Where We're At

An iPhone shot of the field from last week. Not a
bad place to start most days from.

This morning I set up my tripod in the fairground area across from our house for what is likely the last time I shoot a landscape in Europe. It wasn't in a famous location or a spot that is particularly remarkable in the German countryside. Instead, it was to shoot a view of home. It's a view of a big hill on the other side of the river with the fairground field in the foreground. This field is where we've been walking our dog for the last 3.5 years. The view of that unremarkable field and the unremarkable hill across the river has been the view from our house, a view we've had in our lives longer than any other. It was important to me to capture it during a sunrise. In a month we'll pull away from this house and our street and this town and we'll probably never see that view again, at least not at that time of day. I think we often take these types of places for granted and sometimes we see them so much we forget that there might come a time we will never see them again and then we may forget them. I've lived in a lot of places and I have photographs from all of them. But, they're mostly all snapshots. It wasn't until we moved to Europe that I thought to document the towns and homes we lived in with a little more care. So, this morning I officially closed out my European photographic journey with shooting a place that means a little more to me than some bright city or sweeping landscape elsewhere. It isn't that exciting compared to all those other places I photographed, but every time I looked out a window at home at this view or walked The Dog in the field, I said a little thanks for being given time to live in this beautiful, simple place.

After I came inside this morning, I packed up most of my equipment. Saturday morning we're flying back to the US. We're going for a week to finalize our housing in Akron and take care of a lot of logistical stuff. We're also taking The Dog back and he will be hanging out with my parents who graciously offered to care for him until we finalize the move at the end of next month. That way we will be able to take Cats 1 & 2 in the cabin with us on that last flight instead of putting them in the hold. The Dog will be riding under the seat on Saturday's flight and my computer, backup drives, all of my cameras, lenses, and other misc gear will be riding under the seat next to him. The "powers" that be in Washington are threatening to make passengers check their laptops on flights from Europe to the US like they did earlier this year with flights coming from Muslim majority nations. I want to get my laptop out of here before that goes into effect. We have a moving company shipping nearly all of our belongings, but I certainly don't want my equipment crossing the ocean on a tanker or in the hold of a cargo plane. So, it all has to come back under the seat on Saturday. No important equipment will be checked, of course. All that will remain in Germany to use during our last few weeks here is my X70 and a Gorillapod.

These next few days I'm going to be cramming in as much editing from our trip to Zermatt as I can and I'll probably continue to work on that while we're in Akron next week. But, we have a lot to get organized for the move too and time will be tight. Whatever I don't get to is going to wait until we are done with the move. I'm not going to have my computer for 3 weeks! So, there's a good chance this will be the last blog post for a while, but I'm hoping to keep posting with my tablet right up until the end. There's definitely going to be a lull in new photograph uploads to the website, though. I hope you'll bear with me!

After we return next weekend, we'll be in Germany for three more weeks. They will be shipping nearly everything we own right after we come back from Akron so we'll be sharing an air mattress on the floor with the Cats and eating a lot of carry out on paper plates. It's going to be like camping in someone else's house because it won't feel like ours anymore. In fact, it doesn't feel like home anymore now. All the art is off the walls, we have piles of stuff everywhere- some for the boat, some for air cargo, some to take back next week, some to donate/throw out (massive hassle on that front, by the way), and some to keep here. It's a mess. International moving is like regular moving except about ten times more stressful. Every single thing has to be kept track of, accounted for, and organized- right down to the toilet paper and cat litter. It's hard to believe that by the end of Summer this will all be behind us and we won't have to move again for hopefully a very, very long time.

So, just wanted to touch base, but I really need to get back to editing. Time is short.

Wow.

Happy Thanksgiving and Such

I just wanted to wish everyone back home in the United States a good Thanksgiving holiday. I know it has been a really tough year and these continue to be uncertain times. But, hopefully today can be peaceful and differences can be set aside. The important thing is to remember that we are bound by our ties as Americans. It is when we come together that we are at our greatest- no matter our beliefs, our education, our salaries, the way we dress, or how we live. Today is an opportunity to begin healing as everyone meets over a meal with family and friends. It is an opportunity to discuss, not to argue. It is an opportunity to listen, not to chastise. It is an opportunity to begin building bridges with those across the table that can be extended across divides. This is not the day to avoid our differences and pretend everything is just fine while harboring resentment, today is the day to right this ship. So talk it out, hug each other, then go have a second piece of pie for me.

