to say ‘hi’ on here. Thanks for always being friendly and taking time to catch up. See you at the next one!

5.14.26TiltedDid you know you can do the classic San Francisco tilt shot in our own Prospect Hill?

5.15.26Bird BoxThe Mercantile Library has a peregrine falcon nest that hosts new babies every year. I don’t know when they built her a box, but the falcon who lays her eggs and nurses her chicks into adolescents has a covered shelter these days. They have a couple of webcams you can log into to view them at any time of day, but if you happen to have a pair of binoculars or a telephoto lens, you can see straight into her box from the Mercantile Building’s rooftop next door. Cedric, a librarian at the Mercantile, took me up there while I was at the library for business to get a closer look at them.

5.16.26Party AnimalsWe’re having 12 people over tonight for a yard hang and cookout. We got a small keg from Party Source to keep the drinks filled for the evening without having to deal with all the left over cans. It’s going to be great.

5.17.26Reviewing FootageI recorded last night’s party on VHS with my Panasonic Camcorder and am digitizing the tape.

5.18.26Commercial Drone at WorkPhotographed the purple house for Rebecca today. Since I’m now legally certified to fly drone, I incorporated that into the mix to showcase the proximity of this Mainstrasse property to downtown Cincinnati.

5.19.26Tailgating at the Dari Bar Nothing like eating ice cream in the bed of the truck at the Dari Bar on a summer evening!

5.20.26Vexed-ilologyI saw this at IKEA and thought “oh, this will undoubtedly match up with a country’s flag and I’ll make a fun connection later. Though green/red/white are, indeed, flag colors for Italy and Bulgaria among others, there is not a single flag that I can find that has them stacked horizontally in that order.

5.21.26On Love and LustOne of many stills I made for Music Hall during the performance of ON LOVE AND LUST conducted by Matthew Swanson and performed by Cincinnati Ballet’s Second Company, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, May Festival Chorus, and solo vocalists Victoria Okafor, Sara Couden, Nicholas Phan, and David Soar. I would like to share the whole set on here, but I committed to only one photo a day.

5.22.26BCPR EntranceThe new entrance of Boone County Parks photographed for Hub+Weber Architects.

5.23.26Golden Hour Gutierrez DeliWhile walking out of Wunderbar tonight, I stopped to take a quick photo of Gutierrez Deli during sunset.

5.24.26JoJo ‘n JackAllie and Travis are away, so I stopped by their place to give Jonas and Jack a little love. Jonas was extra snuggly and friendly while I was there, hopping up on my lap and purring incessantly while I gave him scratches under his chin.Speaking of under his chin, what’s happening to my beard is alarming. Am I unintentionally trying to match Jonas’ fur with all that white?

5.25.26Six Years in the MakingSix years ago (May 25, 2020) we saw our house for the first time. The left image is the photo I made that day, before we owned it, and the right image is one I made today from the same perspective. I took photos of the back yard as well, and recreated those photos again six years to the date to see how much as changed.We replaced the old fence that was barely standing up straight. The back yard is no longer random ferns and weeds, but rather a curated mix of native plants and other flowers. The grass in the front yard was completely replaced by a hand-picked jungle of various perennials, annuals, and evergreens built up off the sidewalk with old railroad ties. The sagging deck that came with the house was replaced by a much smaller, more sensibly-sized one. We have a dedicated raised bed for herbs and spices that we pull from for recipes. We have so much more life in this yard now that it brings in birds, bees, and butterflies, and though it’s been a long process, Myrtle finally has a little corner of the world with her own grass that doesn’t come up in clumps every time she chases her ball.I love living in this verdant collection of plants and flowers every day. It took a LOT of work and time, but it feels good to be able to enjoy it without feeling the need to do more.

5.26.26Dayton DuoWhile up in Dayton for work, I snapped a photo of the combination Long John Silvers/A&W restaurant across the street from the gas station I stopped at to refuel.I appreciate the attention to detail of the paint job on the gutters; it’s perfectly split between yellow and orange at the dividing line between the two brands. They didn’t seemingly make that same color choice for the alcove below it, though, as A&W’s orange took over that entire area.

5.27.26DiscoveryFor awhile now, I’ve wondered if there was a bike rack somewhere in the Newport on the Levee garage. Every time I was there, I’d do a quick scan of whatever floor I’d parked on to see if there was a place that made sense to lock up a bike, but never found one.After searching online, I finally decided to give the Levee a call and ask them directly. The guy on the phone said the only place to lock up is on the green parking level in the northwest corner of the garage. “It’s kind of hidden,” he admitted to me. With that knowledge, I decided to ride over there and confirm for myself that it did, indeed, exist. While this isn’t exactly Fort Knox, I’d feel better about leaving the bike here over locking it up on the sidewalk outside where it’s visible to more people.Why the Levee doesn’t have a better, more obvious solution to this baffles me. Newport and the surrounding river cities are highly walkable, and riding a bike to it makes perfect sense for someone like me. It’s just far enough away that it would take about 30 minutes to walk to it, but on a bike, it’s a 5-minute ride.

5.28.26Dayton River TrailTook the bike out this morning for a ride to clear my head and rode the paved trail in Dayton, KY by the river. They recently extended it all the way to the marina, giving cyclists and pedestrians a longer road to enjoy.

5.29.26Summertime From AboveFrom a photoshoot in the northern suburbs for Rookwood Properties. I really like using the drone for work.

5.30.26FotoFocus: Big TentFor the first time, I’ve been lucky enough to work for FotoFocus. Their new building opened on Liberty Street this weekend with ‘Big Tent,’ a show aimed at capturing the many faces and perspectives of Americans for the 250th anniversary of the founding of the country.They hired me to document a series of lectures and the people who attended the event. This was my first time shooting in the space (obviously), but it felt very similar to other art galleries I’ve done before. Hopefully I will get to do it again sooner than later.

5.31.26Da GurlzWent out with Chelsea to eat on the river on a beautiful day.