4.1.22Weakest LinkBad self-esteem day. One day after a client paid me a priceless compliment, I am feeling pretty low about myself. I made small mistakes today at the shop that are still driving me crazy even though they aren’t big deals in the grand scheme of things. From not sanding a piece properly and having my coworker show me what I did wrong in front of the new guy to stupidly hitting my head on the swinging door while trying to vacuum up the wide belt, I just always feel like the weakest link even though I genuinely am trying to give it my 100%. I feel like the weakest link in a lot of areas in my life, and I wish I were better.

4.2.22Saturday WalkThe corner of Division and Washington, Bellevue.

4.3.22Sunday WalkFairfield Avenue, Dayton.

4.4.22Monday WalkWashington Avenue, Bellevue.

4.5.22Tuesday WalkBlue/orange lighting in the wild.

4.6.22Wednesday WalkReally looking forward to planting our gardens this year.

4.7.22Thursday WalkA stranger on a bike with a speaker playing music stopped a few feet in front of me to look at this view. I think he was curious about why I was taking a photo.

4.8.22Friday WalkCovington, midday.

4.9.22SurrealismI’m now entering a point in my career where I am being paid to shoot houses I’ve already shot years ago because ownership has changed hands. This feels wild to me.

4.10.22SimplicityI wanted to shoot a scene with ambiguous meaning. Something two people can end on different meanings while looking at the same photo. It’s minimal, but I think there’s enough there to tell a story or convey meaning. The tall/short elements at either end of the staircase, two of which are separated and two joined. The lower third as contrasted with the higher third. The flock of birds. The simple color palette.

4.11.22Return VisitorA little black cat has begun claiming our porch every night. So much so, we’ve laid out towels for her so she’s warm. She’ll wait until after the sun goes down to cozy up on a cushion and clean her fur before curling into a ball to sleep. Every night, it’s kind of like Christmas Eve as a child—we eagerly wait for this mysterious cat to pay us a visit as if she were Santa Claus. Since it’s not set in stone what time she’ll arrive, usually a few fruitless trips to the window take place before we see her. When we do, there’s an exhilarating hushed excitement that sweeps over us… because there’s a cat on the porch. I’m not saying it makes sense to be this delighted by a stray cat wandering into our little corner of the world, but it’s very much a real part of my nightly routine now, and I’m cherishing it while it lasts.

4.12.22Climbing ManA squirrel navigates a partition jungle.

4.13.22It’s Always This WayNeeded to make a fix on the fly. Dug into the emergency toolbox I keep in the car and prematurely patted myself on the back for being prepared. Of course, the T20 was missing—that’s the one I needed.

4.14.22RemyI shot a beautiful house on 6th Street in Covington today. There, an 8-month-old doodle named Remy lived. He and I were unsurprisingly obsessed with each other, and though I wanted to make him the centerpiece of every listing photo, I had to play by the (dumb) rules and make sure he wasn’t in any of them. That didn’t stop me from taking a few outtakes, however.

4.15.22Bill & PhilBill and I took the Sprinter up to Michigan and back today to deliver a table to a client. We cranked the punk and hardcore we loved in our late-teens and early-twenties the whole way.

4.16.22Steve’s Improv TroupeSteve is taking improv classes. He successfully completed his 201 course and did a show with his troupe. Proud of him!

4.17.22Grand PlansAshley has decided we are participating in three local farmer’s markets this summer. Her plan is to have me build and finish a series of hand made plant stands (pictured) and flight boards to sell. I made a prototype today and have notes about what I will do differently going forward.

4.18.22Snail’s Eye ViewMyrtle goes crazy whenever I come home from being out. Sometimes I lay on the floor and just let her lick my face to get it out of her system. While on the floor this particular time, I took a photo after I mentioned a treat.

4.19.22Tuesday CoffeeWhen our work schedules allow it, Justin, Travis, Ronny, and I get together for midday coffee at a local coffee place. Today, we got together at Urbana in Pendleton.

4.20.22Preservation?A friend asked me to build him a step stool using wood that was pulled from his house. The house was built in the 19th century, and the wood he gave me is presumably from the 1800s. None of the pieces he had were milled to any workable degree, especially for finished furniture. The hole-filled pieces, still covered in bark, were riddled with old nails buried deep into their edges. After carefully planing each piece down to a workable size, I had to address the unavoidable cracks, holes, and inclusions leftover. One of the support planks had a massive hole after the knot fell out of it during processing, and because every piece of the buffalo needs to be used for this project, there was no cutting it short to avoid the hole. As such, I created a form around the edges and poured clear resin into the hole, then let it dry over night. After sanding it all down, the hole is properly plugged and acts as a translucent, sturdy feature instead of an obstacle.

