arrivederci

New Beginnings

2012. Only two weeks into the New Year and I am feeling extremely anxious and excited for it's potential. The end of 2011 was a mixture of great times with family & friends on top of stress & feelings of living two different lives. The always-fabulous Johanna Armstrong made a trip across the pond and as always it was great to see her because her work and friendship is extremely inspiring. She is doing some great work so head to her portfolio link to check it out and also has one of my favorite tumblrs currently. I also rang in my 29th year (yikes) of existence surrounded by the most important people, family. I am so fortunate to have them. Birthmas celebrations, Grandma's manhattans, stuffed pork chops, new brother, VanMaurik's and friends. Pure Happiness.

I have a lot to accomplish and have tried to start this year as focused as possible. Architect'n, Teaching, Photographing and most importantly trying to graduate by May so that I can catch a one-way flight to Italy. It may have taken me ten years, but I feel like I am finally in the right place on the doorstep of a dream career. For now it is back to this thesis and the mountain of other projects that are sure to drive me crazy by the end of March. I will hopefully be updating more often with the photos I have currently been taking, the title link will take you to the shots around University Circle here in Clevelandtown that I took wasting some time before shooting an installation piece by a friend. Enjoy and cheers to the new year.

Clevelandtown

I recently moved in with a friend for the next few months while I work and finish up the Masters thesis at Kent State. I live only a mile from Lakewood park so I took advantage of a beautiful Monday and walked down to snap some photos. It's definitely sad to see the nice weather and sun beginning to run away, especially after the amazing summer I had, but I am ready to focus on writing and finishing school before heading back to Italy next summer to work!

more bondo = more productivity

Bondo moved in last weekend so the house of ABAB is off and running! We have been busy doing some retouching and getting the ABAB name out there. Signed up for a Behance profile, go check it out it's a pretty sweet networking site if you haven't heard of it yet. Also been touching up some old architecture shots from this summer to add to the collection, some of the examples are here. Stay tuned as always, we are becoming one with productivity.

casa ABAB

Bondo is officially moving in this weekend and we will finally get this collaboration rolling! I've been messing around in Sketchup with our logo, going to use it for some promotional pieces and our business cards. Here is a scene that I dropped our logo into just as a tease! Stay tuned...

ABAB takeover starts now!

Two awesome forces have combined: the photography skills of Alex Bond mixed with the design background of Andy Bly. ABAB is up and running with only the next galaxy as our limit, check out below and the title link for some examples of a recent photo shoot. We plan on tackling any idea and will not be limited to just photography. I'm extremely excited about what is ahead and feel like this is the perfect time to flex our creative muscles. Once Bondo moves out to Kent we will be running the sweetest design studio out of a badass house, if you ever have any idea don't be afraid to send us a message!

Dog Days of 2010

Can't believe it's the middle of July already, been pretty busy lately with work, World Cup action, vacation and sweating it out in Akron Ohio. Finally posted some pictures from the beach and the 4th of July...starting to love this Canon Rebel even more and learning everyday. This upcoming weekend I have been extended an awesome invitation from an old high school friend of my Dad's to come check out his summer house which he built around an enormous BOULDER a couple of years ago. I've rented a wide angle lens for the weekend so hopefully I can get some good pics. I will post them when I get back.

New York State of Mind

I'm off to the big city very early tomorrow morning for an Art History field trip. This couldn't have come at a better time, really need a few days away from Ohio to think about everything and nothing all at once. I hate that it takes times like this to reflect on my faults but still believe with all my heart this is where I belong and I can be everything you've wanted and more. Words mean little to nothing at this point, it's about action....regardless of the outcome.

Really excited to explore all of the museums and even more excited to get some great pics with the Canon Rebel XSi. I rented a fisheye lens so keep posted in a week or so when I get back and upload pics. NYC here I come...

Ice Melt

36 hours of rain, melting snow/ice and crazy fog....wish the cold would stay away forever!

Cavs!

Panorama view from the VIP section the other night against the Grizzlies. Watching the Cavs this season has been a blast, but free food & booze makes it even better!

Akron [at night]

I took a trip downtown after work the other night to snap some night-time shots of some of the great Akron architecture, especially the art museum and the addition by Coop Himmelb(l)au that glows! As always follow the title link to my flickr stream where I uploaded the rest of the photos. Loving my Canon Rebel!