6.1.21DeLorean ShootRyan Lewis, a filmmaker I’ve had the pleasure of working with a few times over the last couple of years, reached out to me about doing a little behind-the-scenes photos on a shoot he was doing in Over-the-Rhine this afternoon. The set involved a DeLorean done up to look like the time machine from Back to the Future. I cannot reveal the client or product, and unfortunately this film isn’t intended for public consumption, but it was fun for the hour and a half I was there.

6.2.21Finished LetteringAwhile back, I made and had printed a custom decal to go on my workshop door. The idea was to make this door look like the door to a detective’s office in a film noir movie (I cut a piece of plexiglass and frosted it with an after-market “ripple” decal to act as the “glass”). The lettering was black, and after fitting it to the door, I didn’t like that I couldn’t easily see it against the dark background. So, instead of ordering a new one, I gingerly hand painted every black letter with white acrylic paint instead while listening to a podcast. I like this result better. Did I mention I’m unemployed?

6.3.21New CardsI needed to print something out. Seeking to knock two things out at once, I went to the Campbell County Library and got my library card there before using the printer. This was my first time back inside a library in over a year, and I missed being in a space dedicated to the three ‘Rs: reading, researching, and relaxing. I wanted to stay in that space and inquired about their local history and genealogy department. The librarian told me the Kenton County Library had all their resources and that Campbell had gotten rid of theirs. So I went to the Kenton County Library and got a card there before poking around on their computers for a bit. I made this photo by suspending the cards with fishing line and tape then digitally removing the line in Photoshop. Did I mention I’m unemployed?

6.4.21Found OneIn the backyard. First one I’ve seen in Bellevue. Myrtle wanted to sniff it, so I let her and she didn’t try to eat it. Thankful my snooty dog doesn’t have a taste for these bugs.

6.5.21“HAY, GUYS.”Saw this dog on Pleasant Street today. He was woofing at us because Myrtle was there.

6.6.21Pool PawtyAshley bought Myrtle a little pool to cool off in this summer. Quinn, Steve’s dog, came over and we had a little cookout on the deck before we rip it up in the next couple weeks.

6.7.21A New LowI had the evening to myself as Ashley was at a fancy work dinner Downtown. To balance our lives, I sought out fast food that she likely wouldn’t be thrilled to eat. I went to the Jack in the Box in Pleasant Ridge because I always want it to be good but it rarely ever is. After a disappointing burger, I continued my quest for bad food and went to White Castle for the 1921 Slider. These were much better and improved my evening of poor choices in food, though the success of washing the Jack in the Box out of my mouth was short-lived as I sat staring at two Diet Cokes in differently branded cups. I don’t think I’ve gone through two drive thrus back to back like this. I am 35 years old and should know better.

6.8.2021Lucius Qit wasn’t either of our first time back in a restaurant, but it was our first time as just us. We went to Lucius Q—the place that catered our wedding. I got the Fuego and she got the nachos with the veggie mix. It was just as good as we remembered it.

6.9.2021Risk Vs. RewardI hate that I took a chance behind the wheel, aiming my camera with one hand through the passenger window while going at least 50 on a two-lane road in Carrollton, KY. I hate that I see so much good shit while driving and have no way to safely pull over to get a photo. And I hate that this dangerous thing I did ended up getting me the exact image I wanted, reinforcing the bad behavior. Sure, we can pretend I’ll never do it again as I have too many times already, but we both know that’s be a lie.

6.10.21Baby DeerAshley was losing her mind because this fawn across the street was separated from her mom by the flimsiest fence known to man. The fawn figured out how to get in by walking a little further to gate. Mama deer was keeping her eye on me while I snapped photos.

6.11.21ATOBTTRMike got us tickets to the Reds game tonight. It was our first time back inside the park since the 2019 season. In fact, it was my first game since Marty’s last. I wasn’t even married back then! Anyway, I took a photo of Votto and Suarez fist bumping, a photo of my friends with the fireworks behind them, and several slice-of-life photos in the park, but none of them were as fun as this extremely goofy moment when the leaning tower of plastic cups made its way down to our seats to retrieve its next length. If you can believe it, this was only about half the size it would eventually become. It was all over Twitter tonight and I’m sure it made its way to other platforms. Tip of the hat to you, cup people.