The holiday season gets its official kickoff today. If after the holiday (or during) you're feeling like you need a little retail therapy, I have many new items available in my Zazzle Shop. There are eight new tote bags with landscape photographs, a bunch of new puzzles, greeting cards, a whole new collection of Eiger products, some new waterfall items, and a whole bunch of stuff for the holidays!

Of course, I also have new wall calendars available for 2017. They were my most popular item last year and I want to say thank you to all who purchased one! We were able to send on a nice donation to Americas Fund with the proceeds.

This year there are once again two calendars available. There is the 11"x14.25" full color calendar for $28.00 featuring photographs from Austria, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, and Portugal. A portion of my proceeds from this calendar will be donated to PetsMart Charities this year. This charity is the most successful in facilitating animal adoptions and spay & neuter programs in the United States.

Scenic Europe 2017 Calendar

 The second calendar is 5.5"x7" and features black and white photographs. I will be donating 80% of my proceeds from this calendar to the International Refugee Assistance Project. Because of everything that has been going on both in Europe and the United States, I've become very concerned about this issue. Refugees need our support more than ever and the IRAP is the leading organization in fighting for refugee rights and providing services for them. This calendar is $25.00 and features photographs from Germany, France, Iceland, Norway, Belgium, Ireland, Portugal, Italy, Luxembourg, Ohio (yup!), Slovakia, and Switzerland.

2017 Monochrome Calendar

Both calendars can be customized by language and country holidays. They also, like all my other Zazzle products, ship internationally. So, if you are in need of a new calendar or a gift for the upcoming season, here you go! ALSO, today only both calendars are 40% off! Use the code BLACKFRILOVE at check out. Many other items in the Shop are also on sale with the same code.

Ok, get outside this weekend, relax, eat a little too much, and enjoy your holiday! We wish we were there!

A Backyard Park

Blue Hen Falls

Northeast Ohio is blessed to have a magnificent National Park.  Sure, it doesn't have geysers, mountains, grizzlies, and canyons, but it's unlike any other National Park in the country.  Why? Because it's accessible and lived in.  People are just as important to this park as its spaces.  Bald eagles fly over farms and people who live in the cities like Akron and Cleveland can hop onto a trail near their neighborhood and walk or ride into forests.  This is a park for people.

Virginia Kendall Overlook

I was blessed to grown up on its border in the Cuyahoga Valley.  I grew up cycling and hiking there and considered the CVNP and the MetroParks to be an extension of my backyard.  While most young people in the suburbs spend their time in the gridded world of housing developments, I had Hampton Hills, the Towpath trail, Virginia Kendall, and Brandywine.

A lot has changed since I was growing up.  Back then, there wasn't a scenic railroad, Szalay's Farm barely sold more than corn, the Towpath only ran from the old Indian Mound Trailhead to Hillside road, and Hale Farm was barely hanging on.  Peninsula wasn't particularly popular except for those doing the World Tour of Beers at the Lizard.

Today, of course, the Park is the place to be.  The railroad is so popular on the weekends that you need to book in advance, you can ride your bike from Harvard road all the way down to Route 172 without ever leaving the towpath trail, Hale Farm has been revived, Szalay's is has become a popular attraction, and little Peninsula is absolutely packed on Saturdays and Sundays.  It's something to see.

The Beaver Marsh

Of course, this phenomenon of National Park popularity isn't unique to the Cuyahoga Valley.  All the National Parks have seen a massive spike in visitation since the Great Recession.  All of a sudden people realized that the simple natural spaces of their own country were worth seeing more than (and were cheaper than) theme parks and cruise ships.  The National Parks are cool now. A little too cool when you look at the implications.  Unlike the more famous parks, the Cuyahoga Valley is unique in that most of its visitors are local.  It's a park that is a part of the local lifestyle.  It's not just a place to spend a weekend.  In many ways it doesn't feel like a National Park, it still feels like a backyard (with a whole lot more people in it).

