Night Kayaking

When my phones rings and I see that it's Mike calling, I know before I even answer that I need to cancel all my plans and get ready for an adventure. Which is exactly what happened the other night. So on went the layers and out I went to pick up Kaylah and Brandon. We met up with Mike and a few other kayakers at the Sheraton in Cuyahoga Falls. Since only one of the falls is lit the first step was to light the second and larger of the two falls.

Brandon and Mike untangle extension cords before borrowing a little bit of electricity.

Getting the light set up.

The fist set of falls.

My Kaylah.

Mike approaching the falls.

Carrying the Kayaks back upstream after going over the second falls.

The second falls.

Photos taken with a Canon Mark III and Canon 60D, with a Canon 35mm f/1.4, Canon 135mm f/2.0, and Rokinon 8mm Fisheye.

Get Low

Abandoned buildings, bridges, rooftops; are all great places to explore and photograph, but in my opinion the most difficult to both access and shoot are the spaces beneath the city. Everyone knows that there are tunnels below the streets, but most people will never see these tunnels with their own eyes. 

This particular system of tunnels is largely fed by a creek that once ran through the city uncovered. As the city grew sections of the creek were covered a little bit at a time, until eventually almost the entire creek was underground. Feeding into this underground river are smaller tunnels that gather rain water from the streets and parking lots above. Since different sections of the tunnel were built at different times the construction changes from brick to stone to concrete. The city infrastructure is fascinating. 

Jason and Brandon taking photos.

Photos taken with a Canon Mark III and Canon 60D, using a Canon 20mm f/2.8 and Rokinon 8mm Fisheye lens.

New Heights

It seems like my itch to explore and climb is always strongest as soon as the weather turns to bitter cold icy horribleness. Thankfully here in Ohio we can go from temperatures in the twenties one day, to temps in the sixties the next. So despite the forecasted rain, we decided to take advantage of our sixty degree day and do some climbing.

The weather couldn't have been better when we first started, but no sooner did I get my camera out than it started pouring. We were under a bridge but it didn't help with the rain that was coming in sideways. I, along with my camera, were soaked immediately. Of course I kept shooting though.

Of course I had to get a shot of one of my new pairs of Palladium Boots.

Jason on the catwalk.

The next spot we went was one of my absolute favorites. I never get tired of the view up here.

At first we were worried that the fog might obscure the view too much, but as it turned out the fog really added to the photos.

Brandon setting up a shot.

A couple days later the weather had gone back to freezing cold but we were determined to get back out. So Jason and Brandon and I took a stab at something new and it paid off.

Photos taken with a Canon Mark III and Canon 60D, using a Canon 20mm f/2.8 and Rokinon 8mm Fisheye lens.

The Cold Returns

There's a bumper sticker made by Daffy Dan that says "Cleveland - You've got to be tough", and it's true. While we may not be Buffalo, we still get snow and nasty winter weather. I dread the cold weather and the snow, but when it's at it's worst, I can't help but get to work. Coffee in one hand, camera in the other, I ventured out to take some photos of the first snowfall of the season and do a little bit of exploring. Traffic was a mess so I didn't want to go far and lucky for me I don't have to.

After taking this shot I heard someone walking behind me. I turned around and saw a man about my age. This is a common spot for the homeless but I don't think this guy was one of them. I actually think he was a drug dealer there to pray on the homeless. We made small talk about the weather for a few minutes and then I headed on my way.

I love the train tracks in the snow.

An old favorite.

I'm not quite ready for another Cleveland winter, but like it or not I'll be out in the weather doing what I always do.

Photos taken with a Canon Mark III and Canon 60D, with a Canon 20mm f/2.8 and Rokinon 8mm Fisheye.

Abandonment Issues vol. 007

After a night of climbing buildings and bridges Brandon and I, along with Kaylah, somehow managed to wake up early and explore some of the rougher areas of the city. We explored four different apartment buildings. A couple of them were fairly large, but unfortunately none of them had much left behind. I had fun, I always do, but I was off my game. I didn't take many photos and most of what I shot I wasn't very happy with. It was still a great morning of exploring.

The first building was in bad shape but didn't yield any usable photos, probably because my coffee hadn't kicked in yet. The second building was a high rise apartment complex. It wasn't very old and aside from one apartment, it really didn't have too much left in it. The view from the roof was great though. 

The rooms facing South were in a much further state of decay than the rooms facing North.

This apartment was absolutely full of stuff. These rooms were small and yet whoever lived here had amassed an overwhelming amount of junk. Most of the floor was covered in at least a foot of clothes.

I snapped a quick photo of the outside of the imposing structure as we were leaving. 

The next spot was one that Kaylah had found. The outside of the building was breath taking. It was truly in a state of ruin. As beautiful as the architecture was there is no saving this relic. One entire section of the building had already collapsed. 

The inside was a lot like the rest of the buildings that we had been in that day, empty.

After that building we took advantage of the neighborhood and walked over to one of the other abandoned apartments that were all over the area. This building had more in than the first three but I still didn't get very many photos. I was more interested in exterior photos that day.

We drove around a little bit longer but didn't find anything else that we wanted to explore and I was hungry and needed to get some work done so we called it a day.

Photos taken with a Canon Mark III and Canon 60D, with a Canon 20mm f/2.8 and Rokinon 8mm Fisheye.