imagine a different world of grilled cheese.

Until tomorrow…

I had hoped to return from the Monet in Normandy exhibit with an amazing photo of one of Monet’s finest. Unfortunately, the museum had different plans for me. The lenders of the exhibit specifically stated that photographs were not allowed because of copyright concerns. The museum stated that photographs were not allowed taken elsewhere because of the ongoing construction and they didn’t want any “spies” from other museums taking photos.

My great plan for today’s A Photo A Day was suddenly cut short and therefore i had to improvise. After spending almost 2 hours inside the exhibit, looking at approximately 50 paintings, I headed outside and across the street to the Cleveland Botanical Garden. In front of the building was a modern art piece of some kind. I would have known more, and maybe taken one or two photos, if it weren’t for the tulips right next to the weird art piece. They grabbed my attention and became today’s A Photo A Day. Luckily, this photo I actually planned out and took myself, as opposed to simply putting the camera down next to my leg and snapping a photo of the tulips. (That photo was a runner-up, which might appear on this site very soon!)

Luckily these tulips are still alive after winter came back, after taking a short break. I think we are safe in assuming that winter has left until at least September, allowing these tulips to be viewed by young and old alike. Until tomorrow…

Editor’s Note: I would like to write about a comment I received regarding my “Today we are all Hokies” entry. Maybe I shouldn’t write anything, or even acknowledge it, but I wanted to state my case.

I am not sure if this person really has any connection to Virginia Tech, but the harshness of what Jacob said really hit me. The point of that entry was me being empathetic to what occurred on the fateful day. Even though I know of anyone involved in the terror, I still hurt. As I saw more and more political cartoons regarding the event, I wanted to compile the ones touched me, in one place, and so I updated the post throughout the day. I was not writing to “be an asshole,” but simply to display my pain and take on the events.

After taking a photo everyday, you start to run out of subjects and therefore begin to look at the world very differently, noticing the small things in life.

Today was a day when nothing was really going on that would inspire me. However, a few days back, I was lying in bed looking at my nightlight (yes, I still sleep with a nightlight on) and I noticed the light it was emitting, thinking it would make a great photo. If I was not always looking for a subject for A Photo A Day, I would have never noticed this great sight.

Since I had nothing pressing that I wanted to photograph, I immediately thought of the nightlight. Originally I was focusing on the whole picture: the bulb, faceplate, switch and light, but it was, to put it bluntly, boring. When I started to simply focus on less, such as just the bulb and the faceplate, the photos quickly became more interesting. I decided to change the white balance so the photograph would have an orange tint to it, and I had a winner.

Until tomorrow…

[photo courtesy cleveland.com]

Indians 5, Orioles 4

CLEVELAND (AP) — Perhaps the only player in the ballpark that could have caught Grady Sizemore’s home-run ball was the guy who hit it.

Sizemore sped around the bases with an inside-the-park home run, Jake Westbrook got his first win in five starts and the Cleveland Indians beat the Baltimore Orioles 5-4 Friday night for their sixth straight victory.

“I’d rather trot than run,” Sizemore said after his second career inside-the-park homer.

…

“It feels great to get a win,” Westbrook said. “Grady was fun to watch. He was running sideways. He was flying.”

[read more @ espn.com]

Last night at the Indians game I was able to see history made. Up until the 5th inning, the game was somewhat boring and moving at a rapid pace. Then came in a new Oriole’s pitcher and we had fireworks, 5 innings before the scheduled ones would take place. Finally, the Indians got to the Oriole’s starting pitcher, Steve Trachsel, something we couldn’t do all night. A new pitcher entered, and we took advantage. We got hit, a single, and then history. I, and my good friend Scott and brother, Josh, were able to see the 5th inside the park homerun in Jacobs Field history, hit by our good friend Grady Seizmore.

[photo courtesy cleveland.com]

This hit, sparked the crowd, the Indians and after a crazy top 6, we went on to increase our win streak to 6 games and take a 1.5 lead in the Central Division.

Something is wrong with this picture. The Cleveland Indians have won 6 straight games, are playing well in April, and are in first place. The Cleveland Cavs are in the playoffs, have won their first 2 playoff games, and have a chance of going deep into the playoffs. This is not right. Cleveland sports teams are cursed, this is definitely not cursed. Are we finally turning the corner? I think we will see the answer of that question when the Cleveland Browns draft in the first round today. I am thinking that no matter if it is the right choice now, it will be the wrong choice in 2 or 3 years, or maybe simply 6 months from now…

After the game, as it was Superhero Weekend, the fans were treated to Superhero Fireworks. The fireworks were the same great fireworks as usual, the only difference was that they played superhero theme songs instead of the usual firework music. I had brought my camera, as it goes everywhere with me, so I was more than ready to shoot the fireworks as they exploded out of centerfield. Today’s A Photo A Day was the first fireworks picture I took. My camera, amazingly, has a scene function that allows you to set a scene, like fireworks, so that the user doesn’t have to fiddle with all of the intricate settings. Instead, the camera makes sure to have all of the correct settings in place for when you are ready to snap that picture. I set the scene, looked through the lens, lined up the fireworks, took the picture and then simply tried not to move. The result of those actions is the photo below, one of the best fireworks pictures I have taken; and to think, it was done without a tripod.