It was another one of the special things about home that I was reminded of in September.  First thing in the morning, when only deer and those training for the Akron Marathon were out, I could drive 5 minutes down the road and in be in a magnificent landscape.  That isn't normal, folks.  Shots like this one aren't within 5 minutes of most people's homes.  But, they are for people who live in Northeast Ohio.  And, it's another reason why home shouldn't take it for granted.

The Turnpike viaduct.

More photographs from the Cuyahoga Valley National Park and the MetroParks Serving Summit County can be seen and purchased on the website in the Ohio Countryside gallery.

To the People of Akron

Downtown Akron at dawn. There's more to this place than you think.

There are a bunch of things I want to write about from our trip to Akron.  I'm definitely going to milk that trip for a few posts.  But, I wanted to use this first one not to talk about photography really, but to talk to all of you in the Akron area.  We got to see lots of friends and family while we were home, and I think we talked about the following with almost all of them.  Only a few had a clue what we were talking about. Folks are missing it and I think that's a shame. I don't want you to miss it.  So, Akron, I gotta tell you...something's different.

I don't know. Maybe it's a five year thing.  Yeah, we've been abroad for almost 5 years, so there's a good chance that this amount of time has something to do with it.  More than likely when you've been away from your country, your people, your hometown, for about 5 years you start to see all of that with rose tinted glasses.  Sure, I'll allow that.  But.

Two years ago when we came back for our visit, things didn't seem right.  People were gloomy, like more than is normal for folks in Northeast Ohio in October.  There were several times I felt downright unsafe, in places I'd never felt threatened before.  The roads were a mess, like worse than Belgium.  It was disconcerting and depressing.  We were more than ready to come back to Germany at the end of the trip.  Look, I'm not naive about Akron's crime and drug problem.  I'm from Akron, ok?  There have been a few close calls in the past, like "Am I going to get shot?" close calls .  I have a healthy respect for Akron's issues, and in no way do I want to gloss those over.  Akron isn't a shining city.  No city is, folks.  But, I think, I honestly think that Akron is improving.  We were out late and I photographed around downtown by myself at some odd hours a couple of times.  Memory, experience, and common sense told me that this could be risky and to be careful.  But, nothing happened.  Not even when it should have.  At one moment, I thought for sure I was going to have some trouble.  It was really early, still dark, no one was around, I was by myself, and set up on Main St. (it will always be Main Street to me) with quite a bit of gear.  A sketchy looking guy started approaching me.  I was prepared for this sort of thing.  There's no delusion in me that everyone is basically good, that dialogue can get you out of bad situations every time.  Sometimes you have to make tracks, quick.  Sometimes you have to throw a punch.  My gear was in my bag on my back, and I had enough time to take my camera off Brian the Tripod.  I figured Brian would do rather well as a self defense tool since he's kinda beefy when collapsed down.  I didn't run off though.  To be honest, I didn't want to lose the light.  You know what happened?  This guy walked right up to me, and (as I gripped Brian a little tighter) he rather eccentrically said, "Good morning!" He smiled, I returned the greeting, and then he continued on his way.  That nasty, unsafe feeling we had two years ago never showed up.  Ok, yes, the weather was beautiful and that definitely affects peoples' moods.  But, it wasn't just a bit more cheerfulness, it was a lot more cheerfulness.  People we didn't even know, by the way, were downright jovial and welcoming. If it weren't for the accent, at times I would have thought we were back in Ireland.

The Bike Share bikes at Northside in front of the new shiny
Marriott Hotel.

There are new businesses in downtown Akron and they're locally owned and one of a kind.  There were new restaurants and bars, and the ones we tried were all good, like really good.  Sure, a couple more old buildings had been knocked down and there are still plenty of empty storefronts.  But, there are less.  And that's something.  I swear there were more flowers.  There were definitely more bikes.  Heck, did you know that Akron has a bike share now?  The organization is a little clunky, but it's something.  Also, there's even a short section of protected lane on Main St. So, if you work downtown you can rent a bike at one of the many locations, and ride right down Main to Diamond Deli (which thankfully hasn't changed a bit) where the lane ends.

