I've been photographing some up and down one of the major streets in Columbus. A friend of mine happens to tend bar north of here a little bit, so I stopped in and made a portrait of him a few weeks ago.
Last Monday I had an opportunity to work with George Vecsey, a New York Times writer, on a story about the Single A baseball club, the Dayton Dragons, who are quickly approaching the record of consecutive sold out games- 815 -since opening twelve years ago. I met George, who had been at the park for a few hours already, shortly after getting there. We had briefly discussed photo ideas via e-mail, and everything sounded pretty open ended. Right off the bat, George said, "I've worked with a lot of photographers over the years. I trust your eye." It was a great way to start a shoot, especially because I don't have a chance to work with writers very often. I haven't been to a baseball game in going on four years now, so it was a really nice change of scenery. I was excited to pick up The Sunday Times and see 6 images on the front page of the sports section, and another two inside. Take a look at the slideshow here.
Towards the end of March I received a call from a very supportive editor named Whitney Tressel at Esquire Magazine, asking if I was available for a portrait shoot in Cleveland. Although I'd never met her in person, we quickly connected on the same creative wavelength. We discussed the story and various ideas, and shortly after she forwarded me images that fit the mood we wanted to drive the images forward on, mostly pulling images out of my personal essays (The Kittie Luau , There is a Place.)
The story was about (and written by) a man named John Hyduk who lives alone in Fairview Park, Ohio, just west of Cleveland. I was very familiar with the area, as I once dated a girl who lived off the same road John does- funny coincidence. Anyways, John is in his late 50s and has been a writer and poet for most of his life, but he's never been above working whatever jobs he could find in order to support himself. He's currently a night shift dock worker at a bottling plant in the area.
I was fortunate enough to be able to bring my good friend James Roh along as an assistant. James, who just took a job at the Provo Daily Herald in Provo, Utah, only had two weeks before he moved across the country, and it was really awesome to be able to kick it with him for a full day (and he was a huge, huge help with the lights.)
We started out at John's home while it was still light out, and eventually made our way to a shipping yard in Brookpark, Ohio, right near the airport in Cleveland.
Thanks so much to Whitney, John, and James for helping bring this all together! I'm really glad at how it all turned out.
Here's a bunch of political work for The New York Times.
Bob Armstrong, Mayor of Defiance, Ohio
Laborer's Union, Canton, Ohio
Ted Strickland Rally, Akron, Ohio
Election Day Volunteers, Canton, Ohio
Election Day, Canton, Ohio
Awaiting Results at the Ted Strickland/Democratic Party, Columbus, Ohio
Hey guys,
My friend from Chicago, Daniel Shea, crashed on the futon this weekend while working on his project titled Plume. Prior to this, Daniel spent some time in the area working on a project called Removing Mountains.
To all the Ohio kids- make sure to check this work out. It's about our area, but very different from the work we're used to seeing. Lastly, he currently has a print sale going on, so check that out, too. The money is being used to further the project, and there's some really great work for very reasonable prices.
And here's two of mine from the weekend. 
I had the chance to follow around Congressman Steve Driehaus and opponent Steve Chabot last weekend. You can read the story and see what ranhere.
These are a few outtakes from the weekend. 
Kitty Atkins-Bullock; Long time Chabot supporter
Pat Wheeler; Tea Party Protestor
A little over a month ago I got an e-mail from Geoffrey Hiller, the editor at Verve Photo, asking if I would like to have an image featured. We agreed on one, whipped up a bio and some info on the photo, and it's featured today. Thanks, Geoffrey. 
Headed up to Columbus last night with She Bears to see them off on tour. You ought to check them out, they're probably going to be playing somewhere near you in the next few months. I saw all of my friends climb into a minivan and drive away, so I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do in Athens now.
Regardless, here's a picture of Maddie, who was also able to make it out.
I just finally got internet at my new house, so here's an update. LOOK was incredible, one of the best weekends I've had for awhile. I got to see a lot of people I haven't seen in years, met people I've only talked to online, and saw some really beautiful work.
It was probably the best graduation day/party that I could have ever imagined.
Mentor Headlands beach and I guess Lake Erie is one of my favorite places to go while I'm home. It started when I was a junior in high school with my friend Josh taking me there after we got breakfast one day. Any time I'm home, there's a pretty good chance that a friend and I will go grab coffee somewhere and then walk out on the breakwall in the evening. It's a combination of how relaxing the atmosphere is a half mile offshore at night and how nice the light tends to get.
Moriah Bruening, December 2007
Andrew Pitrone, June 2008
Fox, August 2008
Fireworks, June 2007
Josh Bruening, July 2008
As the sun sets, June 2007
