I toured the new and snazzy Akron Metro Transit Center, the central nervous system of all those buses you see slugging down Market Street and the rest of Akron.

It is a very high tech, kind of Epcot Center looking building. Silver walls with red highlights decorate its innards. There is nothing in common between this building and, say, the train station in Chicago made famous in my childhood by the film The Untouchables. However, it was interesting to see people with suitcases waiting for their bus to Chicago (around $70, by the way).

A rare Akron blue sky with bubbly clouds made for some good pictures from the top of the Transit Center. The Akron skyline decorates the distance. However, my favorite shot is the greener one (pictured).

Atop the building sit hundreds of solar panels that could power 130 Akron homes.

If you are interested in monitoring the solar energy generated by the Transit Center, you can check the website.

This is Akron/Kent's indie rock super-group 'drummer'. Every member of the band has been a drummer in a different band - most famously Pat Carney of The Black Keys.

I went over to Pat's studio to snap some promo shots for them on Tuesday at one in the afternoon. While we were waiting for one of the members to turn up I got to hear the mixes of their forthcoming record 'Feel Good Together' (which sounded amazing!) We started to shoot around 1:45 and I took about 90 photos over the course of an hour. When we finished up I was informed that they were trying to e-mail the shots to their publicist by around 4:30. I ran home and picked my ten favorites and did the best quick edit job I could. I returned to the studio with disk in hand - the band was going over their final track order for the album. When they finished they went through the photos - I've posted the four favorites here - the big one seeming to be the consensus pick as the best. The serious looks on their faces combined with the ridiculousness of holding each other's hands really seemed to do it for them. I agreed that it fit the band's personality - which is your favorite?

Although the shoot was a bit rushed it was still fun and I was happy with the results(more importantly the band was too).

Drummer plays Square Record's 6th Anniversary Show at Musica on August 7th and the album is planned for a September release on Pat's Audio Eagle Records.

I'm enjoying my summer lunches with the Downtown Akron "Get Out of the Office" series. Throughout the summer, between noon and one, Downtown Akron hosts mini-field trips to various Akron locations. Although, being a teacher who doesn't work downtown, I feel a bit of a mooch.

Today's expedition took us to The Peanut Shoppe.

There exist very few sincere stores like The Peanut Shoppe, let alone peanut shops, in America. The store roasts and sells an assortment of nuts. In this era of super-stores, its narrow niche might sound ridiculous, but the store is a wonder. Display windows of another time run the length of The Peanut Shoppe. Historic pictures and grade school thank you letters decorate the walls. A 1930s Mr. Peanut costume sits high above the customers just waiting to be used for promotional flair. The roaster warms the interior and leaves a comforting nutty aroma. An array of Akron memorabilia fills in the rest of the gaps, creating a sensory overload for the Akron nut.

Marge Klein, the proprietor, is a happy lady, welcoming visitors and handing out items on the house. She and the rest of the ladies still use all the vintage peanut shop necessities: scales to weigh the nuts, the original roaster, and all the other appliances a peanut store needed in the 1930s.

It truly speaks Akron and shows that a little store with a lot of heart and sincerity can play with the big boys. Unfortunately, only eleven peanut shops survive nationwide. So, next time you're on Main Street, make a stop in The Peanut Shoppe and get a couple bags of nuts for $5.00. There's even peanut butter and frozen yogurt for the kiddies.

I am proud to announce that Greg Milo will be joining The Chief Source staff as a contributor very soon. Greg is a fellow Akron resident and has written several guest posts for us over the past few months. He's a guy uniquely in tune with what is happening here in Akron who will bring a fresh perspective through the his lens and written observations. Look for his first post very soon.

As part of his official orientation, I went over to Greg's house last night to shoot a couple of introductory pictures and have him sign paperwork for his health insurance, 401K, ect. Greg is a dog lover and Kimse was quite cooperative as I got things set up and Greg settled down in his fire pit for a few pictures. There was still enough late day light to snap a few shots wide open. I liked this one with his hair up Kramer style. From a composition standpoint, do you find the plant distracting or does it add to the picture? I put it in there intentionally when I was snapping, but after editing the picture I considered taking it out with the patch tool. In the end, I thought it was a good distraction. Let me know your thoughts.

We'll be making official updates to the site over the weekend. Have a fantastic holiday.

I wanted to take a moment to formally wish staff friend Gregory McCoy a belated Happy Birthday. Chad and K hosted the birthday party at their home. I find when I'm with good friends that simple plans seem to make for the best evenings. We threw some cornhole bags, ate a ton of food off a newly assembled grill, and relaxed around the fire until late. The reindeer was a weathered lawn ornament that had seen better days and became the center of conversation once it was placed over the flame. Renowned party conversationalist Reid started taking action on which way the deer would fall once the flame burned through the torso. I didn't pack my real camera and just snapped a few pics with my iPhone. Cheers McCoy.

On Saturday Kyle, a group of friend and I went to Munroe Falls Metro Park. We cooked some burgers, hot dogs and sausage, went for a couple swims, threw the football around and mixed up a few "special" drinks. We talked about how it felt like a mini-vacation and what a good use of a beautiful weekend day it was. In my opinion you have to do a few things like this over the summer to earn the right to complain when its 5 degrees out with ten inches of snow on the ground.
Its easy to forget that we have places like this around to go and enjoy.

Since we get asked a lot here if we "enhance" or "photoshop" our photos I figured I explain a few things I did to this one of Kyle.