Ok, let me go back to the bar and restaurant topic.  For the past three years going out to dinner has lost its luster.   We go out rarely and usually only because we don't have time to cook.  The biggest decision we have to make is whether we want to order the schnitzel or the wurst.  Drink choices are soda, pilsner, or water.  We get really excited when we travel because there's a good chance we'll get to have something more exciting than pork and yellow beer.  The trips home to Akron are even more thrilling because we get to enjoy all our old favorites that we can't get at all in Europe.  Hello, tacos!  Hello, pizza with pepperoni, Italian sausage, peppers, and onions!  Hello, SWENSON'S, baby!  Hello, you crazy wonderful American craft beer (and unsweetened iced tea and bourbon)!  Really, home leave trips are mostly for the food.  Ok, not totally, but it's right up there with seeing the people we love.  So, as you might imagine, we plan our eating very carefully.  The goal is to hit as many places as possible, balancing new with old.  Must eats every single year are Mr. G's Pizza, Swenson's, the Diamond Deli, and Crave.

Main Street

This year we had few new places on the list- Dante Boccuzzi Akron, Nuevo Modern Mexican & Tequila Bar, and Chop & Swizzle.  DBA and Nuevo have been around for a few years, but we hadn't had chances to try them out yet on past trips.  Chop & Swizzle is brand new.  I can't tell you which one was my favorite.  They're too different to compete and the food at all three was fantastic.  DBA, in my humble meat eater opinion, is a better long term fit for the city and the Northside District than Chrissie Hynde's old place (no offense to the Akron rocker).  They certainly make a much better steak ;-) Nuevo definitely has a way with Mexican flavors and tequila, and we were talking about our meal for days afterwards.  The most unique place, however, was Chop & Swizzle.

Look at these lovely concoctions from Chop & Swizzle!

I used to work just down the road from the old firehouse on Maple and drove by it several times a week.  It's a great building and when it was bought and cleaned up like 6 or 7 years ago I had hopes that something would come to live there.  The neighborhood is a little sketchy though, and nothing ever came in, until earlier this year when the craft cocktail bar opened it's doors.  I heard about it on Facebook and immediately put it on the must list.  We have a thing for cocktails.  We've been mixing long before it was a hipster thing and after years of nothing but German beer and schnapps as alcohol options, we've amped up our mixing game.  Now, I'd much rather enjoy a crafted cocktail or neat Scotch when a little something besides water is the order of the day. We love discovering and mixing out new recipes from modern mixologists and bars like Death & Co.  and The Dead Rabbit Grocery and Grog or mixing the classics from the Prohibition Era.

Where the magic happens.

When we heard Akron had a cocktail bar that made the sort of drinks we loved, we got really excited.  I'm happy to report that it lived up to our dreams.  First off, the service is fantastic.  If you don't like something, they'll mix you something different.  They'll help you find something that may become your new favorite thing.   Oh, and the food is pretty amazing.  I didn't really expect that.  We were going to go someplace else afterwards, but we stayed there.  It was that good.  And it's not just the drinks, food or the service that won our hearts.  They are approaching Akron in a new and exciting way and it's an example of why I think the city is moving in the right direction.  The folks of Chop & Swizzle seemed to say, "Yeah, okay, the neighborhood isn't great.  But, it isn't going to get better if no one ever tries to make it better.  Let's be those people."  They weren't afraid.

There's a ton of people who don't seem to be afraid to make things better in Akron now.  They're taking risks.  They're opening cocktail bars (there's actually another- Northside Speakeasy. We didn't have a chance to make it there this time), galleries, independent movie theaters, boutiques, ice cream shops, children's museums, restaurants, and jazz clubs.  They're organizing neighborhood festivals, making music, writing books, taking photos, making art, and publishing free newspapers (shout out to The Devil Strip).  They're getting their hands dirty.  To my eyes, the eyes of someone who hasn't been around much, these people already accomplished a lot.  My theory is that this is going to snowball.  Positivity breeds positive things.

Lock Bottom Jazz is still happening at Lock 4, one of my favorite nooks of the city.

Norka is back! How cool is that! Please buy those sodas,
they're delicious.

So, my lovely Akron people.  Keep it up!  You're there every day so maybe you haven't noticed these changes.   They may not be as dramatic for you. But, you know what?  Things are better than they were.  I know that the road construction is a huge pain in the neck right now.  But, the really cool thing about it is that it means they are finally fixing the roads!  I mean, they're actually trying to improve the interchange!  They're getting rid of that hated innerbelt.  The City is finally dealing with those glaring problems.  Finally.  You get what a big deal that is?

