Steve and Sherri, sitting in a tree...

Quite the four month break on the blog. Completely unacceptable, but I do have a few thousand more shots under my belt since my last post, many of which I plan on putting up here soon. As for now, enjoy one of my favorite moments behind the lens thus far. Introducing soon-to-be Mr. and Mrs. Collison!

Three weeks since I started the 365...

...and three weeks since I've posted on this bad boy. I apologize for the delay, but I'm just trying to get used to the flow of this 365. It has been going great thus far, but seeing as I'm not even 1/10th of the way through it, I would hope that it would be.

I figured that since I haven't been out and about for any extensive shoots lately that I would just give the blog an refresher with some of my favorite 365 shots so far. Enjoy kiddos!

I just need my prescription of Xanax filled. Thanks.

The last thing I expected to find at the Indiana State Fair (or any fair, actually) was a near mint-condition, antique pharmacy. Hooks Drug Store has stood on the Indiana State Fairgrounds since 1849, and I strongly doubt that it has changed much. I cannot imagine walking into a Walgreens, telling the pharmacist that your head hurt, and then they put together a powder/liquid/cream concoction with one finger-crossed hand behind their back. Either way, very neat to see this glimpse into the medical history that scarily enough, was in active use not that long ago. Enjoy the pictures, and I apologize that there are only a few. 

Before Lauren and I left, we actually got a hand pumped chocolate coke from a soda jerk. Definitely awesome. 

Photography stew, part deux.

After 30 weeks of keeping this blog going (yeah I know, I'm amazed as well), I figured it would be a great time to get together some of my favorite random shots. Throughout the first seven months of this blog I have managed to take some shots of this and that, and some seem worthy of being up here. Thanks to anyone who is viewing this on a regular basis, I hope some of these posts have tickled your fancy and/or blown your skirt up, as managing this blog has definitely done both to me. So sit back, relax, and take in this kaleidoscope of shots after the jump.

Steal second bas..er, that Toyota!

Today I come to you with what will hopefully be one of three posts this week. After my previous failure at the military junkyard/museum, I hoped that my luck would turn around today.

Thankfully my luck decided to not only turn around, but do three or four more rotations in a positive direction. Follow me here; an overgrown, reused, weather-beaten, abandoned minor-league baseball stadium. Oh photography gods, how I thank thee.

Bush Stadium is the previous home of the Indianapolis Indians, the local minor league squad. After a bit of digging, I found out that the stadium had been built in 1931 as Perry Stadium, then renamed Victory Field in 1942, and renamed for its remaining days as Bush Stadium. With a rich history including multiple movies being filmed on-site, Negro League baseball finals, and even being a host stadium for the 1987 Pan-Am games, the future of the stadium is now looking quite bleak. The stadium saw its final hurrah in 1997 as a midget auto racing venue.

Thirteen years later, the stadium sits in shambles, being used as a lot to hold cars from the "Cash for Clunkers" program. Very sad story for quite a history-rich building. With that being said, here is what was seen through my lens.

Military fail, Art Center win

Well, I started off the day with a plan to head to a local Military Junkyard/Museum. After knocking out class and work, all I wanted to do was take some shots of rusted out tanks and jets. Thanks to someone at the museum closing up shop a few hours early, that shoot will have to wait. But with every down there has to be an up, right?

Enter Broad Ripple Art Center.  This place is only a quick jaunt from my apartment, and for some reason I had not shot it until just the other day. After running around their grounds, snapping a few fun photos I realized that I am in severe need of someone to model for me. There are far too many interesting backgrounds and objects for someone to interact with. Until then, enjoy the scenery.

Side note - I decided to play around with some homemade filters (post) and see what I could accomplish. I am pretty happy with a few of them; surreal, yet defined. Let me know your thoughts! 

To Linger in California

Before and after my trip to Tokyo, I had the opportunity to stop in L.A. to pick up and drop off Mr. Beau Bye. We managed to pack in quite a few different activities throughout this short time. From the Getty to Venice Beach, Hollywood to Solvang, I tried to capture as much as possible through my lens. I'm quite sure that nearly half of my shots were of the rolling hills seen throughout the north portion of L.A., so I will try to condense those to another post someday. For now, enjoy.

Panoramania.

Once I got back from the trip to California and Japan I realized that I had taken a decent amount of panoramic shots. Here are some of the better ones.

Side note -  Many of these are very, very large files. Some were well over 33mb and I had to downsize them so as to not ruin the interwebz. Feel free to click on some of the shots themselves and peer around, they're a lot larger than you think.

Land of the Rising Sun...No seriously, it's up at 4:00 a.m.

I would like to begin by apologizing to the entire month of June. Between hopping the Pacific, spending time in California and moving my life to Indianapolis, I somehow kept pushing back my posts. I swear it will never happen again. I hope.

Now that that's out of the way, let's get down to business. Japan. Tokyo to be exact. Nothing about this place was even remotely the same as home, but everything was amazing. There isn't nearly enough time for me to tell all of the stories through text, so I'll give it my best shot...through my shots. I hope you all enjoy, because it was surely one of the most astounding moments of my life thus far.

