Circle Freeway

A photo snapped yesterday at every mile marker along the 83 mile Interstate 275 that traverses Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana around the city of Cincinnati. A quick glance offers monotony, but if you look closely in each snapshot you can see the little details that set each individual mile apart.

[Views of Cincinnati] Night Flight

The Skyline below the wing of the Cesna 172S we were flying in as it executed a banked turn, blurring and twisting the view below. Great American Tower can be seen as the "lighthouse" figure in the center of the frame.

[Views of Cincinnati] The Fun of Watching Fireworks

"Reds 3, Nationals 7" 

A firework explodes over The Skyline after the Reds lose to the Montreal Expos Washington Nationals by four runs. Win or lose, "Fireworks Fridays" happen regardless.

[Views of Cincinnati] Desert Island Initials

My initials on a desert island the Kentucky shore facing The Skyline.

[Views of Cincinnati] Parking Lot Midway

A carnival in the parking lot of a "Save-A-Lot" in Bellevue, Kentucky. The skyline of Cincinnati is visible just to the right of the midway lights between the lot's light towers.

I like the idea of an ordinary, mundane parking lot becoming the midway for something bright and spectacular - even if you know what it all really is and how life goes on in all of its forms around you.

[Views of Cincinnati] It's Always Sunny in Cincinnati

#34 - "Pathway"

[Views of Cincinnati] Bill Paxton Style

It was the first Friday night that I had off in a long time. Naturally, I wanted to go out and shoot photographs. Glancing at my cell phone, the forecast looked nasty. As I left work that evening, the clouds started rolling in. I ditched the I-71 South traffic and took local roads to Columbia Parkway. Up ahead I could see the clouds rolling in, but the sunlight was still shining through those same clouds on the Skyline below. I drove up to the parking lot of the Celestial Restaurant in Mt. Adams, a more "touristy" view. I had been wanting to save that spot. On one hand, it provides an easy and more traditional view of the Skyline - but I had been wanting to catch it when the light was just right or something unique was going on. The inclement weather provided just that as I got there in time to see the last of the blue sky before the incoming thunderstorm took over.

#30 - "Onset of a Thunderstorm"

The Abandoned Roadside Airplane

"Surely, you can't be serious!"

"I am serious. And don't call me Shirley."

A Secret Passageway in Mt. Adams

I'm sure I'm not the only one who looked for secret passages in their house as a kid, only to be disappointed that such things didn't exist (at least in the suburban homes that six year old me wandered). While what I stumbled upon isn't really the kind of "secret passage" you'd find when pulling the right book off the shelf, it does provide a relatively unknown route up the ritzy neighborhood hillside of Mt. Adams.

[Views of Cincinnati] Van Meter Street

Van Meter Street separates I-71 and Mt. Adams. It has one of the best views of the city - a view that really shows off Cincinnati as a big city. From here looking west, the buildings and skyscrapers, a small sample shown here, are spread out into one impressive landscape. Walking along the eight inch line of what might be considered a sidewalk, I knelt down and framed up the Skyline in the steel guard rails of Van Meter Street. The cars on the highway below are framed by the light poles while the guard rail shadows and yellow street lines accompany a repetition of "No Parking" signs to the Skyline ahead.

Don't Worry Desmond Dekker

Winston: "Ray, do you believe in God?
Ray: "Never met him."

[Views of Cincinnati] Captain Ross

Midwestern redness sunset on Cincinnati. Taken from a bridge in Fort Thomas, KY. named in memorial to Captain Joseph Shaw Ross. I find it only fitting that this photograph in the series be dedicated to him as well.