Please do me a couple of favors while we're still gone.  First, don't listen to candidates that come to town and make Akron sound like a crime ridden cesspool.  It isn't.  Akron isn't out of the woods, I know.  But, if you only focus on its problems in a negative way, you're going to blow your chance to join in the good stuff and improve your town.  Akron has so much potential and for the first time in a long time a lot of folks are seeing it and pursuing it.  So, secondly, focus on that.  Participate.  Support all these homegrown businesses.  Please go out downtown.  Start your evenings at Chop & Swizzle, Northside Speakeasy, Thirsty Dog Brewing, or Hoppin' Frog.  Get your dinners at the one of  a kind places you can only find locally- Crave, Bricco, Nuevo Mexican, DBA, etc.  Get your sandwiches at Diamond Deli, your fast food at Swenson's.  Get your coffees at Angel Falls and Nervous Dog. Go hear stuff at Musica, Blu Jazz+, and Jilly's Music Room.  Go see a flick at the Nightlight. See a show at the Goodyear Theater and The Civic. Invest in your city.  I'm not gonna lie, I really want all this cool stuff to still be around when we get to come home.  I'm depending on you to make that happen for me.

I can tell you one thing.  Right now, for the first time ever in these almost 5 years, we are dying to get back to Akron.  Seriously.  Maybe it's just because it's been five years, or because it was sunny for two weeks, or we are really tired of schnitzel, or everyone is still riding that National Championship high.  But, I'm pretty darn certain this change is deeper than that. We're two people itching to join in.  Two more years feels like a long time, but I cannot wait to see what this new movement is going to pull off in that time.  What we saw, what we experienced, what is to come has us believing that Akron can become the city we always hoped it could.  I read somewhere recently that Akron is more than a few great bands and a basketball player.  Whoever said that is right.  A place is its people, and Akron has some seriously good people in it.  Keep moving forward.  It's a long road, but come on.  You're Akron.  You can do this.  We can't wait to join you.

To print and download most of these photos and others I shot in Akron check out the Ohio Cities gallery on the website!

Project: #GlimpsesofHome

Tomorrow morning my husband and I are boarding a flight to the USA and will be back home in Northeast Ohio for about two weeks.  We usually do this once a year to see family, visit the dentist, see our GP, touch base with our banker, and catch up with friends.  It's a hectic time, no matter how we try to make it as un-hectic as possible.  As the years pass, and this December will mark 5 years in Europe, our home leave trip grows in importance.  Even though we often travel to a new and exciting location once a month, that visit to humble Northeast Ohio is our favorite journey of the year.  For us, the day before the trip has the excitement of Christmas Eve.  Touching down at CLE airport, getting in the rental car, and swinging onto Rt. 480 E is like descending the stairs on Christmas Day.  We can barely contain our excitement.

For those that have never lived abroad for a long period of time, this probably doesn't make much sense.  Isn't living in Europe a dream come true? How can your grungy hometown with its abandoned factories, strip malls, high crime rates, and blighted neighborhoods compare?  Sure, on paper Akron falls short when stacked next to the picturesque village on the Main where we've been living for almost three years.  But, you know what?  It's Home.  Home, no matter where that is, will always have an edge over the most beautiful places on earth.

Usually during these trips I take a lot of pictures.  I generally don't do much with them except to document another magical home leave trip.  Last year, I did manage to get out a couple of days for some more traditional shooting which you can see here and here.

This year, I've decided to do a photo project during the trip.  It's part personal project, part documentary.  Every day, like always, I'll be taking photographs, but this year I'll be sharing many more with you!  As long as WiFi permits, I'll post two photographs to Instagram a day- one of my usual images that are posted daily, and one under the tag #GlimpsesofHome. Images under that tag will be of something or somewhere that is unique about Akron (or a location nearby) and it will probably have a little story with it too.  The goal of the project is to highlight what makes Akron and its environs so special to us, and why that area is worth visiting just as much as the other locations I've photographed in Europe.  Obviously, the biggest draw personally is the relationships we have there.  But, there are countless things about Northeast Ohio that make it special and worthy.  I'd like to show you some of them.  They won't all be scenic, so I ask you to bear with the variety of images I'll be posting.  Home is where our culture comes from.  It's people, food, music, common ground, language, art, and environment.  Our home is a typical small American city.  It's had its struggles, heck, it still has struggles.  But, it also has a lot of magic.  Slowly but surely, that magic is growing and things are changing.  We see it every year.  The place has soul.  Through this project, I'd like you to get a glimpse of that.