Until tomorrow…or is it today…anyways, enjoy the photo!

Some days are like yesterday, when it takes a lot to simply find one subject, let alone one photo. On the other hand, some days are like today, when it is almost impossible to choose a photo from the plethora of amazing shots taken throughout the day. Today’s theme was the sky and the randomness of the clouds. After a dark and stormy morning, the sun appeared, shining light on the surplus of clouds and the bright blue sky.

Everyday after work I go by a set of signs at the end of the exit ramp. They have intrigued me since the first of day of this project, enough that I have taken their photo multiple times. However, their photo always loses out to a better candidate. Today, that almost happened again. I won’t tell you what the photo was of, simply because you might see it very soon, but it was of a subject/location that can be easily replicated in the future. With a truck driving by on the highway, and a SUV driving by on the road, all behind this set of signs, I decided it would be almost impossible to replicate this photo and therefore I chose it for today’s A Photo A Day.

Until tomorrow…when the subject will most likely be sports related!

Today was a slow day when it comes to A Photo A Day. Luckily I was able to capture two birds outside my office relaxing up in a tree. There was a cardinal flying around, but he was too quick for my camera and me; even with the help of a kind, older gentleman. Maybe one of the future A Photo A Day’s will feature that cardinal, but today’s simply highlights a tree and two “regular” birds! Until tomorrow…

I have been taking pictures every day for A Photo A Day but with being on vacation and trying to get some rest, I have not been posting them on the same day as they were taken. That has stopped today. I have finally caught up and am ready to present yesterday’s and today’s photo.

Yesterday’s photo highlights the rainy day that we had. It was taken inside my car, through the windshield, in the parking lot of work. The photo is blue simply because the white balanace didn’t actually match the setting. It was half intentional and half by accident, but I think the blue color really adds to the photo.

Finally, today’s photo was a hard one. After having so many subjects to take over the weekend and even yesterday, I was at a loss for today’s photo. Somehow I came up with the idea to visit the local BMW dealership and take a photo of all the cars lined up. Repetition is always a good stand-by theme in photography, and it seemed to turn out really well today! So tell me, which one is your favorite?

Until tomorrow…when I will be back on a normal schedule of uploading one photo per day.

This past weekend I ventured out of Ohio and headed down to Virginia Beach / Norfolk for a bachelor party for one of my college friends, Tim. This wasn’t your typical bachelor party that you think of the minute you hear those two words together. No, this bachelor party was unique, and in about every sense of the word, very dorky.

Did anyone ever tell you that it takes a long time to drive from Ohio to Virginia? If not, I am telling you that right now. Me and some friends left Columbus around 4 P.M. last Friday and didn’t arrive in Virginia Beach until 5 A.M. Saturday morning, nevermind a 2-hour delay in Washington, D.C. and maybe a 30 minute delay in actual Virginia Beach. I was stuck in the middle seat of a small car for all those hours. Let me tell you, my ass was not feeling good. Luckily, we stopped often enough to give my ass a break.

The first stop, at some point around 8/9 P.M. was the only opportunity I had out of the car to take the photo of the day. I didn’t think we would stop again before midnight, we didn’t, and even if we did, it would be pitch black out. This stop was at a gas station, across from a Wendy’s that had a sign like it was in Las Vegas.

Not the photo of the day, but still cool nonetheless.

The above photo was almost the A Photo A Day until I went into the gas station and started looking around for a) food/beverage and b) a photo opportunity. The good thing is I was able to find Friday’s photo in a gas station off the highway. The bad thing is that I forgot to change the white balance, so therefore the image is a little orange. However, the appeal of the photo might be the orangish tint, because I had similar photos, that were pure white, and they did not turn out as well. The angle and everything about this photo just seems to work very well, at least in my opinion.

The 2-hour delay in Washington was to allow us to see the sites and try and see the White House. Unfortunately, the White House was inaccessible and dark. I guess G.W. was really tired last Friday night. On the other hand though, we were able to see other sites and below are a couple of photos I took from the car. The first photo below would have beaten out the gas station image above, except that it was taken after midnight. Also, I believe that Saturday’s photo is superior simply because of the light vs dark factor.

