5.1.20Bedinger StreetThe street that feels like an alley right by our home.

5.2.20House on the HillSeeking a break in routine and needing to get out of the city for a night to do something new, we went east to Ripley, OH to camp on Vince’s farm that he shares with other dudes. The farmhouse was shrouded in darkness, so I set up a tripod and took a 3-minute exposure while running a Lumecube through the scene to create the light trail. The fire nearby, which barely illuminated the side of the house, came alive during the long exposure.

5.3.20Five TreesVince’s farm sits atop a pretty high hill and has great lines of sight to distant places. Far off in the distance were these five trees on someone’s property. Using my longest zoom lens and a tripod, I waited for a break in the clouds before snapping this. There was a very low, very thin wire that cut through the bottom right of the image, so I removed that in post and brightened the whole thing up so it looked a little more vibrant. I didn’t alter the composition beyond removing the wire. I loved how clean and minimalist it is.

5.4.20A WWII EnthusiastPatrick McCue, a local WWII enthusiast and photographer, sent me a text about coming down to the Times-Star to take a photo of himself in uniform for the anniversary of VE Day on May 8th. Seeing an opportunity to do something creative, I asked if I could help him. He agreed, and I brought lighting accessories so he didn’t have to. We set up the shot he had in mind and together we took a photo. The photo above isn’t that photo; after we made the picture he wanted, I asked him to pose in front of the doors of the Times-Star so I could get a portrait. I used an umbrella on the left and a gold reflector on the right.

5.5.20How Many Does It Take?One. It takes one in a bucket. That’s how many.

5.6.20A Blue HouseIn Pendleton. Just thought it looked nice.

5.7.20Dom and JudiI took my bike to Spun last week for new brakes and a tune up, and got it back today. It’s like a brand new bike; new handles, new chain, new shifter, new brakes, and a revived motivation to get out and run it around town. The bike hadn’t been serviced since I bought it in 2012 when I was still living in Mt. Washington, so it needed a lot of work. Dom and Judi, pictured, run Spun. They’re not letting anyone in the shop right now because of COVID and ask customers to knock on the door and wait on the sidewalk for service. I paid them over the phone so we didn’t even have to hand a credit card between each other. Seeing them take this seriously makes me happy. Before I left, I asked if I could get a photo of them.

5.8.20Flor and AlexToday I had a quick little shoot and interview with Flor and Alex at Sitwell’s Act II in Clifton for work. They’re doing their best to offer the customers food and drinks by way of carryout, curbside pickup, and delivery to areas within a ten minute drive from the coffee house and restaurant. I made a portrait of them for the feature and like it enough to make it today’s photo.

5.9.20Art ClimbTook my bike up to the corner of Eden Park and Gilbert this morning to get photos of the Art Museum’s new staircase, the Art Climb. Having nowhere to lock up my bike, I carried it by hand all the way up the stairs to the top where I knew the Art Museum had bike racks available. After securing the bike, I walked up and down the staircase with a 24-120mm and a wide angle to get shots of it. Later on, after the sun went down, I returned to see it lit up. The whole thing looks really good.

5.10.20In the MomentI was in the moment the entire day and didn’t take a single photo except for this one. Tomorrow will be more interesting.

5.11.20House HuntersThis is our lives now. Just constantly looking at the Realtor and Zillow app, trying to find a suitable house to move into at the end of the year.

5.12.20Laura LaneI did listing photos for this cute little house in Norwood earlier this afternoon. I used the PC lens from the street to get this upright angle from its best side.

5.13.20Life in QuarantineTrying to document the simple things in life during quarantine. It's important to document my space as I won't be here forever and might want to look back on it from time to time. This is my spot in the living room when Ashley and I relax in the evening. There’s a weird draft in this spot that I can’t figure out, but it’s fine.

5.14.20StrutsWe looked at a house in Covington today. We’re not buying it, but we liked it. On our way back, we stopped and I snapped this photo from a Taco Bell parking lot. I just liked the way the city was framed between the sun-lit train track struts. Too bad I didn’t have my proper camera with me. Also, I’ve taken an intentional photo every day for 500 days at this point. Proud of this milestone.

5.15.20Being Anti-SocialFive minutes and 12 seconds. That's how long this long exposure is. And, as you can see, about five cars rolled through the intersection that entire time. It's a Friday night without anyone in the lot below waving at the jail. Three 20-somethings crank a Drake song in the black parked car and scream the entire time. An invisible neighbor walks his dogs up and around the red PAY HERE station, but you'd never know it by looking at the photo. I was going to go to the roof, but dreaded the thought of not being alone; if quarantine has done anything for me, it's undoubtedly enabled excuses for my natural inclination to avoid others.

5.16.20BinocularsI had an idea in my head for a photo and it didn’t work. It’s late. I have to go draw a dog for charity before bed. This is the best I could do with limited time. I didn’t mean for this to turn out so…patriotic.

5.17.20Flood WalkWe loaded the dog in the car this morning and drove to the Dayton flood wall. The humidity was a particular challenge considering just a few days ago we were in long pants and jackets. Along the wall, which is really more of a hump with a paved path at its summit, we could see both sides of Dayton: the older, grittier side with dilapidated chain link fences and pools filled with green, murky water, and the newer, oddly suburban side with million-plus homes along the river.