So, tune into Instagram to follow my #GlimpsesofHome project for the next two weeks!  Too often we focus on where we've been or where we're headed to next.  Sometimes it's best to turn our attention to where we're from.

In Old Stomping Grounds

It's been quite a while since I've been able to put anything down here.  It doesn't cease to amaze me how much damage the holidays can do to the schedule every year at this time.  No matter my good intentions to stick to the usual game plan, things always go awry when the tree needs to go up and the cookies need to be baked.  It all started in November when we went back to Akron for our annual home leave trip and then it was one thing after another.  But, now that the new year has arrived we can finally get back on track!

Anyway, speaking of Akron, I finally finished editing the photos I took while we were there.  Most of my shots were of time spent with family and friends, but I did manage to get out for some scenic shooting for one day.  For once I was going to shoot someplace I was intimately familiar with, a place that didn't require a moment of research.  However, it was the one trip in which I didn't have any real free time to shoot, despite the fact we were going to be there for a longer time than any other trip we took this year.  With one day to shoot I decided to take advantage of my knowledge of the area.  Late November is not an attractive time of year in Northeast Ohio.  Is kinda, well, brown.  Everything is brown.  The sky is usually overcast.  One or two shots of a brown and grey landscape with a Lightroom preset slapped on can be cool, but I didn't want a whole set of that nor, to be perfectly honest, did I want to spend the day standing in a depressing brown field or next to the brown Cuyahoga River.  Anyway, my schedule was only open during the day, not in the morning or evening when the light would be at its best.

Camera X-T1, Focal length: 13.2mm,
Exposure 1/125, F/7.1, ISO 400

This was a thriving small farm about 15 years ago, now it
is a ruin.  The building had been broken into recently.  Though I didn't
enter, the gaping doorway left a tantalizing  and creepy
view inside the house.

So, I decided to focus on something a little different.  I grew up on the borders of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.  The CVNP is a beautiful 20,339 acre park between Cleveland and Akron.  It's the only National Park in Ohio and a major asset for the area.  But, it has a unique history.  Unlike many more well-known National Parks in the US, a large portion of the land for the CVNP was once private property, farms, and villages.  When the park came in, these properties were purchased by the government.  If the original owners left upon purchase, the buildings were usually leveled and the property allowed to return to nature.  Farms were swallowed by new growth forests.  If you happen to hike the less popular trails, you may come upon a foundation in the woods or evidence of a driveway that goes nowhere.  But, many people were allowed to stay in their houses as renters from the Park Service.  For many older residents on fixed incomes, this was a major financial boon.  Others weren't pleased in the least to lose their property rights.  It's still a controversial subject with the old guard in places like Northampton Township and Peninsula.  Once the former owners/tenants passed away or decided to move out, the house was taken over by the park.  Most of them are left as non-maintained, abandoned structures.  The Cuyahoga Valley is full of empty buildings left in various states of disrepair.  Recently, some of them have been completely refurbished to (ironically) be rented out to tenants who want to operate small farms (chickens, goats, etc).  But, most houses are so far gone they can't be redone and are left to nature.  The abandoned structures around the Valley were what I wanted to photograph last November.

It turned out that the day I scheduled to drive around there wasn't a cloud in the sky, so the light was particularly harsh.  But, on the plus side it wasn't pouring rain so we weren't going to be tromping around in the mud.  We got around to several structures in the Valley.  It was the first chance I had to test my new setup with the X-E2 and X-T1 (which I was able to pick up on sale from B&H while we were in town).  It was so much easier running two bodies, than having to switch out lenses constantly.  I shot the whole day using the X-T1 with the 10-24mm and the X-E2 with the 18-55mm.  I decided to shoot the entire day in black and white to emphasize the moodiness of the subjects and make the light a little more interesting.

