Cinco de Mayo is a holiday made for partying and Cincinnati loves to party! A group of us met at Nada Restaurant in downtown Cincinnati and of course I brought my camera. I ran into people I’ve photographed for iSPYCiNCY at other events and took their photograph. I stopped this girl for a photograph and love her expression!
I even ran into my hairdresser…Jocelyn (on the right), who I’ll be seeing before I go on my trip next week!
I had such a good time with my son’s girlfriend’s family today! They haven’t had family photos taken in years, of all of them, and with Baby Zachary’s arrival a few months ago and little Colin growing up so fast, it was time. For this photo, I told them to “Strike a pose” and I love how everyone looks so natural!
Here’s my son and his girlfriend–Ashley. She may look short here…but actually she’s 5’9″ tall…he’s a whopping 6’8″ tall!
Festivities for Cinco de Mayo were well under way when I arrived at Buck’s Bad Ass Bash yesterday in Over the Rhine, Cincinnati, Ohio! I was on assignment for iSPYCINCY again and the weather was perfect. This annual event is held in a parking lot near Vine and 12th Street. In case you didn’t know, Cinco de Mayo is a historic holiday celebrating Mexico’s defeat of French forces at the Battle of Puebla.
These two fun-loving girls readily agreed to be photographed…
Cinco de Mayo has become synonymous not only with tacos, sombreros, and Pinatas, but also with Margaritas, tequila and beer!
I love my work! How many people can say that? It took me a while to get here and it’s not just one job. Not only am I a freelance photographer, I’m also helping an elderly couple (around 90 years old) organize and declutter their retirement village condo, and am taking people on trips to Europe! I work with the husband, mostly on paperwork, because the wife has a touch of Alzheimer and is physically limited walking very slowly with a walker. I’m finding this line of work very rewarding because I’m able to remain patient and let him make decisions about his things. I offer suggestions. I didn’t realize how patient I can be.
Anyway, last night I took photos for an event called Revel & Feast held at Memorial Hall in Cincinnati. It’s was a celebration marking Cincinnati Shakespeare Company’s 20th anniversary season. My assignment was to take around 25 posed shots of people along with their names, and another 25 shots of the awards, a performance by teenagers, and some of the area where dinner was to be served.
The light glowing in the background really accentuated these beverages…
The venue is gorgeous!
There’s a place called Neon’s in an area of Cincinnati called Over-the-Rhine and I did a photo shoot for iSPYCINCY a couple of weeks ago. They have a brunch on Sundays and an outdoor seating area. Dogs and their owners were out soaking up the sun and enjoying the yummy food!
Going to the Zoo, no matter where you live, is a rather inexpensive way to get some exercise and have fun! Especially if you have a band to listen to and beautiful flowers surrounding you. The Cincinnati Zoo has a cool free event (except for parking) in the Spring called “Tunes & Blooms” where you can do exactly that! I was there a couple of days ago with my friend Dee and was so delighted to happen upon this beautiful Peacock strutting his tail feathers…
The reggae music was fun to dance to provided by “The Cliftones” band. There were tons of children there enjoying the tunes!
Dee and I saw quite a few people we knew, so while she talked with them, I went in search of some cool photos…
My girlfriend came over today and we had a wonderful afternoon savoring a homemade lunch of Swai fish, rice and a Salad. She brought the fish and rice and I made the Salad. Here’s a pic of what the salad looks like. It has zucchini, squash, grilled corn, grape tomatoes, red onion, pine nuts, red and orange bell pepper with feta cheese over a bed of lettuce and a homemade vinaigrette dressing…yum!
We went hiking at Cincinnati Nature Center’s property called Long Branch Farms in Goshen, Ohio. Of course, I took my camera and captured a few shots. Using Lightroom 5, I altered the feel of this one by decreasing the clarity. I like the muted look sometimes…
There’s a pretty barn there…
Of course Jake had a blast! I noticed the tree limbs were glistening in the sun…almost as though they were covered in ice…
We had a great time talking and catching up on what’s been going on. Here’s the barn from a different angle…
My next goal is to purchase a wide-angle lens and start taking photos of homes. I’ll contact some Realtors and see how I can get my foot in that door!
The last few days have been beautiful in Cincinnati! My husband and I took advantage of the warm weather and took a Harley Motorcycle ride. He calls it his “Hog”…
I had a University of Cincinnati Sorority Formal Dance photo shoot Saturday evening at the Still Meadows Country Club. In three hours I took 360 photos. They began eating soon after I arrived, so I took advantage of having a captive audience (while they were in the buffet line) to take photos. I stood on random chairs around the room once the music started to take photos while they were dancing. I would zoom in and get some sweet shots of them kissing or slow dancing. It was a lot of fun! I particularly like this photo…
Last night I did a photo shoot for iSPYCINCY at the Madison Theater in Covington, Kentucky of an event called Glamour and Glow. It was colorful, exciting and electric! I’ve never shot pics of models with neon paint, so it was a challenge. I knew I wouldn’t be using flash and would need to shoot high ISO. One of the challenges were spotlights flashing in different intensities and colors. Sometimes my light meter would register too dark or too light. As you can see, the attendees were provided with special viewing glasses.