4.21.22Shelby Street and the Unnamed AlleyWe wanted to take Myrtle on a nice walk this evening but sought a change of scenery. As such, we drove over to Covington to walk Riverside Drive and its adjacent streets. I always liked the bend at the Licking River where Riverside becomes Shelby, as well as this beautifully imperfect brick-lined alley that isn’t named on Google Maps.

4.22.22Explosive RideAfter getting home around 10:30 PM, I decided to take the bike out for the first time in weeks since the weather was so wonderful. Approaching the Purple People Bridge, I noticed all the lights were off, which was strange since it’s usually lit at night for the pedestrians who use it to cross between NKY and Cincinnati. As soon as I took notice of the lights, fireworks began across the water— routine Friday night fireworks after a Reds home game. I stopped to take a photo when I could see the barge on the water actively launching them opposite Smale Park.

4.23.22Refining My SpaceI’d been planning to replace my desk for months. Figuring I could make one of my own for about $250, I went to the store and priced all the wood I’d need as well as the metal required to keep it together underneath. The plan to make my own desk from scratch was so set in stone, I was just waiting to find the time to start on it…which is why I ended up finding a kit online for $250 and bought that one instead. Time is my most valuable commodity, and with all the woodworking projects I have lined up at the moment for family and friends, I have none to spare for my own. But I’m not complaining because I really like this desk over my old one, and it only took an hour and a half to assemble out of the box. (It’s melamine with a veneer, but it’s surprisingly sturdy and attractive despite not being solid wood all the way through.)

4.24.22The HuntAshley, Cody, and I went to the Burlington Antique Show this morning. It being the first show of the year, there were quite a few really great pieces for sale, including an incredible 1940s cedar chest in pristine condition that we ended up picking up for our bedroom. While I didn’t go to the show with anything specific in mind, I kept an eye out for photography equipment, but didn’t run into too many things. The above photo and a beat up Minolta were about it. Regardless, we still saw an abundance of eclectic stuff during a perfect weather day before loading the Subaru absolutely full of ours and Cody’s treasures. While the show next month will likely not be as fruitful, I’m still looking forward to returning.

4.25.22DemonstrationMike and Maria came over to retrieve the step stool I spent two months making for them using wood they gave me that was originally part of the first floor structural joists in their mid-1800s house on Court Street. Thankfully, Mike posed for a demonstration photo before leaving.

4.26.22Ault ParkI hadn’t been back to Ault Park in awhile. A client asked to do headshots in the park at 9 AM, so while I waited for them to arrive, I snapped a few quick photos to make sure my settings were correct and everything was ready for the shoot. This was the first image of the day—the headshots are more interesting, but I don’t want to share those since I don’t have their permission.

4.27.22Noticed Something NewAcross Grant Street from Memorial Hall. For some reason never noticed that boarded up outdoor staircase before. In other news, really pleased to see green on trees again.

4.28.22Bringing Renderings to LifeArchitectural photography is my favorite version of what I do. It’s slow and methodical, technical and precise, and rewarding when it works and frustrating when you haven’t cracked the right perspective. GBBN hired me to do some work inside and out of 3CDC’s newest project, The Foundry. Formerly a Macy’s department store, book shop, and restaurant, it’s now office space for Deloitte with a few other tenants that are still in the process of building out their space. While the exterior has yet to be finished, I was tasked with coming up with a suitable shot of the building sans-box trucks. I waited almost a half hour for one to move to start getting photos. This is actually a composite of about six images of people spliced together to get the right balance of pedestrians with minimal overlap. Overall, I like how it reads like a render an architect would send to publications as proof of concept, except everything in the shot exists.

4.29.22The HenrysKatie, my former coworker, married her fiancé, Ryan, at the Monastery in Mt. Adams tonight. Hiring Katie back in 2018 to help me run Cincinnati Refined was the best professional decision of my career at that publication. I could not have asked for a better person to do her job, and seeing her enjoy her happy day with her partner was heartwarming. While I didn’t get to talk to her at the wedding, I’m really looking forward to having dinner with them when they get back from their honeymoon. She sat us at a table with Rob Braun, Sheila Grey, and Bob Herzog, so I got to catch up with all of them again, which really made me feel better about everything that happened with…everything. I specifically talked to Bob about Star Wars and we realized we have the exact same opinions about the franchise, hot takes and otherwise.

4.30.22Leveling UpIt weighed a total of 113 lbs, and getting into the back of the Subaru wasn’t exactly easy, but I finally got the tool I’ve so desperately wanted for two years: a table saw. After researching online, I went with the DeWalt 10” contractor saw with the fold-up rolling stand. I messed around with it all day. My neighbor who always brings us unsolicited delicious pie was curious about what all the commotion was, so I made her a plant stand after ripping a 1x10 piece of pine into strips, which I couldn’t have done without the saw. I wish I could spend every day making stuff for my friends in my garage, honestly. It’s soul-soothing.