Toledo

Getting local for National Photography Month

My employer, Hanson Inc, challenged the photographers on staff to get out and shoot locally for National Photography Month. The brief was to take a photo that celebrates Toledo and showcases our preferred photography style.

My first idea was to take a picture at the Toledo Zoo, but while driving home from work, something else caught my eye. Specifically, the wonderful fountain and historic church just a few hundred feet from my house, something that I drive past every day and rarely even notice.

Harvard Circle, Toledo

Last week, I got up before sunrise, put on a pot of coffee, and grabbed my tripod to play tourist in my own neighborhood. I walked down to the corner, took a left, and started shooting.

My neighborhood, Harvard Terrace, dates back to the early 20th century. Park Church, visible on the right, was opened in 1921.

"Clouds" and Park Church

The fountain in the middle of Harvard Circle is much newer. It’s a work by the Dutch-American sculptor Hans van de Bovenkamp entitled Clouds, commissioned by the city of Toledo and installed in 2000.

I really enjoyed working on these pictures and taking a photo walk in my own backyard. Thanks to Hanson for the assignment and I’m looking forward to doing it again next year!

Winter on the Maumee

I’m officially off work until next year, so I had a bit of time this afternoon to visit Middlegrounds Metropark. I’ve been meaning to go for a long time, and it’s only a five-minute drive from the house, but somehow we always ended up somewhere else.

I only stayed for a little while (blame the freezing wind blowing off the river!), but it was nice to watch the seagulls circle and dive while the mallard ducks hunkered down nearby. In the distance, past the graceful arch of the Anthony Wayne Bridge, downtown Toledo was socked in the thick fog. Trails seemed nice, but I didn’t stay long enough to go very far. We’ll definitely be back here with Petey when it warms up a little!

Middlegrounds Metropark
Middlegrounds Metropark
Seagull and Anthony Wayne Bridge
Seagull and Anthony Wayne Bridge
Foggy Downtown Toledo
Foggy Downtown Toledo

Eclipsed

Well, it’s been way too long since I posted again. Just coming down off a busy summer wherein the company moved offices and I launched a major new site. Took lots of pictures, but I’m several months backlogged. Cooler weather’s coming soon, and I hope to get mostly caught up before our big trip to Morocco in October.

Anyway, today was the big American Eclipse of 2017 (not to be confused with the even darker American Eclipse of 2016), so here are a few pictures from temporarily-not-sunny downtown Toledo.

Eclipse 2017

Eclipse 2017

Eclipse 2017

Eclipse 2017

Kehinde Wiley at TMA

My first time at the DIA, I stumbled across Kehinde Wiley’s Officer of the Hussars, and I was instantly hooked.

There’s a baroque richness to Wiley’s (huge!) paintings that puts him on par with the old masters, but his subjects are very modern. His Officer is a black man, circa right now, dressed in Timberland boots, baggy jeans and a wife-beater, brandishing a cavalry saber and looking back from the saddle of a rearing horse. It was completely unexpected, and so awesome that I couldn’t stop grinning.

Every time we go back, I revisit Officer of the Hussars, and it always makes me smile. When I heard that Wiley’s art was coming to TMA, I knew we had to go, and I’m really glad we did.

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