Day of the Cicada

 

 

  I don’t know what the overlap is between sports fans and fans of this blog, but apparently some Cleveland fans were so happy with the season finale of Basketball over the weekend that some people got Monday off work. One such person was my friend, Alyssa, who invited me along for an afternoon of berry picking and wine tasting. The best part? Every moment of the rural excursion was juxtaposed with the soothing sounds of the majestic cicada. But, the wonder of these creatures was not limited to the auditory. They clung to almost every surface, littered the ground, flew straight at the moving car window, and occasionally tried give us their insect-cuddles . We must savor these moments, as it will be 17 years before we are graced with their magnificence once again.

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Finally Upgraded My Body

After roughly four years of service from my Nikon D80, I’ve finally upgraded to a new D7200. The specifications completely blow my previous body out of the water. I’ve mostly been messing around with it so far.

The D7200 is phenomenal in low light. I took it downtown and shot entirely without a flash. Where the D80’s ISO would become too grainy to be of any real use after about 800, but the newer model still looks solid well beyond 6400.

And that’s just scratching the surface of what this thing can do. Stay tuned for more. If you have anything you would want to see coming up, let me know in the comments below.

Ms. Wheelchair USA

I had an amazing opportunity to shoot the Ms. Wheelchair USA pageant. It’s this fantastic event which not only highlights the achievements of women with disabilities, but gives them a platform to further their individual causes.There’s more information up on their website, so go check them out. 

Emily at the Riverfront

I teamed up with my awesome and lovely friend, Emily, to shoot a portrait set down my the Cuyahoga Falls Riverfront. Since half the shoot was at night, I got experimental with the lighting. The shots by the fountain in particular used a combination of shutter dragging, one off camera flash for fill light, and a second remote flash with a spotlight modifier. The post processing was more elaborate than usual to, How did I do? Let me know in the comments below. 

Contrive

Seven Eleven

The Doo Dah Video

Because I’m awesome, I shot video and stills at the same time at this weekend’s Doo Dah Parade. My favorite shot is the swing dancers. There was a pickup truck leading them and playing music, so I jumped on it and shot video with my GoPro from the moving truck.

The audio is OC ReMix #2736: Donkey Kong Country ‘Percussion Hijinx’ [DK Island] by Acadia Percussion Ensemble
by David Wise, Eveline Novakovic, and Robin Beanland.  If you like it, you can also find it here: http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR02736

It’s some great music, so be sure to show them some love.

Easing Back In

My schedule has been more than a little ridiculous lately, leaving little time to just shoot for myself. In an attempt to break the monotony, I grabbed my D80 and 50mm, hit the pavement. First, I found not one, but two wedding parties, and snapped a few candid shots I’m not able to when shooting a wedding myself. After that, I hit up a party over at the Groove-E-Juice E-cigarette shop to celebrate the opening of its new lounge. But I didn’t get to stay long. The smoke detector’s visual sensor mistook the e-cig vapor for smoke, setting off the alarm and calling the fire department. Fortunately, it all got sorted out, and the party was free to continue.

Showing My Sister The Trails

My sister just got a new bike of her own, so I took some time to show her the local trails.

The Path Less Traveled

There’s a path about 200 yards from my house, and I always take the left fork to go towards town. But today, for the first time, Karen and I took the path to the right toward Ravenna. Not that it wasn’t beautiful, but the lack of landmarks means fewer interesting photos.