Stranger #69 - Kirsten

May 6, 2014
After my visit with Christina, her good friend, Kirsten was unwinding in the sun with her shades drawn out. Kirsten wasn't shy to let me snap a few shots of her, but before I did, I asked if she wouldn't mind removing her sun glasses. Good thing I remembered to ask, because her eyes blossomed with shades of blue in the evening sun.

Kirsten was right at home in the Arts District since she's a Art major at a local college in Canton. I was so concentrated on getting her portrait right in camera, that I completely forgot to ask her more about her Artistic skills. Lesson learned :( 

It was a pleasure meeting you Kirsten and best of luck to your studies.

Photographer Notes:

Camera:
Nikon D600

Lens:
Nikon 105mm f/2.8

Stranger #68 - Christina

May 6, 2014
The gear was packed and secured. Pulled in to my usual parking spot and immediately glanced in the open yard to find two young women relaxing on a blanket. Seemed like for the past week and a half, I've been constantly coming down to a ghost town. Either my luck was wearing thin or bigger epidemic had struck.

I gathered up enough courage to walk over to them and introduce myself. Yet, it's always a struggle to know what to say without making yourself look like a complete ass. Ah yes, I then recalled what Brandon Stanton (HONY) mentioned when he approaches strangers in one of his lectures. "CONFIDENCE".

I made my approach and politely asked the two if they wanted to take part in a quick photo project. And that was it. Mission accomplished.

This is Christina and she's a bartender at Buzzbin Art & Music Shop. She met up with a her friend to enjoy the warm Spring afternoon (FINALLY). We briefly chatted about the Canton area and bad rep the city has received in the past year. Regardless, Christina loves Canton.

"You just got to know where the troubled spots are". She said as she pointed over to a specific direction of the city.

Much thanks Christina for the participation! You just reserved yourself number 68 in my project. Feel free to drop a line and see how I did.

Photographer Notes:

Camera:
Nikon D600

Lens:
Nikon 105mm f/2.8

Stranger #67 - Chris

April 27, 2014

Did ya think I gave up on this project? Well, I don't give up on commitments that easy. BUT I have been super swamped and with this hellish 6 1/2 month Winter, it's been brutal finding people to photograph. Not that I need an excuse.

I had a few minutes to kill and the weather was perfect in the downtown area. So I decided to hang out on a Sunday late afternoon and catch some bystanders passing by.

I just sat my camera down on a table when a shadowy presences caught the corner of my eye.

"Hey dude. Sorry to bug you, I just woke up. Would you happen to have a cigarette?"

Everyone, meet Chris.

I was feeling charitable that day so I struck a trade that could help both of us. I give him a few bucks in exchange for a story and a quick photograph.

"Sure. I don't care. I really don't look the best right now."

I didn't care. I loved the hard-edge appearance and the natural look of his hoodie and deep, tiresome eyes. 

Walking around for a photo spot, I could tell right off the bat, Chris literally just woke up. Either that or he just got done smoking something. But we did talk how he's been living in the Canton area for about 15 years, the fall of the economy,  looking for a job, and even about the homeless around Canton.

Thanks Chris for the brief encounter and photo!

Photographer Notes:

Camera:
Nikon D600

Lens:
Nikon 105mm f/2.8

Red Sun Rising Warms Up Freedom Fest

If you braved the chilly air all the way until Red Sun Rising took the stage, then you already know how much of a hardcore RSR fan you are. Despite the 40º evening, the blowing air, or even the chilled Bud Light that paired nicely with your cold fingers, it definitely was worth the wait to see these guys again.

RSR headlined at Lock 4, located in downtown Akron, part of the free event known as Freedom Fest. The full hour set included many of their popular hits and to watch the two guitarist painfully pick cold strings, I'm sure if was like scraping your fingers across shards of glass.

Here are my picks from the evening.

To see the rest of their tour, check the link here.

Photographer Notes:

Camera:
Nikon D600

Lens:
Nikon 24-70 f/2.8

Found myself keeping my camera and batteries warm to ensure extended use in the coldness. Wish I could say the same about my ears and fingers. Damn fingers had at least a 1/2 sec delay. 0.o

Towne Manor Motel (Canton, OH)

I'm throwing a curveball on my typical subject matter and try something creative.

Looks like something straight out movie. This here is the Towne Manor Motel located in downtown Canton, Ohio. Now, I pass this sign every time I come into town for my street photography and always wanted to photograph it. Year-and-half later, I finally got it.

I wouldn't recommend staying here unless you have to meet your neighborhood drug dealer or you just picked up a needy young woman to feed her addiction. "wink, wink"

---

Photographer Notes:

Camera:
Nikon D600

Lens:
Nikon 24-70 f/2.8

Mount:
Manfrotto 290 w/ 804RC2 ball head

I wanted to get the neon sign lit up, so I found myself waiting around 8:10PM until the motel switched them on. F/11 @ 24mm with the self-timer, taking 3 differently exposed shots. Combine using Photomatix Pro, then enhanced with Photoshop & Color Efex Pro, and added contrast sharpening.

Photos: Diverge @ Stampers Bar

Extraordinary evening in Cleveland Saturday night as I hung out with the guy's from Diverge while they played their asses off at Stampers Bar. Eric Potapenko, their lead singer, loved the work I did for the band last time in Kent, he invited up for another high energy performance.

I like to think of Kyle as the "Tommy Lee" of his era.

