11.1.25Ashley’s Pre-BirthdayAshley’s birthday is on the 3rd. Since that falls on Monday and Mondays are generally no fun, we celebrated her today. She planned herself a 3-hour massage, but after that, it was up to me to come up with some stuff to do.Long story short, we shopped, she napped with Myrtle, and I took her out to eat with Allie and Travis at Nada. Afterward, we went over to Orchid at the Palm for a night cap.Also, the Blue Jays lost the World Series. Stupid Dodgers.

11.2.25Insta360This will likely be the first in a string of oddly panoramic and warped images made with my new Insta360 camera. I picked this up for work so I can make Matterport walkthrough videos for clients, but I suspect this will quickly become a toy that I use often for my own projects.I bought it last week without really knowing how to use it just yet. Today, though, I dug into the nitty gritty details about shooting, editing in the Insta360 software, and exporting what I’d made. I spent the whole day learning how to use it and experimenting with its features, learning a lot in the process.I feel confident I’ll be able to produce interesting work while having some fun with this thing in the coming months.

11.3.25Still-Life With Cat StatueAs seen at Hoste in Walnut Hills.

11.4.25Jaws Of LifeThere was a touch-a-truck event down at the park over the weekend, and part of that whole shebang was a jaws of life demonstration on some junked cars. The annoying part, though, was they just left the aftermath—broken glass and jagged metal and all—in the middle of the park. There was an attempt to caution tape it all off, but…well, you can see in the photo how well that went.

11.5.25Riverside ViewsShot a beautiful house on the river in Covington today. The front stoop included a large patio with several groupings of chairs and tables that overlooked the river and Cincinnati skyline.

11.6.25Small Apartment on Vine StreetSelf-explanatory, really. No more than 400 square feet. On the 1700 block of Vine Street.

11.7.25Streaming Things LiveSteve, Kit, and Andy brought a community of incredible people from around the world to Cincinnati for another Streaming Things Live show at the Woodward Theater tonight. Huge congrats to the boys, the excellent cohosts who joined them on stage, and (of course) to all the listeners (Fiends) who flew out to support them.And to top things off, Erica and Steve surprised everyone by getting married on stage with Kit and Andy officiating in front of everyone after the show!I was lucky enough to be the photographer for the event again. After the show, and after the wedding concluded, I had nearly everyone pack in tight for a massive group photo.

11.8.25Sleepy Pup at Music HallWhile photographing a performance, I saw this service dog sawing logs and thought it was adorable.

11.9.25BRETT! BRETT! BRETT!Erica sent me a last-minute invite to their house to hang out with the few Fiends who were still in town after the Live show this weekend. While everyone has been able to hang out together since Thursday, I’ve been busy with work and haven’t been able to really spend as much time with them as I’d like. Her invite was a chance to get one last visit in before the scatter back across the globe.One of my favorites is Brett. He’s from Sacramento, loves tiki drinks, apparently has a ska band that I’ve demanded to hear since learning about it a couple days ago, and adores cats. He’s awesome, I love hanging out with him, and I really hope to see him again sooner than next year at the inevitable follow-up live show.

11.10.25Surprise Snow DayWinter decided to drop in early despite it being peak autumn at the moment. It’s weird seeing orange and yellow leaves, pumpkins, and mums caked in a light powder. I think it looks nice, really.This is a good reminder that all these leaves will be gone this time next month, and all subsequent snow will fall upon gray and brown branches instead of a colorful canopy of leaves.

11.11.25Aurora BorealisThe Northern Lights swung so far south from their usual location, we could see them with the naked eye in the city in Northern Kentucky. Apparently we’re seeing the effects of a solar storm, making the lights visible in places they don’t normally show up.They’re supposed to be just as strong tomorrow. We’re going to go out into the country to try to see them again, but under darker conditions.

11.12.25Louisville RunWell, we didn’t see the Northern Lights last night, sadly. I took my cameras out, including the Insta360 to run a timelapse, and nothing showed up.I had a job in Louisville today. It was unremarkable, save for stopping to watch a demolition crew taking down what’s left of what looked to be an old hospital at one time.

11.13.25Barbara’s 50thBarbara hired me to photograph her 50th birthday party at Prim this evening. She managed to gather hundreds of well-known business leaders, artists, and people-about-town on a Thursday night to celebrate her milestone. That’s no small feat.Happy birthday to her!