6.12.21Court Street Plaza OpeningThe ribbon cutting for the newly renovated Court Street Plaza was this morning. We were baking in the sun (it’s a LOT of concrete), so we sat under the shade with Myrtle and enjoyed Diet Cokes from Avril Bleh’s outdoor stand. As I people-watched with my pop, I saw one of my favorite strangers. I hadn’t seen him in over a year and worried if he was okay. He briefly chatted with us and pet Myrtle, then walked over to a nearby couple with their dog. I want his life story, but I don’t want to impose. I’ve spoken to him several times, but I never want to make him feel like I want something from him, so I let him choose when he wants to talk. It’s always pleasure when I do get to see and speak with him.

6.13.21Northern Liberties TourThe OTR Museum reached out to me a few weeks ago about taking their Northern Liberties Tour. I’ll have a blog recap in the coming week about it. Essentially, it’s a small group tour with information about tenement life north of Liberty Street with fun facts about German culture and how Over-the-Rhine came to be. The price of the ticket goes to fund the OTR Museum’s ongoing fundraising goal to open the museum at some point in (what seems like) the distant future. Hopefully I’m wrong about that and it’ll open sooner than later.

6.14.21Unexpected HikeI waited until the evening to work in the yard. The air was considerably cooler and had a nice breeze to it, unlike the last two days. After pushing the manual mower over my tiny lawn, we gave Myrtle a back porch hose bath that went surprisingly well and much faster than trying to wash her in the tub. To avoid having a wet dog in the house, we took her on a walk to let the air dry her as much as possible. After walking a few blocks, we realized we were being followed by Chelsea and Vince. The four of us wandered around Bellevue together, checking in at Bellevue Beach Park before heading over to the Dayton flood wall. It was there that I snapped a photo of this charming sign for Queen City Riverboats.

6.15.21Bellevue BlueberryMeghal always posts in the Bellevue Facebook page which soft serve ice cream he has in stock for the day. When it’s a good flavor, it goes fast. The blueberry soft serve is one of those flavors. Thankfully, I got a cone to finish off the evening before it was gone.

6.16.21Observations While LoungingI photographed RoadID’s new headquarters in Covington today for Hub + Weber, but I chose this photograph of a tight crop of my home’s staircase because it was ever more memorable (to me) than today’s job. While laying on the couch trying hard to lift my eyelids every so often, I noticed the sun was pouring through the staircase’s yellow stained glass window. The light was hitting the back of the spindles on the staircase in such a way that I couldn't discern the negative space between them from the solid, white spindle at first glance. In this photo, the ombre yellow is the back of the spindle, the darker space to the right of each is the side of the spindle, and the whitest white space is the negative space. I grabbed my Z6 nearby and zoomed in on it.

6.17.21Saying ‘Hello’ to Breakfast GhostDon’t know why I made this. I have been doing this for 900 days in a row.

6.18.21The HustleFour photoshoots today. Three real estate, one lifestyle for a local publication. For being “unemployed,” I am working a lot today. This was from one of the shoots.

6.19.21Demo DayWe spent the entire day demolishing the old deck. I ran a chainsaw through many of the floor boards with help from my father and Steve. My mother and Ashley took away the scrap and put it in the dumpster we rented and placed in the alley. We made the final cut at around 8:30 PM—just before we lost too much light. I have a few more things to do to clear the way before we begin building the new deck, but I think the hard part is over. I am sore already.

6.20.21Holding SprinklesMy body feels like it’s 90 years old from yesterday’s demo day, but I wasn’t sore enough to bend down and pick this sweet little puppy up.

6.21.21M1Back in early May, my 2018 MacBook Pro wouldn’t seemingly hold a charge for any substantial length of time. Since I usually work with it docked, I hadn’t noticed. So, seeing an opportunity to improve my situation, I went to Apple, talked with them about trade-in value, and decided to upgrade to the new Apple M1 iMac. I got it in green because I love nature and thought it would contrast nicely with the pine desk (and everyone else wants that blasted yellow one anyway). The screen is substantially better than the second one I had running with my laptop, so I just nixed the dedicated second screen all together and plan to sidecar my iPad when I really need the extra screen real estate. This is a photo of my setup now.