Photographer Notes:

Camera:
Nikon D600

Lens:
Nikon 24-70 f/2.8

I would like to thank the guys of Diverge and and owner of Stampers, Jim for arranging these guys to play. Great, small place to shoot and killer laid-back atmosphere.

Photos: Michael Stanley @ The Tangier Cabaret

I got the AWESOME opportunity to photograph Michael Stanley and The Resonators' sold out and final performance of the season at The Tangier in downtown Akron, Ohio. Much praise and thanks to their manager, Jasmine who hooked me up. ;)

Now, you probably won't find Michael Stanley anywhere on my iPod or iTunes, but he certainly hits my top 5 performers to watch/photograph. He was outstanding to watch and not to mention photographing is huge 10 member band. Here's my select favorites from that evening.

Photographer Notes:

Camera:
Nikon D600

Lens:
Nikon 24-70 f/2.8

Since I got invited back, I couldn't pass this up at the beautiful Tangier. The room was so packed, it was extremely difficult to grab a shot. I found myself bobbing and weaving between viewers to grab a shots of Michael trying not to tick anyone off. I was given free roam and got to shoot a few back stage, which made for easier shooting.

Color Me Rad 5K Run

The weather is FINALLY starting to cooperate in Ohio and just in the nick of time for the Color Me Rad 5K race in Akron, Ohio. This was my first photographing a Color Me Rad event, but second for shooting a 5K race in which color is tossed at runners. If you're not familiar what happens at this event, I'm going to simply shut my mouth and let the photos speak for themselves.

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Group shot of the team who helped raise money for Mary Anne.

I was shooting at the first color station today when one of the volunteers told me how her team were raising money for Akron's Children Hospital (I think that's what she told me) for a special little girl who's battling cancer. It really sucked and broke my heart to hear this. It even intensified when she told me she was only 2 years old.

This is Mary Anne and as you can see, she has lost much of her hair. When I approached her, she was extremely shy, but we all gathered around her and got a great group shot so they can share with the friends and family.

Thank you Mary Anne! I will keep you and your family in my prayers.

The guy entertaining the crown came out on stage with a rigged fire extinguisher to blow out colorful powder at the crowd. If you were caught inside, you'd be spitting "urplish" saliva. No matter how you tried to avoid it. Blah!

About every 15 minutes, you'd be tossed packets of color and when the countdown hit 1, you then threw all your color into the air. Or if you were feeling really malicious, you just threw it at the person next to you.

Photographer Notes:

Camera:
Nikon D600

Lens:
Nikon 24-70 f/2.8

If you gotten this far, your next question may be, "Matt, how did you protect your gear from the colorful elements"? Well, I wouldn't in no way shape or form think about bringing a naked camera to a war zone without taking proper measures. Last year before I shot the Color Vibe, I found this website where this photographer completely wrapped his gear in saran wrap and successfully reported that his camera came back with very little color.

I don't have pictures of how I did mine, but it's really simple.

First, go to your local grocery store and pick of some saran or cling wrap. Grab any kind of clear packaging tape. That's it. That's all you need to buy.

Next, start wrapping the lens and camera body several times and make sure to use the tape you bought to hold together the wrap so it doesn't come undone.

Now if you want to play it extra safe, I would use a prime lens. That way you won't have to worry about zooming in or out and the whole lens will be complete safe. Now, I used the 24-70mm, which I had to cut away part of the wrap around the zooming rubber to easily zoom in or out. Luckily, the 24-70mm by Nikon is dust resistant, so I wasn't too worried about dust getting in the motor.

Finally, I would highly recommend placing a UV filter on your lens. This will ensure no dust particles will hit or get in the crevice of the lens. Oh and shoot in Aperture-Priority mode. Your dials will be cover by the wrap and the least amount of fiddling will work out the best and make life a little easier.

Questions? Leave them below here.

Photos: Hawkeye @ The Outpost

I got permission from Hawkeye to shoot them at The Outpost in Kent. This was my second time shooting these guys since the closing of Peabody's in Cleveland. They're a High-Energy Electronic Rock group from Lakewood, Ohio. Their lead singer, Erika Lauren and boyfriend, Ian provide high energy vocals that make you wanna start fist pumping. Here are my favorite shots from their performance. 

Ian Ver- Synth/Vocals/Dancefest

Steve Pisk- Drums

Erika Lauren - Vocals

Adam Kraft- Guitars

Ian w/ Jim Bacha- Bass

Photographer Notes:

Camera:
Nikon D600

Lens:
Nikon 24-70 f/2.8

The first two bands, I was shooting around ISO 2,000-3600. I was able to dial my aperture from 2.8 to 4 when all the lights were working great. As soon as Hawkeye went on, some of the key lighting was turned off, forcing me to bump the ISO to 6400. Sometimes I'm a little nervous going this high, from fear of too much noise, but luckily my camera faired well under the poor lighting. Plus, I could always fix it in post. Another downside, the lighting not synced to songs or little consisted patterns, so there was a lot of guess work involved. Nonetheless, I was really happy with the turnout.

Photos: Red Sun Rising @ The Tangier Cabaret

Photographer Notes:

Camera:
Nikon D600

Lens:
Nikon 24-70 f/2.8

The Tangier Cabaret in downtown Akron, Ohio is more of a formal venue with beautiful seating arrangements and a full service bar. Great spot to sit down, drink and enjoy live music. The lighting was more static than any other venue I've shot, which made it easier to achieve desirable shots. The Brothers Band and the Acid Cats were great Jazz-Rock openers for Red Sun Rising.