Civil War Encampment at the Ohio Statehouse

Steve and I got back late on May 8th. The trip to Bhutan was awesome, and I'll post photos in the coming weeks.  However, this post is about an annual event here in Columbus - a Civil War encampment that takes place on the Ohio Statehouse lawn on a Friday and Saturday. This year the weather was pretty miserable - raining all day yesterday. The participants were really good sports about the weather and continued on as if this were normal. I guess if one is going to do this kind of role playing, the weather would not be a factor. I enjoyed talking to the participants, and I learned a bit about the uniforms and costumes - made as authentically as possible.

Here are some photos from the morning. I used the Fuji XE-1 for this shoot, converting raw files into monochrome using Silver Efex Pro 2. I did a custom filter to emulate an antique plate effect. All photos by Andi Wolfe ©2014 - all rights reserved.

Still life of bowls

Steve and I joined a bunch of photographers last Saturday for a visit to Glass Axis. We watched a glass blowing demonstration, which was a nice opportunity for taking photos, although it was a bit crowded with 20 photographers jammed into a tight space. Here's one of my photos from the visit.

Watching the snow fall

Watching the snow fall, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

A few days ago I shared a photo I made of this lovely baby and her grandfather watching a snow storm from the North Market second floor. I asked the mother if she would like for me to make a photo of her with her daughter. I sent a color photo to her, but I like the black and white portrait even more than the color one. The soft light from the large window is perfect for portraiture. This is the kind of lighting the master painters of the past centuries used. Lighting just doesn't get better than this...

The Greener Grocer

The Greener Grocer, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

The North Market of Columbus, Ohio is the best place to find fresh and wholesome food in the downtown and Arena District. There are many different types of shops (bakeries, butcher shops, fish market, spices, wines, flowers, produce, etc.). If you like to shop for food in Paris, you will love this place.

This photo is from the Greener Grocer's stall. I subscribed to a market bag last season, which is a special feature from the Greener Grocer. Each week a selection of local produce was packed into a grocery bag and delivered to my campus.

If you're in central Ohio, be sure to check out the North Market. Your taste buds will thank you.

Which way did he go?

Which way did he go?, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

The North Market in Columbus, Ohio is a fantastic place to visit - especially if you're into good, wholesome food. This photo is from a walkabout this past Saturday morning.

Steve had signed up for a photo walk sponsored by Midwest Photo Exchange. I tagged along to give myself a break from writing lectures and grading papers. We both enjoyed the morning, especially the lovely French pastry we consumed after we were done taking photos.

Watching the snow fall

Watching the snow fall, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

Saturday's snow storm was pretty interesting. I was at the North Market in Columbus, Ohio for a photo walkabout that Steve had signed up to do, which was sponsored by Midwest Photo Exchange. After walking the market for about an hour, we bought some pastries and went upstairs to relax. A family was gathered around a table near a window, where this grandfather and baby were watching the snow falling outside.

The light was so beautiful on the faces of these two. Steve pointed it out to me, and I went over to introduce myself to the family and ask if I could do some informal portraits in that lighting. They were very friendly, and it turns out that we have some mutual connections through my department at OSU. The mother of this lovely baby is friends with one of our graduate student alumni. Small world, eh?

Waterman Farm

Waterman Farm, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

A brisk walk at dawn on Waterman Farm is always a great way to start the day. Winter scenery makes the walk even more interesting.

Waterman Farm

Another beautiful sunrise at Waterman Farm. I made this photo November 29, 2013.

Easton Town Center

Easton Town Center, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.Last night, Steve and I joined a dozen photographers to participate in a nighttime photo walk at Easton. This was sponsored by Midwest Photo Exchange.

It was cold (VERY COLD!) last night, but I stayed pretty warm in all the various layers I was wearing (think Himalayan trek gear). Despite the cold temps, I made several photos I liked after a couple of hours of walking around in the snow.

Here's a selection of photos from the night:

Pickerington Ponds

Pickerington Ponds, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

Snow + teasel = a lovely study for winter. We continue with our very cold snap with snow and ice making walking a bit of a hazard. The roads, at least the main ones, are clear, but sidewalks are neglected.

Sunrise at Waterman Farm

Sunrise at Waterman Farm, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

The corn is as high as an elephant's eye....

There seems to be a lot of corn planted at Waterman this year. I'm always hoping they'll plant sweet corn and make it available to the community, but, alas, that never seems to be what happens. At any rate, the sunrise this morning was beautiful.

