Archive: October 2009   |   View all recent posts

Day 293 - Back Where I Come From
WHAT: Cityscapes & Landscapes, Personal, Project 365 (2009), Travel   |   WHEN: October 26, 2009
At least once a year I try to get back 'home' to Marion, Ohio.  While I haven't lived there in over 12 years now, it will always be that place for me that feels unexplicably familiar, peaceful and comforting.  Just driving through town and along the back county roads in the amazing fall weather makes the world feel just a little more right... at least for a few days a year.

I had big plans during this recent trip to get out with my camera and just wander through the old downtown and out in the country for several hours and see what I could find, but between the napping, eating, Xboxing, flat tire changing, Ohio State gaming, Shark Tank watching (that show rocks!), Reaganing, Rudying, family reunioning, Styering, Tubby's Pizza'ing, searching for my wedding ring'ing, etcetera'ing... it never really materialized like I envisioned. I did manage to get out a little bit, though, and fire off a few images.

I'll start off with an image that has a little personal significance for me.  This is my grandpa & grandma Nicolosi's old house where my dad and his 5 brothers/sisters grew up and my grandparents lived for - I think - nearly 50 years.  While both of my grandparents are still dearly missed, I have a lot of fond memories in this house... sitting with my grandma while she would draw what must've seemed to her like endless requests for birds & dinosaurs - I truly believe she instilled the desire in me to be creative and as a result has had a huge impact on the direction my life has taken.  I also vividly recall years and years of big family gatherings at Thanksgiving and on Christmas Eve... some of my most endearing childhood memories.  Every year grandpa would cook his homemade spaghetti and meatballs from scratch on Christmas Eve, and every year I'd scoot it all on to half my plate to make it look like I ate, well, half of it because as a kid, my still-unrefined taste buds preferred the sophisticated blend of preservatives and empty calories made by my buddy Chef Boyardee.  Today, I miss grandpa's homemade sauce.  I remember spending the night and grandma letting us stay up to watch Chiller on Friday night which was basically a series of low-budget B movies that tried to be scary with occasional breaks where some guy in cooky owl-shaped glasses played host and interjected his own lame commentary.  Good stuff as a kiddo, though.  I could go on and on, and I might in a future post some day. 



Somewhere in the country between the airport and Delaware, Ohio.



Looking down the main drag in Waldo.



Don't remember where this was, but it's not important... it's yellow leaves, and that's what matters here.



Found these original wooden doors on an old, decaying house under an overpass in downtown Marion.



It's sad how much of down town Marion has been neglected since it's hay day many years ago, but man, this place is a photographer's dream.  Are you kiddin' me?  I'd have a field day down here with seniors.







A little infrared post-processing action on a barn out in the country side.





Near Schrode's house...




A little self-portrait cheese in an old storefront window in downtown Delaware.



More downtown Delaware.



Peaking through a window into an auditorium in an old building on the Ohio Weslyan campus in Delaware.



Along the roadside off state route 23 across from the entrance to Delaware State Park.  BTW, for those of you non-Ohioans that may be a bit confused at this point, Delaware is a city in Ohio in addition to being a state somewhere near the eastern border of the US (don't ask me to pick it out on a map... I'm sure I'll get it confused with New Hampshire or Vermont).



There's nothing better in the world than fall colors in the Midwest.



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Day 289 - The Styers
WHAT: Families, Kids, Project 365 (2009)   |   WHEN: October 22, 2009
"Daddy's buddy".  That's what I've become... and I'll take it.  I've been staying at Michael & Amanda's since I've been in town, and their insanely adorable two year old daughter Reagan has officially labled me daddy's buddy.  She now thinks I live in the basement because I've been sleeping down there during my stay.  Hilarous.  She's gotten crazy big since I last saw her only a couple days after she was born, and as long as she continues to gve me a big hug and a kiss before she goes to bed, she can call me whatever she wants.

I love the Styers.  Not only is Michael one my oldest friends (in terms of years, not age), he and Amanda never hesitate to open up their home when I come into town, and you truly won't find nicer, more genuine good people anywhere.  I wanna be like them when I grow up. 

Today was the Styer's turn in the photography rotation, and the Indian Summer weather held out just long enough for us to head out to the park to let little Reagan have her way on the playground.  Here's just a few images from this afternoon.

Reagan's look is priceless in this first one.









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Day 288 ~ Chris + Lindsay
WHAT: Portraits, Project 365 (2009)   |   WHEN: October 21, 2009
The weather here in Ohio's been amazing, and the fall color has been even more amazinger.  Yes, amazinger.  It's great being back "home" and relaxing a bit, but I'm also doing just a little photography while I'm here.  Today I met up with Chris and Lindsay.  Chris graduated a year ahead of me back in HS, and it's been nearly that long since I last saw him, so it was fun catching up and capturing them.

I've got my laptop with me, but I don't like editing on it because 1) it's slooow, 2) I don't think the display's properly calibrated, 3) it's slooow, 4) I alwas end up oversharpening my images on my laptop because I get lazy and don't zoom in as much as I should on the smaller screen, and 5) it's still slooow.

That being said, a post isn't a post without an image, so here's just a couple from there session for now.  More to come...








And I can't forget to mention my rookie assistant, fantastic host, and long-time buddy, Michael (a.k.a Schrode).  He was great today, and best of all, I got back to their house with the same number of lens caps as when we started.  Oddly enough, I get excited about that.  This image below isn't fantastic, but I wanted to 1) give Schrode props, and 2) show a simple way to add light to an image on-location.  I usually bring a small soft box to add light when I need it, but it's a pain to travel on a plane with, so for this session, I just had Schrode point a Nikon SB-800 flash (in manual mode) into a silver reflector and I fired it remotely via a Pocket Wizard. 



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Day 286 ~ The Moore Family [Sneak Peek]
WHAT: Families, Kids, Project 365 (2009)   |   WHEN: October 19, 2009
A couple days ago we headed back out to the Frito Lay corporate campus, this time to meet up with the Moore's for some family fun.  We had beautiful weather, a beautiful location, and a beautiful family... a photography trifecta.  

Here's just a couple sneak peeks from our time together.  Stay tuned for the rest of the story after they've had a chance to see their images.

Little Cassidy is soooo adorable.  And Kylie was pretty pleased with herself by the end of the session; apparently Cassidy is pretty reserved about warming up to people other than mom, dad and RJ, but by the end of the session she & Kylie were practically best buds.  I love her expression here.



RJ's a got some killer blue eyes, and he's already workin' on a matching killer golf swing.  I smell endorsement deals in his future.







RJ wanted his own little sneak peek of himself, and Kylie caught this image of me giving him one.  He's a handsome guy so why wouldn't he wanna check himself out, right?  The greatest part about this image is right after I showed him, well, himself, he casually says with a completely straight face, "I take good pictures."



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The Groffs ~ Family Time
WHAT: Families, Kids, Project 365 (2009)   |   WHEN: October 19, 2009
The smiles have been had.  The laughs were plenty.  The snickerdoodle's are gone.  Cathy & Greg came in on Saturday to view the rest of their images, and so now the rest of their photos can come out from the witness protection program for an appearance on the blog.  Here were some of my favorites from their session.

Little man Josh racin' towards dad...



... and the payoff at the end.



Caitlyn has amazing eyes.




Love this casual image mom and dad.












I love the playfulness of this image.  This is how this family naturally is, and I think it's a perfect "portrait" of their family dynamic.  The best part of this image is the expression on Caitlyn's face.




Josh was a little shy at the end of his solo performance...



... but not so shy once he was sporting his Batman cape.



Love this.







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