11.14.25Revisiting ChildhoodEveryone left town, including Ashley. I asked Ronny if he was free since he was one of the few who didn’t. We made a plan to meet up and check out a bar in Camp Washington, but when he got in the car, the subject of Eastgate Mall randomly popped up.We quickly ditched our plans and set course for my childhood mall that I hadn’t been to in at least a decade.When we got there, it was immediately apparent that Eastgate Mall is not long for this world. Like many of its peers, it’s dying. Though Cincinnati Mills and Tricounty were reduced to rubble within the last few years, Eastgate is still intact with 34 active listed businesses in its directory. 10 years ago, I swear the mall was still half full.Eastgate was a special place to me as a kid and later as a teenager. I have fond memories being there with my parents and friends. When I was a teen, I’d go to Walden Books, Hot Topic, and EB Games every time I visited. I’d wander over to Sears and say hi to my buddy John. Mike and I got kicked out of there once for horseplay. I can’t count the number of dates I had that included walking around that place at some point in the evening. Seeing it desperately holding on today after 30+ years of it feeling alive was disheartening. I documented our walkthrough with my Insta360 wedged in my sling bag. At one point, we sat down in the food court and ate some lo mein from one of the few restaurants remaining. Afterward, we hit up a used video game store that had colorful carpet, music playing from the ceiling, and a couple of customers shuffling through the aisles. It was the only place in the entire building that we went in that had as close to a “mall” vibe as I remember.I know it’s unrealistic to hope that a place like this can return to some semblance of what it was in my memory, but I truly feel like malls dying are a huge loss for society—especially kids. I cannot imaging being a teenager and not having a third space like this. A place where I could spend as little as I wanted and still have a social, public place to hang out indoors.At this point, I’m not even sure I’m ever going to go back before it goes. There was so little to see in there, so little vitality, that the next visit will surely end up being sadder than this one. Not sure I can stomach that a second time.

11.15.25Myrtle’s InjuredMyrtle and I went up to Kevin’s house to throw ball in the alley with his dogs, Taffy and Finn. At some point, Myrtle must’ve pulled a muscle in her leg because she started limping later on in the evening. Since this was the only activity she did all day, I assume that was the cause of the injury. She’s going to rest and take it easy the next few days.

11.16.25Trash Can LarryThe cat that hangs by the door outside Hansman’s has a collar that says his name is Trash Can Larry and that he’s the Mayor of 5th Avenue.

11.17.25Straight Outta TreatsI’m still watching Jack and Jonas. Took the 360 camera over and had some fun recording them for Travis and Allie. This still looked like an album cover.

11.18.25Radha LakshmiA portrait of artist Radha Lakshmi working on a collaborative piece right before an event at ArtWorks’ creative campus.

11.19.25Mad Magazine ExhibitRonny helped me photograph the newest exhibit opening at the museum this evening. They needed someone to man the entrance while someone else did candids. He took on the entrance position.

11.20.25Last-Minute AwardsDaria called me yesterday about adding a last-minute shoot to my schedule this morning. It took place in the ballroom at Music Hall.

11.21.25Louis Langrée ReturnsThe beloved conductor took a break for a year, but his return to Cincinnati was met with an enthusiastic crowd.

11.22.25Wedding Pt. IIErica and Steve got married in front of a very, very tiny crowd in the woods of French Park this evening. I was lucky enough to be chosen to do their photos.They were “married” at the live show a couple weeks ago, but that was mainly just for fun for the friends and podcast-listeners. This one was the real deal. It was wonderful and I’m so happy for them.

11.23.25Fog on the WaterSelf-explanatory.

11.24.25John’s HouseJohn’s moving, so I photographed his house for him. I really like the house, actually. Were I in the market for one, I’d buy it. One of the things l love doing most is going back for the small details after shooting all the rooms.

11.25.25IllustrationI’m getting back into analog art and illustration in particular. I have an itch that I haven’t quite been able to scratch lately, and I think it’s because I feel so creatively stunted. Photography is hugely important to me, both as an artist and as a professional, but because it takes up so much of my daily life, I find it exhausting at times.I’m in a private Discord for Steve’s podcast. One of the channels is based around Star Trek. One of the guys in there, Alex, drew his dream crew, and that got me itching to do something similar. I did a classic pile-of-heads illustration of my dream crew, dropped it in Discord, and a fire was lit beneath me. I felt satisfied in a way I haven’t in a while. It made me want to do more.So, I started sketching again. Myrtle is always a go-to for me, so I did this sketch in about 45 minutes this evening. It’s sloppy, but it scratched the itch again. I’m going to keep going with it.

11.26.25Sketching JackA continuation from yesterday. Did a dog, now it was time for a cat. I chose Jack. Probably going to add Jonas, his brother, beneath at some point.

11.27.25Unusually FestiveI had a moment of unusual festiveness and suggested to Ashley that we put up the tree and Christmas decor. Normally I wouldn’t do it on Thanksgiving, but here we are.

11.28.25Sorrento’sI’d never been to Sorrento’s until this evening. It was good! The neon outside was a nice touch, too.

11.29.25Mohican DriveJust a shot from an Airbnb shoot.

11.30.25Ultimate RelaxationAshley used to like watching TV in bed, but we haven’t had one in our bedroom for a long time. It’s not a large enough room for a big TV, really. To get around this, I suggested we try setting up the projector we use for outdoor movie nights on the wall for her. There’s no horizontal keystone correction on this particular projector, though. It’s temporarily rigged on a monolight stand while I have another, better projector on order from B&H. The new one will sit on the shelf by the closet and will be able to correct the angle unlike the one we currently have.