11.1.23Gambled and Lost“Are you okay with the cars in the foreground of this shot? I don’t want to sink time into the Photoshop if I have to return for another shot,” I asked the architect over email. Usually I get a response rather quickly, but it’d been 30 minutes with no reply. Energized and ready to move forward, my impatience told me to go ahead and start removing all power lines, poles, and shadows. This would be one of the more challenging jobs I’ve done lately, so I thought that if I got started ASAP, I could get it back to the client sooner.Three hours later, at around the 80% finished mark, the architect replied and said they weren’t into the red car. Having gambled and looking more and more like I was going to lose hours of productivity, I tried changing the color of the red car so it would disappear more into the bottom of the frame. No dice. I’ll have to return and get a new image entirely.I’m wondering if I can’t splice a new car over the existing car, though. It’ll be tough, but I’m up for the challenge…

11.2.23RIPAs seen in Linden Grove Cemetery in Covington. I needed to photograph a storefront with very specific lighting, but the sun wasn’t in the right position when I made it over there. To burn some time until I could take the photo, I rode around the city and enjoyed the fresh air. This was taken during that hour and a half of aimless exploration.

11.3.233 Years of ScrapIt’s Ashley’s birthday. We went out to eat at Nada then came back to the house for a bon fire. I had 5 buckets of offcuts and scrap from woodworking projects over the years that were taking up space in my workshop. They met a fiery end in the pit and fueled our evening.

11.4.23Oops!Sometimes you don’t have a remarkable image for the day and all you have to post is an accidental long exposure of something indistinguishable.

11.5.23Toy Bin For a DogI’m making Myrtle a new toy bin for the living room. The basket we have for her now is too deep for her to get at the toys at the bottom. This stylish trough will spread the toys out and the shallow container will be better for reaching toys at the bottom. I’m making it out of poplar and pre-made wooden legs I got on Amazon (didn’t feel like trying and failing to make legs this time).

11.6.23Updated Night ShotThe fine folks at H&H wanted refreshed images of their storefront for the media. I did Golden Hour the other day, and tonight I stopped by to get night shots with the store lit from within.

11.7.23It’s Been AwhileHaving no ability to record audio at a professional level and needing to figure that out before next week, I decided to pick up a set of Rode Wireless Pro mics. Not wishing to wait for delivery, this gave me the opportunity to go to Microcenter—a store that’s been around for as long as I can remember and still thoroughly enjoy.I cannot tell if Microcenter is self-aware or not, but its aesthetic inside and out screams late-90s to me. While it carries modern products, the inside of the store still feels like it’s trapped during the age of dial-up, Windows 95, Sega Genesis, and off-white CRT monitors that will inevitably flicker and buzz at some point. I genuinely love being able to pick up tech while getting a subtle dose of nostalgia during the ride.

11.8.23Four MenThree men lean in around a circular table to listen to a story a fourth man is telling. Seconds later, everyone erupts into laughter.

11.9.23Rode Wireless ProI finally have good lavalier mics. Going to be using them this weekend for a video shoot inside a grocery store. Combining them with DaVinci Resolve, I feel confident I can make something slick for the client.

11.10.23Second StorySecond Story in Covington is a great bar that I want to return to more often. I’m short on words at the moment.

11.11.23La GrangeAshley and I went to La Grange, KY this morning. She saw an article about it recently in Southern Living and thought it looked cute. She knew I would be interested in it because a freight train runs right along it’s Main Street. We took Myrtle with us and were surprised to learn every shop we went into allowed dogs inside—a small luxury we appreciate immensely.The local mercantile clerk said trains run through town on average about 12 times a day. At the time we spoke to her, she said we were “due for one” since she hadn’t seen one for several hours. Eagerly awaiting the photo opportunity a train passing through town would offer, I plotted the corner I’d run to when I heard the distant wail of its horn.We were there for three and a half hours. No train ever came. I couldn’t believe our luck. Guess we’ll just have to go back.

