The Observation Deck

Thanks Lori. Sometimes I just get lucky.

Nice work my friend.

Political event photography requires an intense amount of concentration and awareness of everything that is going on in a room and beyond. Lighting, shadows, and composition skills all add to the final outcome.

Photography, like any other discipline, requires knowledge of many things. One must know one's equipment and personal capabilities, and then strive for that one step beyond...

Everyone: Don't feel limited by the equipment that you have. Any photograph taken is better than a photograph missed.

Back to the camera...

Thanks Gary.

Check out the Gibson banjo

http://lakewoodobserver.com/photoblogs/ ... ncert-8715

Good morning Alex,

Great photos!

Those are wonderful musicians and friends. Sorry I missed the show.

The instrument in question is, however, a mandolin.

Similar shape. Different song...


Back to the banjo...

8/7/15 (late at night)

A little thief was caught in the light of my flashlight last night. My wife alerted me to a strange noise downstairs. When I went downstairs and looked out of my dining room window, I faintly made out the outline of a large critter. So I shined my flashlight on it and it raised its masked face.

My wife scratched the window screen to get its attention and it just looked at us as bold as can be.

"Yeah, I'm eating your bird food. What are you going to do about it!"
Bold little critters, aren't they?

I sure am lucky in regard to "catching the light." I went to LHS stadium this morning to shoot a full pads football practice and instead caught the boys and girls cross country teams.

http://lakewoodobserver.com/photoblogs/ ... s-xc-teams

I AM OVERWHELMED !

I cannot describe how blessed I feel about all the friends I've made here in Lakewood! Look at what one of my dear new friends gave me for my birthday (8/14)! If you know anything about photography, you'll immediately understand the significance of this gift.

My 1st Browns game. Went with Mike Deneen. We had great seats in the "Dawg Pound"


http://lakewoodobserver.com/photoblogs/ ... rowns-game

8/16/15

Cleary the best 1st ever photoshoot experience since moving to Ohio at "Night Under Fire" at Summit raceway in Norwalk. Thanks to Jim O'Bryan who managed media passes for us, we had total access and got great photos!


http://lakewoodobserver.com/photoblogs/ ... under-fire

8/18/15

It's a dark melancholic morning here in Lakewood and as I write a short blurb about one of our unsung heroes (Weldon Carpenter) here in Lakewood, I am reminded of these lyrics by Simon & Garfunkel from their song, "Old Friends"

. . . Old friends, old friends
Sat on their park bench like bookends
A newspaper blown through the grass
Falls on the round toes
Of the high shoes of the old friends
Old friends, winter companions, the old men
Lost in their overcoats, waiting for the sunset
The sounds of the city sifting through trees
Settle like dust on the shoulders of the old friends
Can you imagine us years from today
Sharing a park bench quietly?
How terribly strange to be seventy
Old friends, memory brushes the same years . . .


If you're on Facebook, check out "Faces of Lakewood, OH" It's my attempt to show love to my new home and encourage this community to realize the good things we have and come together as people who care for each other. Also check out Gary Rice's wonderful piece he wrote about Weldon.

[youtube]https://youtu.be/Ul2hSba5pOs[/youtube]

Covered my 1st Lake Erie Crushers baseball game in Avon. It was "Lakewood Day" I really like I they treat the media out here in Ohio - no fuss and total access.

8/24/15
I felt like this the other day while in the nature center Cleveland Metroparks - Rocky River Reservation but couldn't express my feelings as well as it is written here. Each line is so pregnant with such fecundity!

Alex....

Thank you....

Your pebble in the pond causes ripples beyond your imaginings...

Back to the banjo...

8/26/15

As a former NYC and now Lakewood news photographer, I am so saddened to hear about this morning's murder of a news reporter and photographer in VA. Just doing your job nowadays can get one killed.