Well, I wasn’t sure that things could get any more exciting.. This week promises to be a good one. Monday – Thursday I’ll be minding the storefront in Fifth Ave. Place. (hint, hint.. stop on down and check out our wares!) Thursday night I’m planning on capturing a truly exciting image of the city of Pittsburgh (more details to come), Friday I second shoot a wedding for Chase Images, Saturday I have an engagement session and I’m going to be a part of Pittsburgh’s own I Made It Market. I’ll be offering a lot of photos for sale at the Greenfield Bridgefest. (hint, hint.. stop by between 4pm-9pm and have a look !)

In between all of these planned things, I’m going to try to get caught up on the past few weeks worth of editing.. wedding, portrait, and fine art stuff alike. The store has been more of a time vampire than I had anticipated, but now that it is (for the most part) running smoothly, I can get back to polishing my shots to present to the world (wide web). But wait, there’s more, as the late Mr. Mays would say. Who needs sleep when you have a city to photograph? I’m always after a great looking sunrise in the Steel City, so there will be some extra early mornings thrown in for good measure.

Wish me luck!

On a recent trip with a fellow photographer, I had the opportunity to experience an incredible piece of history, to capture it with my camera, and preserve it through documentation. The bridge has been closed to traffic for over 20 years and is most definitely showing its age.

Although this isn’t my first abandoned bridge, it is by far the largest and most interesting. The details of the construction are very impressive and even though it has been abandoned (and slated for demolition for years) it seems to be holding up quite well.

I’m choosing not to share the name or the location, so if you know it, please keep it to yourself!

I couldn’t have asked for more interesting clouds and a nicer soft gradient of color in the sky. It distracted me enough to not realize that I was walking on open grating for a few steps. It is always fun to look down to see a river some 80’+ below you.

As the sun retreated, the colors became more intense and blue. It allowed me to silhouette the structure slightly against the rapidly darkening sky.

Even the moon made an appearance for my final composition.

Having a wife that rides, I have many (many) opportunities to photograph horses at practice, in their stalls, or at shows. Sunday, May 24th was a beautiful day for a show. The sky was blue, the weather mild, and the sun was shining.

I am still learning the timing of it all… when to capture during a walk, a trot, and a canter.

I also have to be wary of my unconscious nature that makes a horse believe that I am a fierce predator, intent on eating them. Who knew that I was so imposing?

Sometimes you just know that the sunset is going to be incredible. Times like this find me awkwardly fast walking/sprinting to a spot to capture it before it disappears. No two sunsets are the same, and the play of light changes from moment to moment. Saturday, April 19th was a particularly impressive display by Mother Nature.

Some of you may know that I enjoy a questionable pastime of Urban Exploration Photography. It involves photographing abandoned buildings and locations. I have been fortunate to meet and become close friends with a group of like minded photographers in the Pittsburgh area. Our tight knit group is in it for the images, keeping our (literal) trespasses limited to footprints (and tripod prints) in the places that we visit and document. I’ve always been of the mind that these places that have been left behind have stories to tell, but no storytellers. There are several feelings in me that drive me to visit such places. One is a sense of adventure, the thrill of being somewhere that is just on the other side of a wall on a well traveled path.  Another is at the core of what being a photographer means to me. My job, my drive, and my passion is to see. I see and capture what I see. I preserve moments.

While out exploring a new location with a “partner in crime”, we heard a lot of pounding from the direction of the spot we entered the building. Immediately we go into panic mode, processing how to deal with whatever was about to happen. Getting caught is always a concern. This feeling was worse. We were being boarded in.

The next few minutes were in slow motion as we packed our gear and headed to the exit. By the time we got there, our jailers had departed. Fortunately,  they did a poor job and I was able to wrestle a hastily pounded nail out of the wall and we made our way to freedom. We get a good chuckle out of it now, but at the time, the intensity of the “oh, shit” was very real. Would I do it again? Of course. The experience of the location and the images that I was able to capture made it completely worthwhile for me. Oh, and of course, it was April 1st.

St Patrick’s Day in Southwestern Pennsylvania was the breaking point for a long period of rainy weather. The evening’s sunset in clear skies was a treat for all of us that appreciate a colorful sky. Days and days of drab blue-gray clouds were getting old.

My wife and I were on our way into the city to celebrate with a pint o’ green beer and the rain stopped, the clouds cleared, and I immediately had to find a spot to document this wonderful event.

I decided on a spot along the Allegheny river, near the Veteran’s Bridge. I usually climb down the bank to a shallow spot with a decent view of the city, but after days and days of rain, the river level was unusually high. The fast moving water was much higher up the bank than I was used to and choosing a spot proved quite a challenge. Never one to be deterred and forgoing personal safety, I climbed down to the water line, through a small patch of thorns. Foolish in retrospect, but it allowed me to capture what I consider to be a perfect illustration of the pleasantness of the sunset and the treacherousness of the fast moving river.

One would think from the crickets chirping around this blog that nothing exciting has happened in my life in recent, gulp, months. Not true! In fact, the events have been moderately overwhelming and each time I decide to write about them, I’m far from a device to do so and it gets shelved. Well, today is the day to catch up. Be prepared for a pile of updates to catch everyone up on what I’ve been doing photographically. You’ve been warned!