This mermaid was cool…
This little guy was so sweet. You’ll see another photo down below where he’s balancing on a ball.
You haven’t heard from me for a while because I’ve been busy planning the European trip I mentioned in a past post. In the other post, I gave you information about the first adventure taking trains from Prague–Vienna–Bratislava—Budapest and it occurred to me that I could stay in Europe longer and offer a second trip to another group. I have purchased train tickets to travel from Budapest to Munich for a few days, then an overnight train to Amsterdam for a few days. I’ll be staying in an Airbnb in both locations. Next, I fly from Amsterdam to Copenhagen where I’ll meet the other group for an unforgettable Scandinavian adventure!
We’ll head to Stockholm, Sweden for a few days, then to Oslo, Norway, and finally take the scenic train and boat cruise of the fjords in Norway to Bergen, where we’ll fly home. There will only be four of us for the second portion. I’m so excited!!
My three passions in life are photography, travel, and organizing/minimizing and all of my dreams are coming true! I just helped an elderly couple yesterday with organizing their retirement village home and will be spending a lot more time with them. And…my photography assignments have been coming along. I’m still working with iSPYCINCY and have an upcoming assignment Sunday. I answered a Craigslist ad for a Merchandise photo shoot. My husband went with me because I was going to the man’s apartment in a new area of Cincinnati called “The Banks”. He’s starting a business selling picture frames and wanted some lifestyle photographs of them. Here are a few of them:
Baby photography is so rewarding! It’s hard work, but once you’re finished, having beautiful photographs is totally worth it. This is Neveha, my Cousin’s little girl. I couldn’t have picked a better baby for my first baby photo shoot. She was good-natured and beautiful!
I used a pink flowered comforter as a backdrop for some of the photographs. This was her mother’s favorite photograph…
I love her smile in this photograph!
I recently had an opportunity to take photographs of a model in a studio setting with lights, etc. Being my first time, I wasn’t sure what to expect. When I arrived, there were other photographers there and since I’m not shy, I took a spot near the center to take some shots. It was a bit confined because if you shot at an upward angle, there was an ugly drop ceiling to contend with and if you were too far to one side or the other, the backdrop disappeared. I had to stand back quite a ways, so as not to get in the way of others, and with the strobe lighting, it was difficult to get really sharp images. Here are some of my favorites…
I like the look on her face here…
I know what two of my greatest passions in life are…photography and travel! So, it’s no surprise that I couldn’t help but stop to take photographs of the sunset while on the way to photography class…
Trees are so cool…even in winter and I love Churches!
We are swimming in beauty and don’t always see it!
Planning a trip for yourself is one thing, but when you’re planning for a group of 12, the importance of a solid travel itinerary is essential! I’ve spent over 100 hours planning an 11 night trip for May of this year to Prague, Vienna, Bratislava, and Budapest, traveling from City to City via train. I’m so excited! I’ve longed to visit Eastern Europe and am giving a presentation to my travel meetup group next week, to see who would like to join me! After checking how much other travel companies charge for a very similar trip, my group will be very pleased to discover how economical it will be…at almost half the cost. I plan on staying an extra week to travel to Berlin and Amsterdam and hopefully Couchsurf!
With the weather so cold, its been the perfect time to get all of this planning finished! I took these photos the other morning…
You can barely see the sun peeking through the pine trees here…
I’ll post the itinerary for everyone when we get closer! xoxoxo
Saturday evening’s Cincy Winter Blues Fest in Downtown Cincinnati, was held at The Phoenix Hotel, and it was the perfect place! Built in 1893, the majestic Italian Renaissance architecture, high ceilings and wonderful acoustic qualities, and the soulful music, made it a memorable evening. Two ballrooms and two smaller rooms featured 16 bands over the course of the evening and as you can see the lighting was superb!
We wandered from room to room, usually standing, to hear the variety of blues bands singin’ the winter blues. This artist, Janiva Magness, was billed as one of the headliners. Her “tell it like it is” lyrics and seductive performance, made for an entertaining show.
CSO Encore hosted a private underground after party at the exclusive Jimmy G’s restaurant following Colin Currie‘s performance with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Saturday evening and I was there taking photographs for iSPYCINCY!
As usual, my mission was to take a set number of photographs featuring attendees and the event atmosphere. Members of the Cincinnati Ballet were there showing us how it’s done…Salsa style!
I experimented with the various pre-set lighting filters in Lightroom 5…
They were filled with joy and enthusiasm! Such energy!
Sherry Lachelle Travels 