11.12.23Video-Making and the Floral WorldI guess I’m a professional videographer now. A prominent floral supplier (not Ashley’s company) hired me to co-direct and film a floral-based video for them using a display at the Newport Kroger store. The video will be used internally for training purposes. While it certainly won’t be interesting to many, I hope whoever watches it will find it helpful and engaging for the 60 seconds we aim to cut together. It's a tiny little project, and I’m thankful I get to work on something bite-sized to kick off this new career angle.

11.13.23Video-Making and the Mural WorldWorked on finishing the first draft of a two-minute mini-documentary about the Cincinnati Pride mural ArtWorks made over the summer. I photographed the process months ago and recorded video while there. Using interviews with horrible audio from the dedication ceremony in September, I was able to put together a decent little video about it for ArtWorks. Waiting to hear back about further edits.I made the jump from Adobe Premiere Pro to DaVinci Resolve recently. After speaking with professionals in the industry, it’s clear many are either Premiere die-hards or making the jump to Resolve. Very few contemporary videographers and editors I’ve spoken to are using Final Cut any longer. The ones who are tell me they’re eyeballing their strategy to transition to Resolve. Before I get more into this, I decided I should probably hoist sails the way the industry’s blowing to make it easier on myself down the road. The best thing about Resolve is it’s a one-time fee of $300 for the full software without a monthly charge. Remember when using software wasn’t based on a subscription service?While there is a learning curve, I’m finding the all-in-one software remarkably easier to use overall than Premiere. I’ve already been able to create effects in Resolve that I couldn’t begin to tell you how to make in Premiere. This faster pipeline to make better, more polished content faster only reinforces my desire to keep using it. The amount of YouTube tutorials available, too, has been very helpful.

11.14.23Never Did This BeforeThere are moments when we can say for certainty that we haven’t done something before, and that novelty makes us pause to appreciate uncharted territory, however mundane it may be. Placing a sealed bottle of red wine in the cup holder of the car is one of those times for me.

11.15.23The Bellevue Hill Park ‘N TagThe pavilion in Bellevue Hill Park is looking far more colorful than normal. I’m of two minds about this. On one hand, I think graffiti is an art form that enhances a space or wall considerably when done well. There are many examples of photogenic graffitied walls and buildings throughout the world that I appreciate. On the other hand, this specific mid-century pavilion was beautiful already without spray paint, and the graffiti here doesn’t do it for me at all. I wonder if anyone’s planning to remove this or if this will remain a canvas.

11.16.23Murals in CUFA client needs photos of several newer murals around CUF, so I went out on foot to grab as many as I could. The light wasn’t right for a couple of them, but I think this one turned out well.

11.17.23CAM Gala 2023What a night! The Art Museum had me photograph their annual end-of-year gala again. This year, I brought along a second shooter, Justin, to assist with coverage. The 2023’s theme was ‘We’ll Always Have Paris.’The approach to the Great Hall (the one with the Steinberg mural) had street lamps with warm, flickering bulbs and two artificial trees that felt like they belonged on either side of a city street. A mime (pictured) wandered through the crowd and interacted in ways you’d imagine, often making an effort to photo-bomb my portraits. A man playing accordion in a beret slowly made his way through all the rooms, filling each one with Parisian tunes.Everyone was in great spirits and no one turned down the chance to be photographed. We worked for five and a half hours, capturing everything we could. As usual, the Great Hall is difficult to photograph due to its high ceilings that don’t bounce flash as easily as other rooms, but I think we still managed to gather a healthy gallery of images the museum will like.

11.18.23Nailed By ButtonzI spent the entire day processing and editing CAM photos from last night. Tonight, though, we went to Kiki in College Hill to get ramen. This is a few doors down. I wonder if the goat was actually at the photoshoot or if it was edited in later.

11.19.23Out For a WalkCAM photos from Friday were still in need of processing, so I spent a good deal of the day doing that. Feeling bad for a very bored Myrtle, we did make time to walk her and get her out of the house. We’ve been treating her with kid gloves lately due to her still healing after her surgery. She wants to play and rough house, but we’re not taking a chance on her opening up that wound and having to return to the vet.