Obama Rally 11/05/12

Obama Rally 11/05/12, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

I attended the campaign kick-off rally back in May, and it was my privilege to attend President Barack Obama's final Ohio campaign rally yesterday afternoon. There was an estimated crowd of 15,500 according to the news reports. The crowd was enthusiastic and very patient with all of the delays. I arrived at Nationwide Arena just before 2 pm, but the doors opened at noon, and there was a crowd waiting in line from the early morning hours onward.

Fortunately, I had a campaign office ticket, which meant I didn't have to wait in a line, and I was able to work for much of the day before heading to the rally. I sat in section 119 and had a decent view of the stages, although I was slightly behind the stage where Bruce Springsteen and Jay Z did their sets.

I have been inspired by Barack Obama since I first heard his speech at the 2004 DNC. He has been a president who represents and cares about the majority of citizens in this great country of ours. He represents the demographic of current day USA, whether the conservative GOP pundits want to recognize that or not. When I look out on the audiences of Obama's rallies I see people from every ethnic and religious background, cheering him on and lending their energy to his campaign. When I look at the audiences for Romney and Ryan, I see a bunch of scared and angry old white men, but mostly I just see white skin color - a sea of it, with a lot of hateful messaging to go along with their support.

I've never seen so much spiteful hate in a campaign, and it starts with Fox News, carries on with Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Ann Coulter and Shawn Hannity. Why do people get sucked into this misinformation that is largely misogynistic, bigoted, racist, and full of hate-mongering? I just don't understand how any woman can vote for the GOP ticket when one of their main goals is to take away our rights.

As you can probably tell, I support Barack Obama for president. Whether you agree with me or not isn't relevant, but getting out to vote today is. Exercise your right to vote and please inform yourselves about the issues, the candidates, and the future before you hit that "vote" button.

Here are more pictures from yesterday's rally:

Obama's final Ohio campaign rally

LeVeque Tower Shadow

LeVeque Tower Shadow, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

Downtown Columbus, Ohio. This is from October 11, 2012 - 10/11/12. Pretty cool shadow from the LeVeque Tower on the adjacent building.

Columbus has a lot of cool things in the downtown area, but I'm partial to the historic LeVeque Tower.

Room with a view

Room with a view, a photo by andiwolfe (I'm back!) on Flickr.

It's been awhile since I posted anything to the blog. The primary reason is that we were hammered with a huge storm June 29, 2012, which left my home without electricity until July 7, 2012. That wasn't a whole lot of fun, especially with temperatures in the high 90's and low 100's for the duration. However, it gave us an opportunity to clean out the refrigerator and freezer and camp on the living room floor with all the windows open. Upstairs was not an option with those kinds of temps.

An hour after our electricity came on I was checked into the conference hotel for the Botany 2012 meeting, which ran from Saturday to today (Thursday). My room was on the 20th floor of the Regency Hyatt, which gave a lovely view of downtown Columbus, Ohio.

Botany 2012 was a great conference. I learned a lot and had some great interactions with colleagues. The talks were informative and I enjoyed the workshop on next generation sequencing that I took on Sunday. The downside is that now I'm another week behind, but I have lots of good collaborations percolating that will keep me motivated for the rest of the summer.

Steve's self-portrait project

Steve, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

Steve's photo of downtown Columbus, taken from the Broad street bridge, was used as the backdrop for a poster for COTA. Steve usually licenses his photos for creative common use, and a graphic artist for COTA picked it up for use in the poster. Steve decided to photograph himself in front of each of the bus stops where the poster is on display, so we've had some sessions downtown. It's been an interesting exercise.

Here's another photo from that day:





Steve wrote about his project and posted the photos on his blog: http://stephenawolfe.blogspot.com/2012/03/my-cota-poster-self-portrait-project.html

State Street at sunset

State Street at sunset, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

Downtown Columbus, Ohio - looking west on State Street. That's the Riffe Center in the middle of the photo.

Columbus, Ohio

Columbus, Ohio, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

Downtown just after sunset. The buildings around Capitol Square are always interesting at night. The marquee kept flashing this image of a woman and so I waited until the right moment to do the metaportrait.

Church doors

Church doors, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

Downtown Columbus, Ohio - so many interesting things to explore. Why did it take us so long to do this?

Fifth Third Center

Fifth Third Center, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

Downtown Columbus, Ohio during the blue hour (the hour after sunset). Looking up at the Fifth Third Center. It's really a shame about the scaffolding up on top, which is for advertising 5/3 bank.

LeVeque Tower

LeVeque Tower, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

Steve and I are exploring downtown Columbus for photography. We visited yesterday for an hour before sunset and about half an hour afterwards. One of my favorite downtown landmarks is the LeVeque Tower - especially at night with the interesting lighting. Sometimes there's a theme to the lighting scheme, but I don't know if this light pattern has additional meaning other than being pretty cool.