Potter's field photography

As I was running around the northside of Indy today, I happened past a very intricate and ornate graveyard. I figured it would make for a picture or two. Mind you that this was 3pm, no clouds, direct sunlight...I probably should have waited until dusk? Either way, enjoy the shots, let me know what you think after the jump!

Side note - The panoramic shot is my first 'real' attempt at a photomerge, approximately 14 photos combined.

You put the lime in the coconut...and cookie

Absolutely delicious. That is all I have to say about the "Key Lime Meltaway" cookies featured on SmittenKitchen.com. Miss Lauren Kenley has done quite the job keeping up with and searching around this website for the last few months, and has made sure to show me any and all things scrumptious. Lauren finally settled on trying out these cookies a little while back, and with me moving into a new apartment, why not break in the new kitchen with tasty homemade cookie smell?? Enjoy!! ( I tried my hardest to include some sort of scratch-and-sniff feature on these photos, no luck)

New bike for the Schwinn!

Yet again I have taken far too long to throw a new post up, but I have had oh-so-much happen in the meanwhile. The most prominent happening is myself moving to Indianapolis! Now there is no possible way for me to not have a plethora of photo opportunities at any given moment (even though there is still the very real possibility of me just being lazy *sigh*)

Anyway, the next bit of fun news is my new transportation! Welcome my 1978 Schwinn Le Tour III. I was tipped off by a friend, made a quick phone call, and within 72 hours I had a near-perfect condition road bike. The bike is great and is in need of no repairs, but I am considering a new paint job. I'll make sure to document any and all changes. As for now, enjoy a few shots of the bike! 

Also - From here on out I am planning on trying to post more often, and with less content. I'm thinking around 3-5 photos per post, and 1-2 posts per week.

Shy town? I don't get it

Ok, that was far too long of a break. Three weeks without a post? Unacceptable, I know. If it is any consolation, I have come back with shots from the windy city, and that makes me happy, so you should be happy as well. I didn't really take as many shots as I wanted, probably because I was too terribly enthralled with the city itself. I feel as if the selection below is a nice mix of tourist and artistic photos, with a couple from the top of the Onterie Center thanks to Mr. Brandon Winter. Overall the trip was an amazing success and enjoy Chicago through my lens!

Also, I have to give credit to Miss Kenley for being behind the lens (as well as in front of it) for a few of the shots below, as driving in Chicago traffic and snapping off photos can't be all too safe. Anyway, nice shots kiddo! Check out the shots after the jump.

Finally, a real reason to wear aviators

140 horsepower. 47 years old. Not much bigger than your car. Sounds like the perfect specifications for a plane, right? Right.

I consider myself to be quite an experienced flier, having taken somewhere around 100 flights in my lifetime, but this, this was a bit different. Thanks to Doyle McIntosh, I felt the most uncomfortable I have felt in the air in a very, very long time. For some odd reason I figured that a plane with 4 seats would handle nearly the same way as a 757. Incorrect.

Ok, enough whining and griping. After the whole experience I can say that it was an absolute blast, it really wasn't that dangerous nor scary, and I actually flew the damn thing for a solid 2-3 minutes. As for the pictures, I jumped back-and-forth across the line that is artistic photography and journalistic photography. The aerial images are of Ball State campus. Enjoi after the jump.

Retro Rewind

After being behind the lens for a few thousand snaps of the shutter, I have come to realize what my favorite shots include - grunge, interesting architecture, and up-close textures. When I was recently tipped off to a spot that included all of the above (plus retro themes) I knew it wouldn't be long until I would make time for a visit.

Enter the small minuscule town that is Cammack, Indiana. After driving through the heart of the town and nearly missing it, I quickly spotted the reason that I drove half an hour out of Muncie - Cammack Station. While looking around for a parking space I noticed an extremely weathered grain elevator which wasn't my reason for the trip, but it immediately caught my eye as a great photo op. Below are the shots from around the elevator, restaurant, and the township. Enjoy.

Side note - The restaurant apparently doesn't open until April 6th, but an extremely nice older gentleman noticed me snapping off shots of the building and asked me inside. We chatted for nearly an hour about the history of building, town, and his involvement with both. To top it all off, he allowed me to take some pretty cool photos of the interior as well. You have got to love small towns. Get retro'd after the jump!

Broad Ripple (Part One): The writing on the wall

Two days in a row of good weather? Sounds like two days in a row of good shooting if you ask me. I have been meaning to get some shots around the Broad Ripple area, particularly of the grunge and disgustingly beautiful back alleys. I hope to further my Broad Ripple shots into different families i.e., Food, People, Nature, Nightlife, etc. So enjoy the first collection within the set.

Mile Marker- This week marks the 10th week of the blog, and my 10th entry! I'm loving everything about this photo-web-journal-experiment so far, and I hope you are too! Also, happy bday Mr. Deuce! Check out the urban art after the jump.

