Why did I ever think that trying to start doing daily updates again this close to the end of the semester was a good idea? Oh well, shooting is helping me de-stress. See if you can spot what’s wrong with one of the photos.
Cloud Reflections
kent state
The Street Fair
Karen and I walked down to the weekly farmer’s market downtown, and discovered that there was some sort of street fair going on to welcome Kent State’s incoming freshmen.
Down the Esplanade
Anyone around Kent State will have noticed that both the university and town proper have been undergoing a somewhat dramatic overhauls over the last couple of years. The centerpiece being a new esplanade that starts at the student center on campus, and connects directly to the downtown business district. And, with me having both a GoPro and a bike to which to attach it, I decided to do the university marketing department’s job for them and shoot some time lapse.
Sunday Skies
I had meant to spend the better part of the day just landscaping, but the weather did not want to cooperate. The intermittent rain made mowing difficult, but the clouds were breathtaking. I found myself pulling over to take photos as I was driving around for my errands. As always, the best place to get good sky panoramas is the Kent State airport.
The College Fest That Never Was
Both the city and the university police were out in force to keep the partying under control, but were left with little to do.
I do believe that I have some sort of curse when it comes to Kent State’s annual College Fest. My freshman year, I skipped the drunken festivities for a more laid back gathering with some friends. I only found out later that I had missed photographing a full-on riot complete with couch burning in the streets. So, sophomore and junior year, I spent all night wandering the roads of Kent for fear of missing another such event, only to be disappointed by routine college debauchery. Senior year came around, and I was bedridden with a particularly nasty flu virus. When I checked my Facebook, it was populated almost entirely with posts and photos about a student body being tear-gassed by local police. My friend, Phil, took a photo of the event that was nationally syndicated.
This year, I wandered the more party-centric areas of Kent for hours, only to see a Kent that was almost barren. Nothing. Not even a game of beer pong. Imagine my shame at the university that seems to prioritize academia over destroying the town.
Now, for the sake of link-bait, I give you a bonus flower gallery:
By Popular Opinion…
I guess I’m doing requests now. I snapped some photos on a walk that I didn’t really deem anything worth posting on here. But, I figured they were good enough for Facebook where they started getting some positive feedback though. So I compromised and tweaked the photos a bit to get them ready for prime time.
What do you guys think? Were these worth posting, or should they have languished in obscurity on my hard drive?
Ken Burns
I was lucky enough to be invited to a special Q&A event with legendary documentary filmmaker Ken Burns at Kent State this week. Burns spoke about his process, 
starting with his, “looking for ideas big enough to be afraid of again.” He then went on to discuss his unique approach to development, in which his research, scripting, and even music are an ongoing part of putting together a film until the final cut is complete. He was nothing short brilliant, and not a single member of the audience left uninspired.
Bonus gallery: When you pack enough photographers in one spot, we will inevitably just start shooting each other.
There was a point when were all just showing off pet pictures to eachother.
Dave warmed the seats for the interview..
May 4th
As a former Kent State student, I felt the need to come observe the anniversary of the May 4th 1970 shooting. I missed all the events because I was stuck at work, but I still made time to visit the grave site and take some photos.
Reale Media 