Jon and Kyle try to figure out the best route through D.C. They never found it.

The U.S. Captiol Building at night.

A pretty building at night. Do you know which building this is? I don’t.

The American Bar Association’s HQs.

The Washnington Monument and potential alien spacecraft.

Finally, after many hours in the car, and my rear hurting, we made it to Virginia Beach. At that point, we went to bed, and enjoyed a few hours of sleep. Saturday, we went to a local place called the Do-Nut Dinette to dine on some breakfast. This diner, or dinette, had a ton of character and really was a great place to visit. It is an establishment that you would see on the Food Network. As you can see in the picture below, 3 stud muffins also joined me for brunch.

Kyle, Tim, Jon…all looking good!

After brunch, we headed to get ice cream and then ventured to the costume shop to purchase the apparel for the day. We all had Hawaiian shirts so all we needed was the head gear.We ended up buying an 8-pack of really cheap pirate hats. We wore these hats all day and received many compliments and one or two negative comments. On the outside of the costume shop’s building was a mural, and with camera in hand, I had to capture the scene.

Pick Me, Pick Me!!! (Tim, Kyle, Jon)

After the fun with our noses, we headed back to Tim’s apartment for a quick swim in the Chesapeake Bay. At the time of swimming, the water’s temperature was a balmy 52 degrees. I was a wuss and only lasted a few minutes, while other’s were in for a little while longer. On the beach, I was able to capture a sight that every woman would want to see with their own eyes. Shirtless Mens World, eat your heart out!

Hubba-Hubba! Look at those guys…

After the fun in the water, we cleaned up and headed to Virginia Beach and to where the women were staying for the bachelorette party. There, I took Saturday’s photo of the day. It was not planned at all, and actually came out a lot better than I expected. Tim decided that him and I should take pictures of each other as we were taking pictures of each other. Confused? You will understand in just a sec. Something about this picture stood out to me and therefore I had to choose it.

Right behind the actual beach, was a statue of Neptune. I took a good amount of photos of him, but here is just one of my favorites…

Neptune!

As we were leaving the beach, a group of women in their 30s stopped us and said they had to take a picture with us because of our pirate hats. It turns out, they were having a bachelorette party and were definitely a little tipsy! It was a sight to see, especially when the one woman said in reference to Jon, “This one on the end needs some lovin’.”

Pirate Lovin’!

After the fun at the beach, we headed to MotorWorld to have fun on the Go Karts, not my favorite, and to play Put-Put, always my favorite. Below are a couple of highlights from MotorWorld…

This gorilla welcomes you to MotorWorld…

Me sitting in my favorite type of car! Ha! (Taken by Tim.)

Tim and Kyle got a little rough on the track.

Gotta love the hat…(Taken by Tim.)

After the fun at MotorWorld, we decided to get some food. First we went to Hooter’s, which wasn’t all it is cracked up to be. The waitress was good looking, but the cutest one was the hostess, who of course was not in the typical Hooter’s attire. After that, because we were still hungry, we went to IHOP to get some dessert. Keep in mind, at both these places, we had our pirate hats on and at both places we received compliments.

After our eating endeavor, we went to rent a movie, Super Troopers [edited, originally said Starship Troopers, whoops!], and headed back to watch it. Unlike everyone else, I fell asleep about 1/2 way through and only woke up periodically. When the movie ended, it was bed time for all of us.

Sunday morning consisted of hanging out with the women from the bachelor party, chatting and enjoying the great weather. At this point is when I took Sunday’s photo. A few of us headed to beach, which is basically in Tim’s backyard, and just walked along the sand. That is when I snapped a photo of everyone standing about an equidistant apart from each other, while they all had their backs to me and the camera. The positions of the people, the different color of their clothing, and the setting, in my opinion, all made for a great photo.

After hanging out, we said our goodbye’s and headed home. Luckily, the trip home was quicker, and I was in my driveway at 1030pm Sunday evening. All in all, it was a great trip with great friends. Sure it wasn’t your typical bachelor party, but that is quite alright with me, and I believe the other gentleman there would agree as well.

Thanks for reading…until tomorrow!

Unfortunately, A Photo of the Day for the past couple of days is going to have to wait. The photos are taken, I am just not sure which ones to choose, just yet. Also, I want to be able to have enough time to write all about the photo’s and the past weekend. The update should take place tomorrow, Tuesday, so you only have to wait ~24 hrs.

Until tomorrow…when there will be 5 new photos uploaded!