A Butler serving a Holliday (Park)

Bulldogs, hippies and geese, oh my! I decided to put together a random collection of shots from the first great weather day of the year (thank the Lord), and the majority of them consist of photos around Holliday Park. This is the second time I have been, each time turning out a great plethora of shots. I think I have stated this before, but I CANNOT wait until mother nature works her magic and makes this place bloom.

After Holliday Park, I took a quick trip to Butler University to see what the campus had to offer (a very quick trip thanks to a parking meter and only one quarter in my pocket) and it turned out to have a few cool sculptures, but thanks to Spring Break, no students. I am going to go ahead and say that today was an overall great start to (what better be) a great spring season! Check out some nature after the jump.

To Paint a Portrait

Well, after a photography break of a few weeks I had the chance to work with people and portraiture for the first time. A birthday get-together occurred over this last weekend, and I decided (with some fear for my camera) that it was a great chance to catch people 'in the moment' if you will. I'll go ahead and keep this short and sweet, so without further ado, consider this my first venture into shooting emotions and not posed photographs. Get up-close and personal after the jump.

Have you met my friend, Roy G. Biv?

After a while of terribly inclement weather, February brought somewhat of a relief. For the first time in about two weeks I was able to get out and quench my photography thirst.

I decided to try, once again, Christy Woods near campus, in hopes of catching some interesting critter pictures. After 10 minutes of walking through the all-but-dead area, I was terribly disappointed. Luckily I happened to see a greenhouse, and the shoot suddenly took a turn for the better. Much better.

I stepped into the greenhouse and was instantly vaulted into a world of color and humidity. I quickly searched through the winding aisles and found the place to be completely void of anyone else. I couldn't ask for more. After allowing the fog to disperse from my lens, the fun began.

FYI - Apparently I was in a greenhouse filled with South American Orchids?? I'm no botanist, and have no clue as to what species were there, but wow, amazing subjects for photography indeed. Go green after the jump.

"The party is ru-eeend"

Well I haven't had a chance to go shoot all week - a combination of terrible winter weather and being busy - but with a 50 degree Saturday happening before my eyes, I couldn't pass up the chance to shoot. I ended up getting a tip from a friend about a great place to photograph in the Indianapolis area, Holliday Park. My girlfriend decided to accompany me and we both had a blast exploring around the various sculptures, trails, and gardens. I absolutely cannot wait for spring and/or fall at this place, I have got to imagine that nothing but beautiful pictures will come from this park.

FYI - The random sculpture in the middle of the park is titled "the Races of Man," by Elmer Taflinger. Originally the façade of the St. Paul building in New York City, the sculptures made their way to Indianapolis after the building was torn down in 1950. Stay parked after the jump.

Through the Fire & Fog

Well, my original intent for the MLK day weekend was to take a trip through a wooded area on Ball State campus that is used by the university as a tool for the biology and NREM students. After taking the trip to the (gated) woods and finding them to be closed (yes, closed) I ended up taking some shots in a nearby quad and then heading to a local power plant. This day also happened to be rather foggy, which turned out to be an interesting obstacle as well as enhancement for many of the photos. Get educated after the jump.

Frozen in Park

Well, since returning back to college I have been dying to get out and take some shots around campus. I will get around to this soon, but in the meanwhile I decided to quench my photography thirst by playing around in a nearby parking garage at night. The intention of this shoot was essentially to begin to learn the basics of XSi at night, which I thought should be easy. Ha. With the lack of tripod, 8 degree weather, 10-15 mph wind chill, and a deficiency of knowledge in low-light photography, it turned out miserably. Seeing as there were only 17 photos taken in total,  I considered only 3 to barely scrape by as passable.

There was also an extremely feeble attempt at HDR photography tonight, which, in low-light and without a tripod also failed miserably.  That is to be left to another day, preferably one where I can feel my fingers.

I keep telling myself that I’m only three weeks into this and that adjusting aperture, my eye, ISO settings, shutter-speed, etc. will all be second nature in no time, right? Right?? Check out my progress after the jump.

So Begins a Beach Redux...

The thought of photographing a desolate boardwalk with years of history behind it should entice any budding photographer, right? One could understand how I couldn't resist the invitation of this in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, only a quick jaunt from my home. The only problem with this idea is that as of the beginning of 2010, the boardwalk is under a complete rehaul...essentially meaning that it does not exist as of right now. Slight problem, but this gave me the task of searching for new and interesting shots of the boardwalk construction as well as the beach itself.

Side note: After today I have realized that I am obsessed with black and white shots as well as shots of objects that tend to fade toward a horizon line. Therefore, the shoot at the beach gave me a goal to try and find some other shots that were not only focused on these two types of shots. Go eastern after the jump.

Much Ado About Nothing: Chop Suey Edition

Welcome the melting pot of novice photographs from the first few weeks of my experiment with a dSLR. I hope one is able to look back on these within six months (hopefully) and take note of obviously positive changes. Without further ado, I welcome the recipe to an amateur photography stew. Get a helping of stew after the jump.