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.

First Ride

FINALLY! The weather has warmed up enough that I can creep from hibernation and go biking again. And, what’s an inaugural ride without a GoPro to shoot all of the photos I can’t be bothered to stop and take myself? In retrospect, it was probably counter-intuitive to convert all of photos of the glorious, spring ride into black and white, but I feel like I had to do something to set them apart from all of the other biking pictures I post.

I’ve set a personal goal to bike 1,000 miles this year, and today’s 20 mile trek was my first step.I just hope I can keep up the momentum,

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Bike Ride to Beethoven

The bike photos from my GoPro last week were taken from a time lapse I took with GoPro that I combined for a video. I think I’m getting the hang of editing these these bike trip videos, but I would appreciate a more stable image. I’ll look more into it for the next one. This was my longest, recorded ride yet, but I worry that the video may have turned out too long.

I’ve watched this footage too many times to be a proper judge anymore. What do you guys think? What changes should I make for next time? Let me know in the comments below.

Fall Bike Ride

With the weather changing, I just had to get at least one more bike ride in before everything freezes over. And what better ride than one that takes me through all of my favorite trails I took as a kid? I started in Kent, then Stow, Silver Lake, then the familiar Hike and Bike Trail all the way back to Kent. I shot a full video with my GoPro, but that’s still in the works. In the mean time, I’ve got some of the nicer single stills from the ride.

9-11 Memorials

I spent some time today driving around the area to see what commemorations I could find to honor those lost in the attacks of September 11th, 2001.

Flowers were placed on a memorial constructed from a beam belonging to one of the original World Trade Center towers, which stands in the Memorial Garden in front of Stow City Hall.

Flowers were placed on a memorial constructed from a beam belonging to one of the original World Trade Center towers, which stands in the Memorial Garden in front of Stow City Hall.

A monument to the soldiers who passed away during the War On Terror is part of a larger veterans’’ memorial in Kent’s Standing Rock Cemetery.

Hundreds of candles lined the walkways outside Tallmadge Church to commemorate those who died during the September 11th terrorist attacks.

Dan Page played both ‘Taps’ and ‘God Bless America’ in the Memorial Garden in front of Stow City Hall. While Page has never served, his son is part of army special forces and will soon be leaving for Iraq.

Stow police officers paid their respects to those lost in the September 11th attack in 2001.

A wreath was hung at the memorial garden to commemorate those who passed in the September 11th attack in 2001.

Into The Storm

As I sit inside, sheltered from a much-needed storm outside, I think back to a few weeks ago to some similar weather. I was sitting with my book, listening to the rain as I received a message from a friend, asking if I was safe inside. Just as I was responding, I received another, similar message.  My phone kept going off as more and more people wanted to me sure that I was not braving the storm to take photos.

Now, I was intrigued. Should I be out shooting? I pulled out my laptop and started checking social media local news, and my police scanner. Sure enough, there was flash flooding reported all over the area . How could I be expected to stay inside when there was this much news to shoot? I rushed to waterproof my gear for the rain and headed for the door. Fortunately, most of the rain had stopped by the time I headed out the door to see what I could find.

A Stow family returned to their home after seeking shelter with a neighbor.

 

I’m not sure if it’s genetic or learned, but journalists seem to lack the self-preservation instincts that drive most sane people away from danger as opposed to toward it.

First Ride of The Season

I’ve been needing a good bike ride lately. After spending a few hours with my buddy, Chris, working on his family’s new house, we decided to take the bikes for a spin. We wound up going around 20 miles round trip along the local trails, and I was lucky enough to have had my GoPro with me to shoot some video.

 

 

First Real Snow

The bad snow has finally made its way to Ohio. It was gorgeous, the snowfall was gentle, there was no wind, the flakes were huge, and the temperature wasn’t too cold. I took advantage and went walking and shooing before work and on my break. Editing was fun too, I basically upped the contrast and clarity to try to emphasize the individual flakes.

A couple braves the first heavy snowfall of the winter to go grocery shopping.

 

My favorites for the night are a sequence I shot of a couple trying to get their groceries across the shopping center lot.

A couple braves the first heavy snowfall of the winter to go grocery shopping.

From My Site to the Paper

A piece I wrote a few weeks ago titled Mrs. Gilley’s Garden, received a ton of positive feedback and I was encouraged by friends and family to submit it to some local papers. To my pleasant surprise, the article was picked up as an op-ed piece in the Record Courier. I don’t know why I opted to include the photo of me with Mrs. Gilley; I’d been landscaping for hours beforehand and look terrible. I also didn’t write the headline. Still, I submitted the article in the hopes that it might be able to help someone else going through something similar. With any luck, it will do at least a little bit of good.

If nothing else, the article has already helped Mrs. Gilley a bit. After reading it, my mother went out and bought her a digital photo frame which I loaded with photos of her garden. She had some trouble expressing in words what the frame meant to her, but I’ll take her glowing face as a sign that she was appreciative.