11.20.23The AntiquesWe have this antique phone desk in my dining room that we placed an old rotary phone on. It’s not plugged in, nor does it have a wire any longer. It’s a color we liked (guessing it was manufactured in the 70s?), and thought it would look nice on this desk as a piece of idle decor. We found the phone at an antique show a couple of years ago, and the desk is a piece of furniture my grandmother once had in her hallway. I remember doing my math homework on it once when I was young.I like furniture that exists to serve a need that no longer exists. Even cordless phones were popularized in the 80s. The concept of needing a place to sit down where the telephone had to stay, while not something alien to my generation, is still wild. (We had a rotary in our household up until the 2000s.)

11.21.23Lego OrchidAshley got a neat Lego orchid for her birthday. I saw Chris Glass using construction paper as a simple mobile backdrop in Spring Grove Cemetery years ago, so I attribute learning the technique to him. He is inadvertently the creative director of this image.

11.22.23Frat HouseThis image took me somewhere around 3 hours to fully touch up. Removing conduit and utilities, track lighting installed in the wrong place, and color correcting using over ten different masks made crafting this particular shot a long, arduous task. All in all, I’m pleased with how it turned out.

11.24.23Made a TurkeyI was in charge of acquiring, cooking, and serving the turkey this year. For my first time ever, I think it went pretty well. I’m notoriously bad at cooking anything, so the fact that I managed to produce a decent turkey was a small miracle.

11.25.23Rosemary MargaritaAshley made a rosemary margarita for a get-together we had this evening at our house. It was so pretty, I thought it should be commemorated with a photo.

11.25.23Pub Mix ContestAllie and Travis hosted a party in which everyone made their own pub mixes, and attendees could give each a try. The mixes ranged from savory to sweet, with some spicier than others. I couldn’t decide whether I preferred the savory or sweet mixes more, honestly.

11.26.23Picture ThisTook this sign as a directive. Also, I do not feel well, and I’m going to bed early. Think I caught a bug over the weekend.

11.27.23Snoot StandA nasty cold took me out late last night and kept me in bed for the first half of the day before I managed to get downstairs to the couch. I had to cancel work and focus on recovery. Between bouts of heavy eyelids and sinus pressure, I watched TV and threw the many toys Myrtle delivered to the edge of the cushion beside me. When Ashley joined me on the couch, Myrtle decided snuggle time was more important than playtime. I sometimes like to put my hand beneath her chin and hold her little head up. She lay with her head in my hand for 15 minutes before I could no longer support her weight and gently let her go.

11.28.23Fell Off a CliffDespite feeling well enough to sit at my desk and hammer out a half day of work, I started feeling absolutely horrible around 6 PM and made the decision to go to bed early. Fever kicked in, body aches, constant coughing and nose-blowing. The only reprieve I found from the symptoms was a video on YouTube where a guy built a log cabin under a large rock using only an axe, a saw, and some nails. Ashley decided to sleep in the basement to keep herself out of range of my coughing.

11.29.23Sleeping BuddyLast night’s sleep, if you could call it that, was awful. Fever dreams kept me waking up every 30 minutes or so, and my chest felt like it was on fire when I coughed. When dawn arrived, I managed to relax enough that I could get about an hour of sleep. Spent the rest of the day in bed and on the couch with no work done. Ashley didn’t fare well in the basement and wanted the bedroom again, so we swapped places. Myrtle, in a surprising move, decided to sleep with me this evening. I think she can tell something’s wrong. Need to kick this thing before an event I need to shoot Friday night.

11.30.23Bland MealFruit and vegetables? Check. Carbohydrates and protein? Check. Hydration? Check. This is possibly the healthiest meal I’ve eaten as of late, and since I taste nothing anyway due to this virus, the urge to eat anything fattening and delicious is wholly unappealing.I did go to the doctor today and get prednisone for whatever’s attacking me. They COVID tested me again and it’s negative. Starting to feel like I have a handle on this thing now. Should be good for tomorrow’s event.I sat in front of the TV and watched three hours of Bar Rescue, ate my Bland Meal, and went downstairs for another night in the basement.