• Black and White,  People/Portraits,  Self-portraits

    Self-portrait Friday

    A few years ago I belonged to a photographers website called pbase. Someone on that website started a Self-portrait Friday challenge. It seemed like a good idea for a weekly project so I jumped right in. It required me to plan scenes rather than post a selfie in front of the bathroom mirror. This is one from that weekly project. I was living in Westerville Ohio at the time. I envisioned this image after seeing the street light and the mystery it created along with the brick wall in a small alley located in the older part of town. So after a bit of planning I set out to create this image. I needed the cigarettes and the lighter as props and was dumbfounded at the cost of those cigarettes. Glad I’m not a smoker anymore. Not sure this is exactly what I had in mind but it works for me even 13 years later. Here is a link to the post I made on this blog from that project but with a slightly different pose. Actually, I think I like this image better.

    I actually spent some time snooping around on pBase to see what it’s like. I saw some familiar names of photographers who are still active in that community. One is our friend Faye White, who’s blog can be found here. Hope everyone had a great weekend!

  • Photography

    Pick a color…

    Pick a Color

    … and have a seat.  This scene is unusual as there is almost always someone sitting in one of these chairs. The store that sells these chairs always has them outside on the side walk so people use them. As I came out of the coffee shop there was a small young girl engulfed by the chairs. By the time I retrieved my camera she and her family had moved on. But I figured what the heck and took a few shots. Love colors!

  • Art/Design

    Sitting on the Patio

    Garden Decorations
    Garden Decorations

    On one of my day trips to Westerville, I discovered a small shop called SerenDipity.  You can find a posting about my first visit and a photo of there front porch here. This time I ventured out on the patio and had it all to myself. I tried the Raspberry Cheesecake ice cream and will highly recommend it. Along the edge of the patio was a flower bed with these unique water sprinklers.

  • Cityscapes/Urban,  coffee shops,  Documentary/Street

    Pick a Chair

     

    Painted Chairs
    Painted Chairs

    While walking the streets in Westerville, Ohio, I discovered these chairs on a porch at a small shop. Colorful and eye-catching I raised up my camera to capture in pixels what I saw and felt. But what did these eclectic chairs on this porch lead to?

    Ironically the shop is called Serendipity. At first I thought it was a coffee shop but they were advertising ice cream sundaes. After walking inside I discovered it’s an older home where they have converted the different rooms into small coves with tables and chairs. People can come in find a table in a corner that suits them for study time, after all it is a college town, or read a book, or write in their journal or share an intimate conversation. For any of you couch potatoes, you could sink into the couch located in a back room and watch CNN on a flat screen TV. Weather permitting you may want to grab one of the tables on the patio or you could pick one of the brightly painted chairs on the front porch and stare at strangers as they walk by.

    I met the owners, a husband and wife team, who hire the college students to help in the shop. I would use the words friendly, outgoing, energetic, to describe them. From the description above you may think I’m describing a coffee shop but it is more than that. They served a little bit of everything including sandwiches, fries, soups, salads, ice cream, malts and coffees. Did I mention ice cream? Their ambiance was inviting enough that I’ll go back sometime and try one of their paninis or a sundae or a salad or a bowl of soup or a quesadilla or a cappuccino or a……

  • Candid Portraits,  Metro Parks

    The Innis Sisters

     

     

    The Innis Sisters
    The Innis Sisters

    I took Jamie to InnisWood Gardens. They have a sculpture recognizing the efforts of the Innis sisters. The sisters  wanted to preserve and enhance their  gardens and woodlands for the enjoyment of all people resulted in their generous donation of their home and property to the Metro Parks in 1972. This sculpture shows the one sister reading to the other who os holding a basket of flowers. Jamie ran over and stood behind them while I took the photo.