Camera X-T1, Focal Length: 10, HDR blend

Camera X-T1, Focal Length: 10, Exposure: 1/30, f/5.6, ISO 400

The best part of this little project was that my parents came along with me and my Dad showed me some spots I didn't know about.  He had found this cabin years ago, and it was my favorite location that day.  The cabin was pretty far off the road and we had to cross a sizable creek to get up to it,but it was worth it.  This place was fascinating.  The central beam had completely collapsed, taking the roof with it.  It had clearly been the victim of vandals.  There were bullet hold in the shutters, and the interior had been spray painted with grafitti.  We tread carefully around the fallen logs and exposed nails.  The most unique aspect was this beautiful stone fireplace and chimney.  I would love to know the story behind this cabin.  I don't know if it was an old hunting cabin or something the park put in at one time.  It was in the middle of nowhere and completely falling apart, the perfect mysterious structure to start the day with.  The light was really difficult to work with, so I created the first shot by blending multiple exposures.

Camera X-T1, Focal Length: 10, Exposure: 1/500, f/5, ISO 400

This abandoned farmhouse is an area that is still inhabited near the village of Peninsula.  It wouldn't take much to get the place livable again.  I liked it because it was just a classic American farmhouse.  Now the once white fence is coming apart, the gutters have fallen off, and weeds choke the old flower beds.  It reminded me of the American dream, now faded and falling apart.

Camera X-T1, Focal Length: 10, Exposure: 1/400, f/10, ISO 400

 This is just a single family home that is on a prime piece of property.  The poor house is totally falling apart.  I found this to be the most depressing structure we stopped at.  You could tell that a family lived here at one time.  There was a large bird house in the front, and a soccer goal in the back.  Ivy was taking over and the paint was peeling in sheets from the walls inside.  It was a shame to see such a nice place falling into the ground.

Camera X-T1, Focal Length: 10, HDR blend

 Now, this spot is a little more positive.  The house is outside the park in the City of Cuyahoga Falls.  The local Northampton Township Historical Society is looking to remodel it back to its original 19th century state.  Right now the property is well maintained and the nearby barn has been completely redone.

Camera X-E2, Focal Length 18mm,
Exposure: 1/180, f/7.1, ISO 400

One of the last properties we stopped at has a little more known history behind it.  It used to belong to my grandparents until the Park bought it.  They stayed there as tenants and my grandmother remained after my grandfather passed until shortly before she too passed away in 2005.  It had a couple more tenants who halfheartedly tried redoing it before it was finally abandoned.  I can't tell you how bizarre it was to see the place as it is now.  I hadn't been in there in over 10 years.  Ivy was growing through the building into the breezeway, the paint was coming down in the kitchen and living room, vines were taking over the whole western side of the house.  It was creepy and surreal.  The visit was probably even stranger for my parents who also had lived there for a short time after getting married.  We spent a lot of time there, walking around the property, laughing about memories, and chatting with the neighbors.  The place was a mess.  It was a shame.  But, the story wasn't unique to the area.  It was probably a similar tale to the ones that belonged to the other properties we visited.  Once they were homes and loved places, now they're fallen ruins and forgotten.

Camera X-T1, Focal Length 10mm, HDR blend

Camera X-E2, Focal Length 18mm, Exposure: 1/180, f/5, ISO 320

Camera X-E2, Focal Length: 28.9mm, Exposure: 1/40, f/11, ISO 320

After that, it was time to head out to run other errands, but at the end of the day the clouds finally started to roll in and there was the potential for a beautiful sunset.  Thankfully, everyone was willing to let me make one more stop, even though it was starting to get blustery and cold.  After a whole day of shooting in black and white, I decided to switch back to color.  The spot was near the Cuyahoga Falls farm house from earlier.  This time I wanted to capture the barn.  The last time I saw the barn it was like all the other buildings we had seen that day, faded and falling apart.  However, the city had recently redone the barn, and my father helped paint the sign on the south wall.  Not all the buildings are in ruins.  This building had been given some life again.  There we were back in a classic Americana scene, except this one was more hopeful.

Camera: X-T1, Focal length: 10mm, HDR blend

The rest of these photos are available for viewing on Flickr (including a few of abandoned buildings in downtown Akron) and some are now up for purchase on the capturedglimpses.com