6.22.21ClevelandI met Chris in Columbus and together we went to Cleveland for the day. We stopped off in Sugarcreek and saw some of Amish country along the way. Chris isn’t a fan of Cleveland in general, but I like it well enough. Riding the red line to Ohio City from Tower City Center was a highlight, as well as seeing the Cleveland Arcade, which is now a Hyatt (pictured). I think it would be cool to go back for a weekend and see more of it relatively soon.

6.23.21Ron Jones QuartetThe Longworth Anderson Series tapped me to photograph their events for the year. The first one I shot was this evening at campSITE in Camp Washington. The Ron Jones Quartet played in the bandstand to dozens of people.

6.24.21A Tall Platter For a Mighty DogMy sister rescued a full-grown German Shepard recently. As she’s used to having dachshunds, this is her first dog of a larger size. As such, she needed a tall platform so the dog wouldn’t have to eat off the floor and to raise the food out of snoot range of the dachshunds. I told her I’d make her one if she gave me dimensions. I haven’t been woodworking as much lately because the price of wood has skyrocketed due to the pandemic, so it was fun to dig into an afternoon project again. Every piece of wood is a scrap piece I had lying around from previous jobs, and I didn’t use any nails or screws in order to preserve the smooth aesthetic. Connector dowels and wood glue are keeping it together. I also got to use my router, which makes every project more fun by default. The plan is to use stain left over from the last project to give it a handsome, dark brown color.

6.25.21The TPS HotelLuminaut, an architecture firm I regularly work with, tapped me to photograph the new TPS Hotel at 7th and Race Streets. We went into the Kinley across the street to get a quick photo. This isn’t one I’ll probably turn in, but the perspective was absolutely perfect.

6.26.21Streaming ThingsMy friend Steve (left) produces a local podcast about films and TV shows you can stream on any number of services. He wanted to get some promotional photo content together for social media and whatnot, so I photographed the three-man crew before and during their regular Saturday night recording. It was a load of fun and I would love to do more podcast photography (not a phrase I’d ever thought I’d type).

6.27.21The Levee’s ChangedLong story short, I am not feeling like myself lately. Today, especially. My meds aren’t handing me the easy-breezy 24 hours I’d hoped they would, and I’m considering asking my doctor to increase my dosage. One thing I’ve found in the past to help get me out of a funk is to go for a walk. Ashley suggested we check out what’s changed at the Levee, so we took a stroll through the outdoor area with Myrtle. I was impressed with how the box park elevates the attractiveness and utility of that specific part of the Levee, and it got me thinking about how much better THIS Newport on the Levee is compared to the one of the last decade (and prior).

6.28.21Airbnb WorkPhotographed three Airbnbs. The AC wasn’t on in the one pictured and I had a really hard time focusing on the work because it reached almost 90ºF today. I tried fiddling with the gauge to bump up the air, but it’s digital and I couldn’t figure it out. It was a beautiful Airbnb regardless of how it felt in that moment.

6.29.21The Gift That Keeps on GivingOne evening in 2014, I went to the Pendleton Art Center for Final Friday. While there, I looked out of a window on the 6th or 7th floor and saw a beautiful sunset with Cincinnati in the background. I got out my phone and took a photo. Years later, as I gained some followers on Instagram, a company called SOURCE Cincinnati reached out to me about purchasing imagery for their marketing purposes. I sold them that photo and several others. Over the years, I’ve seen the photo pop up again and again on media promoting the city, and it never fails to give me a little kick whenever I stumble across it in the wild. Today, I was waiting on tacos at Mazunte and saw it on a Spanish language paper near the entrance. Someone told me it’s on a billboard on I-75. I really would like to get a photo of that if I can.

6.30.21The Gift That Keeps on Giving Pt. 2“Someone told me it’s on a billboard on I-75. I really would like to get a photo of that if I can,” I said in yesterday’s caption. I wasted no time getting that photo.