Living

Cincinnati is full of abandonments, most of the time you drive right past them without knowing their history. Many people take the presence of these historical treasures for granted, some call them blight, but their significance in Cincinnati’s history remains strong. They are an ever present reminder of Cincinnati’s past, and in some cases, a beacon for Cincinnati’s future; but more than likely they’re just a playground for explorers like me.

Nota Bene: you can click these and see the full resolution versions on My Flickr, or view a slideshow of all 4 photos.

Standing quitely behind a snow-blind sledder in Mt. Echo Park, the Crosley Building was once home of WLW radio (better known today as 700WLW.) The radio tye-in doesn’t stop there though, previously Crosley Radio Corporation used the building to manufacture low-cost table top radios until 1942 when World War II operations within the Crosley Building demanded that manufacturing operations be moved elsewhere.

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The KOI Burners couldn’t have picked a better venue than the Mockbee for Carnivolution, a heady mix of sensual and exhilarating performance (including Dante’s Gypsy Circus) , outrageous costumes, classic midway games and fantastmagorical persons of all shapes and sizes. KOI (Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana) Burners, a local arts group and appendage of the larger Burning Man collective located a few blocks away from the Mockbee building at 2008 Freeman Avenue hand built carnival games and much more. The Burners slaved for weeks to perfect their costumes for the carnival and burnt the midnight oil polishing the experience of the Midway for Carnivolution. The C.M. Mockbee Building, the crumbling industrial former home of a hardware company, refuses the be relegated to abandonment like so many others of it’s kind. For Carnivolution it is reborn a third time as a venue for experiencing the fantastic.

Nota Bene: you can click these and see the full resolution versions on My Flickr, or view a slideshow of all 55 photos.

Arlequin

Now she’s out of the straight jacket

Roxanne in Hookah Lounge Wonderland

Dante’s Gypsy Circus

The Fred Astaire of Practice Poi

High Class Bearded Lady

Feathers (Oh how I love feathers)

Want More?

Nota Bene: you can click these and see the full resolution versions on My Flickr, or view a slideshow of all 55 photos.

Or simply watch the slideshow in your browser now:

Nonsense and scribbles scratched on the wall in crayon, pencil, dirt. Names and geometric patterns drilled into the wood work. Floors covered in hay. Mary, Richard, Seth, Sue. I know there were children here before this house became, like so many in rural farming areas in America, storage for hay. Dated February 7th, 1974, the Centre Daily Times (or as I like to call it the Centre Daily Misprint) contains a piece “Weighing the risk Of an impeachment” doing exactly that in reference to a post-watergate Richard “Tricky Dick” Nixon. This is a fantastic parcel of land, and the house is still quite solid save for a crumbling foundation in one corner and a mushy floor on the back porch. There is another house just up the private road. Perhaps they just moved, electing to use their prior residence as storage for hay?

Nota Bene: you can click these and see the full resolution versions on My Flickr, or view a Slideshow of all 32 photos.

Sue’s Handiwork

Beautiful Decay

I love you

Seth’s Scribbles

Comedy/Tragedy

Weighing The Risk Of An Impeachment – 3 photos

View all 32 photos.

Location: near State College, PA

I went home to Montoursville, Pennsylvania for the Thanksgiving holiday. This was my first time home since my father’s death, and I had my doubts about how well I was going to take seeing the house again. Thankfully I was wrong — the work my Mom did is absolutely amazing. As far as the upstairs bathroom and master bedroom are concerned, I might as well have been coming home to boutique hotel. With a 50 gallon bath tub, no less.

View a slide show of all 16 photos

The bathroom is warm and inviting and features radiant floor heating, towel warmer, fifty gallon cast-iron bath tub, and airy glass shower. I’d say the icing on the cake is the HDTV on the swing arm above the bath tub.

The bedroom is the perfect place to crash after a wonderful day, or just to take a nap. My father always said that my mother was a fantastic napper. Our first dog, Boris, would run up the stairs to the bedroom if you asked him “Where’s Mommy?!” Why? because that’s usually where she was!

I love you Mom, you did a wonderful job… and you’re not even done yet!

View a slide show of all 16 photos

View the 16 photos in this set

A year is a long time, and in the space of that year I feel like I’ve really grown as a photographer. Oddly enough, this meant not only bettering my skills behind the camera, but facing fears. I was afraid to explore, because I didn’t want to go to jail. In actual fact, the Cincinnati Police Department seems to have a lot better things to do with their time. I was uneasy around people. Viewing the world through the viewfinder, the “real” world seems to fall away, and with it the anxiety. All that’s left is the image, the concentrated essence of the moment, and off we go…

Nota Bene: you can click these and see the full resolution versions on My Flickr, or view a Slideshow of all 37 photos.

You, You’re Awesome at the Southgate House

You, You’re Awesome at Northside Tavern

Abandoned Loch #5, Bowling Green, KY

Arsclan Jesus Respawns 9 Mug Shots

Sunset over Louisville,KY Rail Bridge

Unammed Boy, Sedamsville, Cincinnati, OH

Impromptu Portraits

Abandoned Hudepohl Brewery

Life in Downtown Cincinnati

Urban Decay in South Fairmont

Life as we know it:

And that’s just the beginning, trust me. I’ve come this far in a year, and the next year will be even more of the same. More shots, more exploring, more photowalks with those near and dear in Goettaville, Cincinnati, OH. I look forward to getting into my visual groove, feeling the world fall away, and creating wonderful pictures.

Much Love,
–Matt

For those of you who didn’t know, my father was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer back in May this year. I came home for a long weekend after I found the news, courtesy of a very understanding boss. It wasn’t long enough, and it was all so new that nothing was really different. His mind was still sharp as he hadn’t started chemo, and he as still doing things around the house himself. Move forward till now, he’s quiet, his logic is questionable (and my father is a very, very intelligent man) and his one concern is fighting it and staying alive. Now I’m home for two weeks, and spending lots of time with dad. The sad part is that he doesn’t want to go do anything, but he didn’t before he got sick. He lives all inside his own head, and it’s been that way for a long time. I can tell he’s only angry and scared not for the future but because of the loss of control he has over his own life, and the loss of energy.

Tuesday of this week, I accompanied him and my mother to Geisinger hospital in Danville, PA. These pictures are of a man with the stubbornness of 1000 mules and who does not know how to fail at anything. I am his son, these are my pictures.

View the entire set on Flickr.

Jeremy Brooks has a great writeup entitled “If You Put That Picture On The Internet I’ll Call My Lawyer.” I can only hope to handle a similar situation in the same way. Although, there are parts of the city I want to photograph but will not venture there until I have my Ohio concealed firearm carry permit. Better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it.