Quiet life at home in the summer.
Food and Drink
Brew Gentlemen
Breweries are appearing in Pittsburgh at a much faster rate than I'm able to visit them, so despite Brew Gentlemen (in Braddock) being one of the first-wave local taprooms that's been around for more than three years, I hadn't made my way out there until just yesterday. They brew all types of beers, but their signature style is the unfiltered IPA. I sampled two of those yesterday, including their staple General Braddock's IPA, as well as an unfiltered pale ale. All three were excellent, and they shared an earthy, grassy profile more common in English style IPAs than the floral and citric American styles that are so pervasive in local breweries today.
Summer spaces
Reveling in remodeled spaces with good friends (+good food, good beer, good dog.)
Photographing my own wedding
When you have a small wedding, as Kristin and I did (9 guests, all immediate family), inviting an outside photographer can spoil the intimacy that is the benefit of such a small gathering. Add that to the tiny budget that we wanted to work with, and that's the recipe for DIY wedding photography.
There are benefits and drawbacks of doing it this way. While I'll get to remember this day now through the lens of my own experience, the photographer's perspective had to be traded in for the groom's perspective. This means that photographs of people in particular were more personal, but less well-framed and artful. During parts of the ceremony and at other times I did surrender my camera to other willing family members, but since I have fairly advanced manual-only equipment (Zeiss Loxia 35, 50, and 85 were my lenses for the day), there are technical limits that got in the way.
In keeping with the frugality and creativity of the photography situation, decorating with wild daisies from nearby Wisconsin fields was another part of the beauty and simplicity of the day.
It's also true that most of the time my camera was pointed to my beautiful bride, so if other cherished members of my family are underrepresented in the final count of photographs, it can be perhaps understood that I only had eyes for one person that day.
The following images that include me are courtesy of Tom and Tom, my father and father-in-law. (We entered by canoe on a very windy day).
And back on the other side of the camera where I'm much more comfortable!