Catching Up: October 16th Through 31st

Finding the motivation to post here has been difficult as of late. Photographing events, catching up on my backlog for clients, and finding time to decompress in an ever-stressful world has been my focus. Also, at the end of the night lately, I’ve tried not to interact with the internet in a social capacity, and that’s cut into my time here.

I need to get back to posting because, after nearly 6 full years of this, I can’t let it fizzle out. It’s too important to me.

Instead of posting a bunch of individual entries, I’m going to dump the back half of October here. I’ll post individual captions on the October 2025 archive page.


Getting Out There

Day 3 of this diet and exercise thing, and I’m walking more than I have in months. In addition to doing the treadmill in the basement right when I wake up in the morning, I’ve been sprinkling in walks with Myrtle.

We did East Newport this evening.

Avondale

While shooting a bunch of exteriors around town for work, I photographed this old house near the corner of Reading Road and Glenwood Avenue in Avondale. I don’t remember this one being vacant when I explored the neighborhood back in the mid-2010s. After looking at it on Google Streetview, it looks like it may have been emptied out in the early 2020s.

It’s sad. This house is beautiful, and I hope its boarded up windows are temporary.

Morning Walk

I’m not happy with my body at the moment. I feel fat and gross despite knowing I am not currently obese. This weekend, as wonderful as it was, added to my growing size thanks to loads of delicious meals and many beers.

The thought of going to the gym sickens me, so I’m doing what I do best: walking. It’s how I stayed thin years ago, and it’s how I will attempt to keep the pounds at bay. With my Apple Watch move goal updated, it’s a matter of making sure I burn more calories a day than I take in—which also means a diet change.

Today’s coffee trip was on foot with camera in hand. If I’m going to drink and eat, I need to pay the movement tax.

New Perspective

Standing on the Levee Wall will, I suppose, get you ya nearly identical perspective with the right zoom lens, but I shot this from the top deck of the Natchez as it drifted away from the Landing at 40mm.

River Roots

I’m not choosing today. I refuse.

Went down to the River Roots Festival about 2 hours before meeting up with friends. I shot much of it, concentrating on people and the scale of the boats. I may actually end up publishing the whole set to a blog post because it was such a photogenic afternoon.

The other day I spoke about framing the shot and waiting for the right moment in the Taft Museum post. Visualizing what I wanted and waiting for that exact moment to happen instead of aiming toward something in progress. All three of these are examples of that. I waited for the boats to line up, the people to align, and motion to naturally happen.

The kid, I think, spotted me with my camera and cheesed for it while running into frame. I love it because there’s little chance of identifying him, but you get that sense of childish fun regardless. I shot these in B&W on the Zf’s special setting; the late evening light made for perfect contrast.

Calm Corner Kit

Drove out to Amberley to pick up a box of products for Calm Caterpillar to photograph in my home studio. I’ve been working with Sarah on Calm Caterpillar’s product and lifestyle photography for a year and a half, and it’s been fun getting to stretch that creative muscle while seeing those very same shots end up in retail stores and online marketplaces.

Because this one featured a variety of products ranging from 2D to 3D, I had to come up with a dynamic way to showcase everything. The plush products, after much fluffing, made sense to go in the back row. The booklets didn’t make sense to just place flat on the seamless, so I used a pane of glass to raise them up at an angle and preserve the natural shadows. I removed the edge of the glass in post.

Overall, I’m pleased with how this turned out.

Indigo Opening

CAM last night, Taft tonight. Shot the opening of Indigo and the Art of Quiltmaking. Referencing what I said yesterday about the difficulty in choosing just one image from these types of events, I thought this photo best represented my mission while there.

It showcases the space—the design, color, layout, etc.—while showing how people move through and interact with those spaces all while maintaining their anonymity. It’s as close to a rendering as possible without being generated. A slower shutter speed and a steady hand manages to freeze the motion, illustrating the dynamic relationship between the living person and static place. I also find that changing aspect ratio to something standard but different to get rid of ceilings and floors with little to no information better focuses the eye to what matters.

While event photography is all about finding active moments, something like this requires planning for what’s yet to come. You set up in the place and get what you want in frame, then visualize the upcoming moment when someone walks through the door. When that vision becomes reality, you hit the shutter and you have what you came for. That process of visualization and planning, then executing on that plan, is satisfying.

Recall, Reframe, Respond

It was preview night at CAM for Recall, Reframe, Respond featuring artist Paul Scott. These types of events are so hard to choose from for this project because I rarely think one image encapsulates everything perfectly. There’s rarely a stand-out frame and it requires picking and choosing something general or interesting enough on its own.

This was one of those nights. Do I pick a gallery shot? Speaker? Attendee looking intently at a piece behind glass?

I chose this one because it was a nice moment between coworkers.

Black & White

I’m into black and white at the moment, so I’m trying to capture things in monochrome while the mood strikes. This is a standard scene at our house, by the way.

VAE at Memorial Hall

The Vocal Arts Ensemble performed at Memorial Hall this afternoon. I was hired by Fanfare Magazine to photograph the show. Shooting well-dressed people in perfect lighting on a striking stage in a jaw-dropping theater lends itself well to good images; so good, in fact, I couldn’t choose one from the show to share here. Instead, here’s a shot I didn’t send to the client that I just liked for my own archive.

After all the Longworth-Anderson shows I shot in years past, I’ve walked back and forth through this little bit of Memorial Hall countless times, and it never fails to impress me with its beauty.

archived daily photos

2025: jan | feb | mar | apr | may | jun | jul | aug | sep | oct | nov | dec

2024: jan | feb | mar | apr | may | jun | jul | aug | sep | oct | nov | dec

2023: jan | feb | mar | apr | may | jun | jul | aug | sep | oct | nov | dec

2022: jan | feb | mar | apr | may | jun | jul | aug | sep | oct | nov | dec

2021: jan | feb | mar | apr | may | jun | jul | aug | sep | oct | nov | dec

2020: jan | feb | mar | apr | may | jun | jul | aug | sep | oct | nov | dec

2019: jan | feb | mar | apr | may | jun | jul | aug | sep | oct | nov | dec