First I cropped it in a little bit(to 5 by 7). I turned up the saturation and vibrance to make the greens and blues pop more and then balanced the color to make it look more natural. Since I used the flash I had to darken the grill to make it more black instead of the more blown out grey that it looked at first. I turned up the overall contrast a bit and then added some sharpening. Last I converted it from a tiff to a jpeg and uploaded it to flickr.

This week I met my friend Adam Van Ho and a few volunteers to take some photos for his campaign for Stow Municipal Judge. We met up near the clock tower in the falls to get a couple of shots in the popular square where so many people go for community festivals or to let their kids play in the fountains. We started at about 6:15pm and the late day sun provided some nice light for the back ground. I had my Canon Flash mounted on a stand with a shoot through umbrella. I tried to use it to balance the light so it was well lit, but looked natural. I also tried to get Adam and the volunteers into natural looking poses and comfortable enough so they weren't paying attention to me or the big white umbrella my friend Annie was holding for me.

Mencken had told me to think about the background and then think about the subjects in the space. This photo by the Cuyahoga Falls sign was my best example of placing the subject into a scene. The late day sun lit the side of Adam's face and the flash lit the other side and his body. I liked the results and his pose. I thought it looked natural.

I could have done a better job thinking about the background with the photos I took in the square. I liked the expressions of the subjects, but the background was kind of distracting in a few of the shots. I needed to use a shallower depth of field or pose the subjects near a less distracting back drop. I'll be more mindful of that next time. I also relied too heavily on the flash and didn't think about taking a few pictures without it. Still, it was good practice and I think I got some shots that will work well for his website.

The eggs over at Akron's Country Diner are extra scrambled today as those who tried to remove our mayor ended up rallying the city around him. Warner Mendenhall and his small band of followers have no escape from the embarrassing election results from yesterday's recall election. The recall was soundly defeated 74% - 26%. In another decision that shows a complete lack of political instincts, Mendenhall used the occasion of his city wide shellacking to announce that his wife Kelly will be running for Akron City Council as an at-large candidate this fall. Yawn. I'm tired of these people who waste the valuable time of those of us who want to make Akron better. Do something to help instead of running another complain campaign.

Congratulations go out to Mayor Plusquellic and his campaign staff. The people of Akron have spoken and this was a big win last night. Our staff at The Chief Source believes in the direction the mayor is taking our city and we are hopeful for our future under his continued leadership.

We landed in Vienna, and after a quick examination of St. Stephen's Cathedral, we hopped on a boat and floated down the Danube, headed for Bratislava.

Bratislava greets boat travelers with a communist era welcome center and big Hollywoodish letters "B-R-A-T-I-S-L-A-V-A". Blocky communist sculptures further welcomed us as we made our way for the town center. Simply put, Slovakia's capital is beautifully ugly-eye sore communist era poverty mixed with quaint architectural scenes of history in the old town center.

We met friends at the train station and sped down the tracks to Budapest. Our goal was to stay in an apartment with our two friends, but when the ATM refused our debit card, it threw a little snag into the plan. Some computer work, phone calls and plenty of frustration eventually resolved the scare. We spent our first night refusing to buy a violinist and his band a round of Schnapps shots.

Really two cities in one (Buda and Pest), Budapest is huge. It stretches across the Danube River. Sporting an enormous castle too large to see all in one attempt, the Buda side is hilly and treacherous for those idiots (like us) dumb enough to make the climb up the hills by foot. The Pest side boasts many scenic glories, including all of the 19th century architecture-the heyday of the Magyar elite of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

All in all, the experience was great. We relaxed in the famous thermal baths of the city. We sat through a four hour Opera (all in Italian with Hungarian subtitles). We purchased art from a self-declared "real artist," who seemed quite pleased with his photo taken with Tony Curtis. We watched a park drunk wrench his hands together feverishly to illustrate his image of us making whoopee. We ate tremendous food at simplistic outdoor cafes. We even made an adventure out of finding the airport the day of our departure (one tram, one metro, and three buses eventually did the trick).

So, as a spokesperson of the value and beauty in post-communist countries, try Budapest on for size. Your lunch will only be 4,000 forints.

Kyle and I went to a friend of his Dad's on Saturday to shoot some photos and practice our lighting skills. We brought two flashes, two light stands and two shoot-through umbrellas. We took turns passing the camera back and forth and adjusting our flash placement. We used the self-timer for the shots with both of us.

We had some fun, got a little experience and came away with some cool shots.
Side Note: If you're an Akron resident don't to forget to vote in tomorrow's recall election. Here at The Chief Source we come down on the Mayor's side - so vote against it!!!

Habitat for Humanity to Announce Purchase of 67,000 square foot building on Romig Road

"The Romig Road facility [at 2301 Romig Road, Akron, former Handy Andy store] will become the new home for Habitat operations, pre-fab warehouse and the ReStore, which is currently in Springfield Township. The space will allow Habitat to build more homes on an annual basis. The organization has recently launched a $2.2 million capital campaign."

It is great to finally hear some good news for Rolling Acres area. The blight of that part of Roming Road has a domino effect into the surrounding parts of the city. Hopefully this is a start towards revitalizing this cooridor.

My friend Gabe and I were hanging out shooting some photos....we both felt fairly devoid of ideas - Gabe then suggested heading over to the old Fairlawn Lanes building. We walked there with my umbrella and flash and snapped a few different things. I really liked this one - the dilapidated bowling alley made for a good background.

I remember a few years back I heard one of the owners of Annabell's bought this place. For a couple of months I saw some activity - some new drywall going in and a fresh coat of paint on the outside - but ever since then its been left to rot again....