5.18.20Cheer SquadI’m photographing CPS graduations all this week and next week, and tonight it rained cats and dogs through both of them. After wrapping up my gear and putting on my raincoat, I did my best and completed both shoots/submitted the photos all before 10 PM. While I don’t feel comfortable showing my best frames from either event because I haven’t shown them to the client, I can show this one: a group of enthusiastic bystanders cheering on one of their friends from the streetcar platform as they rolled by with their diploma in hand. Their excitement was impossible not to love.

5.19.20Clean KeyI ordered one of these generic “clean keys” back in March because I was afraid to touch anything in public and it took until the end of May to get here. You can find these little tools all over the internet right now; they essentially make it possible to use keypads and open handle-operated doors without actually touching anything. They exploded onto the scene at the onset of the pandemic in the US, littering Instagram feeds for weeks. The times in which we live dictate we not handle anything we don’t have to, so this is an especially useful piece of metal and I chose to plunk down the $10 to have a little extra protection. Anyway, I threw it up in the air a bunch of times with flashes pointed in both directions and made this composite in Photoshop.

5.20.20Popping Confetti to CelebrateContinued shooting CPS drive-thru graduations with RESLV. We did Shroder in Madisonville and Hughes STEM High School in CUF tonight. They happened concurrently, so I had to ditch Shroder after 30 minutes to get to Hughes on time. The scene was chaotic, and I felt for the organizers who seemed to be stressed, but at least the students and their friends had fun.

5.21.20Pom-Pom SaluteI shot Oyler and Taft’s graduations today. Taft’s was held at Union Terminal because construction on the FC Cincinnati stadium has taken up too much space around the school. Personally, I think this school got the best location for drive-thru graduation. Its wide-open layout was a departure from previous days’ tiny locations. Hell, even Oyler’s drive-thru grad on Hatmaker hours before Taft’s was tight. While all that extra space was great, I ran my tail off to get photos in several locations, so by the time I got back on my bike to go home, I was already winded. I don’t feel comfortable showing shots of the kids, but I thought this scene was visually interesting. The way the perspective shows the building and the people curving down and to the left was appealing to my eye.

5.22.20Sundown on High SchoolDid Gamble Montessori in Westwood and Clark Montessori in Hyde Park today. Gamble had the better venue, but Clark had the better light. Guess which series turned out better? After getting their diplomas, the kids literally rode off into the setting sun while a hundred waving hands and half as many masked ‘hoorays’ excitedly congratulated them for their achievement. I chose this photo from the series because it protects the privacy of the student and accurately showcases the pretty, warm sunlight.

5.23.20Tires & TiersNo graduations to photograph today. There were many cars at the jail this morning. Not sure if they’ve opened visitation again or what, but it was unusual to see so many vehicles parked there on the weekend. I always liked how this corner rose like a connectivity icon, so I took a photo with my phone in one hand and a coffee in the other. The way the cars lined up below it and the gradual rise in building height looked good together, I thought.

5.24.20SimplicityWe fattened our tires and got a sunburn in Dayton and Bellevue this morning.

5.25.20A Scene by the RiverYeatman’s Cove and the surrounding parks were awash in people this morning. Though it was unbearably hot, we managed a lengthy walk while avoiding people as much as we could. Even the tennis courts, which are usually just a vacant memory of the late 1980s and 1990s, were packed with people batting fluorescent tennis balls back and forth. I’ve personally never witnessed that park as crowded on a non-marathon morning as it was today. It was weird; I was overjoyed to see everyone enjoying the public space, but every growing wave of excitement eventually crashed as soon as I remembered there is a pandemic actively happening around the world.

5.26.20DARG STARGNOCDater’s graduation in Western Hills was tonight. The sun was going behind a big, thick cloud and the wind was whipping the gold strands in a good way.

5.27.20Happy HugAt the Virtual High School graduation tonight, these three adorable kids went in for a group hug as I raised my camera to capture the crowd cheering on a student riding away in a cool old car. I didn’t even notice them when I took the photo; I just put my reticule on the crowd and snapped in an effort to get the car out of focus to visually explain how the crowd was the real show of this scene. It was only after I got it into Lightroom that I noticed the kids, and I thought it was incredibly heart-warming. No one was aware I was taking a photo except these three.

5.28.20Bellevue LoftsI have huge news to tell you, but I’m not ready to announce it to the world just yet. It’s related to this image I made today inside the new Kent Lofts in Bellevue. This was a model unit. I wish I’d had more time to properly stage it for this photo.

5.29.20A Welcome DistractionIt’s been a horrible day. You already know why. Today, though, I photographed two graduations, one of which was at Western Hills High School. I felt so good photographing the graduates, scores of smiling friends and family, and teachers. This mascot (the mustang) cheered on incoming graduates as they entered the lot. I needed that temporary distraction from reality.

5.30.20Staying HomeAfter last night’s protest turned violent, small business owners boarded up their shops and restaurants this morning to prevent further damage to their property.

5.31.20Night Three of ProtestsToday, a peaceful protest at Inwood Park marched through Cincinnati and ended about 7 PM. The mayor imposed a 9 PM city-wide curfew earlier in the morning to remove as many people from the streets as possible later in the evening. Unsurprisingly, a large group of protestors remained on the street, confronting police at the steps of the courthouse. Right before 9 PM, tensions boiled over and a skirmish broke out. Hundreds scattered when tear gas was deployed on the crowd, and many ran south toward 9th Street where I could see them from my desk with a zoom lens.