NOTE: I am thinking of starting a nightly email that would annouce the Photo A Day and include a short story that relates to the photo. If you are interested in receiving this email, please fill out the mini-form below. When the first email is sent, you will be the first one to receive it!

Just a few days ago, I decided to take a photo of a flag, simply because of the wind. Since then, so much has happened, so much has changed, so much has been lost. Ever since that fateful day, I have been searching for a partner to my original photo, one that compliments the fully upright flag, one that has the weight of an entire college behind it. I found that photo today.

(As a side note, it bothers me that I had to search for a flag that was half mast, instead of all flags being lowered.)

Until tomorrow…

EDITORS NOTE: There will be no blog updates until Monday, April 23, 2007, as I will be out of town, and away from my computer. However, I will still have my camera and will still be taking A Photo A Day!

When I began my photography hobby, about 3 years ago, one of my favorite subjects was the sky. So far, for A Photo A Day, I have only taken one picture of a sky, and that included Cleveland’s skyline. I have remedied that problem by taking another photo of the sky, after finishing up with a rousing game of racquetball against my mother. I believe that the telephone pole, and angle, helps make the photo more interesting and unique. Hopefully, you agree with that belief. Alas, until tomorrow…

I do not like to take photos of people, but no one ever said anything about doggies! Until tomorrow…

This morning I was walking into work, on a windy day, and was thinking I should take a photograph of the American flag flying outside the office. I thought it would be able to demonstrate the wind the easiest. I left the camera in the car, and the boss had already arrived, so I thought, I will take the picture after work.

When I finally was able to take the photograph, at around 5 PM EST, the flag meant so much more than just showing the world how windy today was. The flag had a huge weight behind it, the weight of everyone who was affected by what occurred today, on the Virginia Tech campus.

[all above photos courtesy abcnews.com]

Since I first read the report of a gunman on campus at approximately 10:20am, I was unable to get much work done. I was enthralled with the coverage, reading multiple news site and reading an updated thread on the message board where I first heard the news. When Katrina hit, I followed along minute-by-minute, and this was no different. I couldn’t unglue myself from the ever-changing news of the minute, second, moment. I had to know the latest development, even if it was just speculation. This is how I am, and this is how I will be for every tragedy in the near future; I can’t explain it, just like I can’t explain today’s events.

When I walk past this same flag tomorrow morning, it will be in a different location, simply 24 hours after I first thought of the idea. It is amazing what happens in such a short amount of time…

Until tomorrow…

[photo courtesy ESPN.com and the AP]

“A LIFE IS NOT IMPORTANT EXCEPT IN THE IMPACT IT HAS ON OTHER LIVES.” – Jackie Robinson

Today seems to be baseball day as today is 60 years of Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier and today’s A Photo A Day is baseball themed. There is so much to say about Jackie Robinson as a person and a baseball player, and many people who have much better credentials than me, has, so I will leave it to them to speak on my behalf. Let me just say, he AND his wife are/were amazing people and hopefully, that in light of everything that has happened with the Don Imus situation, we can continue to make progress in this great country of ours.

Regarding my photo for today, my mother and I headed to Playhouse Square in downtown Cleveland to see the play, Hay Fever. After realizing that the scenery around the playhouse was riddled with too much construction, we headed to Jacobs Field for today’s photo opportunity. Outside the E 9th Gate, there is a statue of the one and only Bob Feller. I do not remember exactly what the base of the statue says, but I am pretty sure it is similar to what is on his Hall of Fame plaque:

[photo courtesy ClevelandSeniors.com]

ROBERT WILLIAM ANDREW FELLER
CLEVELAND A.L. 1936 TO 1941
1945 TO 1956
PITCHED 3 NO-HIT GAMES IN A.L.,
12 ONE HIT GAMES.
SET MODERN STRIKEOUT RECORD WITH 18 IN GAME, 348 FOR SEASON.
LED A.L. IN VICTORIES 6 (ONE TIE) SEASONS.
LIFETIME RECORD: WON 266, LOST 162,
P.C. 621,
E.R. AVERAGE 3.25,
STRUCKOUT 2581.

I attempted to take the statue at such an angle that the bright blue sky would appear in the background and give the affect that Feller was floating. I believe I somewhat accomplished that task. If I were one to crop photos, or even retouch photos, I would delete the flag pole from the image. However, I like to leave my photographs untouched, so therefore, the flag pole has remained in the image.

Hopefully this image is a little bit different than the other one’s I have taken for A Photo A Day. Enjoy it, and until tomorrow…

It’s a kitchen. It contains kitchen-like stuff: a stove, cabinets, microwave, pop, and medication. Until tomorrow…