Photography | Kate's Queen City Notes

July 13, 2015
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Saint Motel and Cincinnati Prettied Up for The ASG

I took some pictures of things…

The ghost of Carew Tower, or something festive for The All-Star Game. You decide.

Saint Motel had a good audience in spite of the rain. Also, the fountain is red. Very red. Praise be to the gods of digital photography for post processing.

Still, praise be to the gods of digital photography for post processing.

Those are guys in old school uniforms repelling off a building. One might ask, what this has to do with baseball.

No comment needed.

Saint Motel put on a super fun show. There was much awkward dancing.

Saint Motel playing at Fountain Square.

At 6 AM, the paint was still wet. Guess what idiot rode her bike through one before she noticed they were wet? Yep.

I appreciate the on sidewalk directions complete with arrows that stretch blocks.

The red lights on the fountain were less tricky in daylight. That could be said of most things when photographing. Unless the object is ugly.

I always think this kid is strangling that duck. Pretty sure that’s not what the artist intended.

June 8, 2015
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Bunbury 2015 Sunday Pictures

Airports aren’t ideal for writing under any circumstances, but particularly so for describing the sun-baked joy of a music festival. The recycled air drives all sensory memories down the memory hole. Even the coffee is rendered ineffective in stimulating the creative process. As friendly reminders about TSA regulation filter in yesterday might be an echo from a past life.

With a fifty percent chance of rain yesterday, day three of Bunbury Music Festival, all scheduling felt tentative. Sawyer Point looked as exhausted as many of the fest attendees. Grass laid down under the weight of so many stomping feet. Evaporated beer, among other unmentionables, warmed on the concrete. No amount of trash management can erase the days past.

500 Hundred Miles to Memphis started the day, as the crowd was chasing the sleep from their eyes and booze from their livers. This would be the only moment for regrouping with The Front Bottoms taking Yeatman’s Cove stage in thirty minutes. Shakey Graves, Jessica Hernandez & the Deltas, Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band, Atmosphere, and Manchester Orchestra all packed in the following three hours. This left the last couple hours of the fest with just Twenty-one Pilots and Snoop Dogg.

Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band overflowed with charisma and bombast. If Reverend Peyton’s was the Labrador of performances, Shakey Graves was the Greyhound, delicate, graceful, and beautiful. Twenty-one Pilots are incredible performers, and yesterday was no exception.

All the great music culminated with Snoop Dogg’s closing performance. He was late. He was late by forty-five minutes. He was backed by a couple of DJ’s, a vocalist, and a dancing human in a dog costume. He covered many songs. It was a disappointment, especially considering all the musicianship that was on display earlier in the weekend. Check this one off the bucket list.

Snoop Dogg

Twenty-one Pilots

Atmosphere

Shakey Graves

Jessica Hernandez and The Deltas

Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band

The Front Bottoms

500 Miles to Memphis

June 7, 2015
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Bunbury 2015 Saturday Pictures

Wow. I am exhausted. Yesterday was all about will power. The highlights were excellent performances by The Avett Brothers, Reverend Horton Heat, The Devil Makes Three, and The Decemberists. Here’s my shots.

The Zack Longoria Project

Playing to Vapors

Bummers

The Devil Makes Three

The Decemberists

Reverend Horton Heat

Old Crow Medicine Show

Avett Brothers

June 5, 2015
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Randoms – AKA – I’ve Failed to Download my Pictures for a while

Right, Bunbury is happening. I will be shooting it. I have failed to download pictures from my camera for a few weeks. Here’s the short version of what happened. I saw Ikky Blossoms, The Scrubs (love you Mike Ingram), The Antlers, and Mutual Benefit at The Woodward. All of this was excellent. I also went on vacation to Florida. Enjoy.

Ikky Blossoms!

Modoc at MOTR.

This is Modoc at MOTR. This show was super.

Mutual Benefit

Mutual Benefit. He is adorable, and I want to take him home in my pocket.

The Antlers

Turns out, black an white suites Mike.

Mike Ingram of The Scrubs!

LIzard friend. He hung out in front of our bungalow.

This Osprey hung out on the beach all week. I had zero appropriate setting on my camera to capture this. (I was shooting the sun set when this guy flew close to us.)

Sunsets. The beach does them right.

April 30, 2015
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Andrew WK Rocks my Socks

As mentioned in yesterday’s blog, I have more blog topics and pictures than words right now. So, in the interests of working out the backlog here’s some pictures of the Andrew WK show at The Woodward Theater. It was great fun.

April 13, 2015
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Rubblebucket, The Bonesetters, and Clear Plastic Masks

Yikes. I am behind. My Rubblebucket pictures have been inprisoned on my camera’s memory card for nearly two weeks sans my attention. In the interests of keeping things moving, I’m just going to leave this pictures here. Also, if you have a chance to see Rubblebucket, do so just to watch the fun. It really doesn’t matter if their music is your bag, you will enjoy their energy and performance.

The band Vacationer at The Woodward Theater in Cincinnati OH

Vacationer at The Woodward. They opened for Rubblebucket.

Rubblebucket at The Woodward

Rubblebucket at The Woodward. This show was so fun.

Rubblebucket. All the energy. ALL OF IT.

Rubblebucket

Rubblebucket. Yep. That’s a bari.

The Bonesetters

The band Clear Plastic Masks playing at MOTR in Cincinnati OH

Clear Plastic Masks at MOTR

March 6, 2015
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Photography Success: Smoking The Ohio River

I have been trying to shoot The Ohio River all winter when the stars align for the river to let off water vapor at dawn. I have only captured it accidentally with my cell phone, but I was dying to get my SLR out to shoot it. The best I can make out, the over-night lows need to be very cold, and the skies need to be clear enough at dawn for the sun to warm the surface of the river water. It was 5 degrees when I was shooting this morning, and I suspect this is the last time the river will smoke this winter. The vapor coupled with the jubilant early morning light is at once eerie and magnificent. It was worth losing feeling in my fingers.

February 23, 2015
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Snowfilled Vistas

I saw ice in the river for the first time this winter. Of course, I had to shoot it.

The river looked incredible with the large chunks of ice floating buy.

This is inside one of my favorite places to eat in the city. Pho Lang Thang.

There were a few brave souls that managed to leave the house.

Don’t worry everyone. The city couldn’t manage to get the major interstate plowed, but Paul Brown Stadium is perfectly cleared. So, that will be a big help when the Bengals play next August.

Evidence of other people braving the weather.

The Findlay Market snow removal team had their work cut out for them.

A building on 4th Street during renovation.

The building two doors down is under renovation. That means there’s lots of decay to ruminate on.

The Ohio River facing west off the Roebling Bridge.

Watching the ice float by made me enter a meditative state. It was accidentally a practice in being present.

Bell’s beer tasting was delightful as was the CSO’s performance of The Planets.

February 11, 2015
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Bellvue Street Walker

We took advantage of the warm weather on Saturday to explore Bellvue by bike. We had lunch at The Elusive Cow, and had a walk about the neighborhood. I took some shots.

The Marianne Theater is adorable. I want someone to show old movies there.

We stopped in at an antique shop. Oddities abounded.

Was this movie out the last time this theater was in operation?

Juxtaposition.

I bet this toy would really disappoint today, given that most kids are playing games on iPads.

February 4, 2015
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In My Block

I have struggled to keep shooting. For a myriad of reasons, my inner critic is particularly ruthless with any visual artistic work. So, with every design, illustration and photo comes abuse; no human has ever been as cruel to me as my inner critic. The difference between what I intend to capture vs what actually turns out is vast, and I am continually disgusted with myself. My inner critic uses lots of phrases that start with “I should…”.

I have grace with myself in writing. I know I am still learning, and I accept my poor editing abilities. I have grace with myself in playing guitar. When I make a mess of a tune my first thought is what steps I will take to improve, rather than “I should be able to play this.” That self talk with “I should”, it’s not useful. Who cares what should be? What “is” is all that matters.

I’m working to shush my inner critic. As part of that I decided to walk around my block and shoot. Sure, while taking and editing these pictures I was shouting down my inner critic with, “RESPECT THE JOURNEY!!!!”, more often than not. Here’s the results.