I've been back in Athens for two weeks. I come home every other weekend to work. I was supposed to stay in Athens this weekend but I needed a "general news event" to photograph for a school assignment. I thought "what better than Oktoberfest Zinzinnati?" I had never been before, I don't particularly like Athens, I like Cincinnati, I like photographs, so 3 hours back to home it was. Got in on Friday, met family for dinner and was gonna call it a night before spending the whole next day at Oktoberfest when Seicer called. We decided to meet up around 11:00 at night downtown and do some shooting:

 

-We really wanted to check out the Roebling Bridge at night.

 

The Roebling Bridge proved to be a tough subject at night. Once we got to the Cincinnati side we went down to a boat landing along some path bordering the river and found a great view of the bridge at night. However, the squatters, tents, and barrel fires made us a bit uneasy so we decided it might not be the best place to hang out. We wanted to check out more bridges so as we made our ways around the city we got a new idea: Lets go Urban Exploring. Except, instead of the typical exploring of abandoned places, lets explore an urban environment. Lets explore the highways:

 

- Interstate 75 heading North to Dayton.

 

-To the left Interstate 75 and on the right the entrance to 75 from 4th street.

 

-Red = 75 North, White = 75 South

 

-75 North.

 

-75 North and South, Union Terminal in the background.

 

-Bridges into Cincinnati.

 

After exploring a bit of the highways we headed on down to Fountain Square to check out Oktoberfest set up.

 

 

They had a live feed going at 1 in the morning, can you spot Seicer and I?

 

The next day I went back to the Roebling to get some photos to compare with my few night shots:

 

 

 

 

 

-This is the view we tried to get the night before but it's not the best place to hang out at during the night.

 

-Robeling and BB Riverboat.

 

- Yeah. . .

 

I got down to Oktoberfest right about 10 A.M.

 

-Despite all the awesome food being cooked I ended up having lunch at Skyline.

 

 

-Best ribs ever from Walt at the Shiska Haus!

 

Ever heard of The Naked Cowboy?

 

-Naked Cowboy's ass and a laughing kid.

 

-More Naked Cowboy.

 

-Kids playing at Fountain Square.

 

-Rides by the P and G towers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

-Never seen so many white people at Government Square.

 

Seicer called and wanted to meet up so I took a break from the festival to roam the city. I had planned to leave a bunch of times throughout the day but kept finding something else to photograph (Oktoberfest is pretty boring when you are 19 and can't purchase alcohol).

 

-Mt. Adams.

 

-Big Mac Bridge.

 

-Mt. Adams. Fun Fact: My uncle used to have an apartment atop that building and somewhere I have a video of when we watched Cinergy Field implode from up there.

 

Seicer and I headed back around the city:

 

We decided to check out the Riverfront Transit Center:

 

I gotta be honest, I was surprised there were buses down here. Walking down the stairs we joked about needing flashlights, once we got down there we decided to walk around and we were stopped by a voice over a loud speaker "Excuse me, if you did not exit a bus you need to exit immediately, the transit center is NOT FOR PUBLIC USE." Puzzled, we looked for someone to ask about who got to use it then but couldn't find an employee. As we made our way up the stairs we heard the voice again "Thank You." So if the taxpayers funded this thing, which seems to never be used, then why doesn't the public get to use it? Can we just leave the buses to Government square and put some light rail down here?

 

-It looks nice, but seems useless.

 

At nightfall we went back to the festival for some night shots:

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading and checking out the photographs, www.queencitydisco.com has been updated in case anyone is interested.

OT: I went down for Reds game and was yelled at by a woman to get out of the RTC.  She was of a different race and made it really personal.  Sparing everyone the details...she really berated me in front of my family.

 

You photography is breathtaking.  You have an excellent eye for the patterns that the urban landscape produces.  Your good with your equipment too: motion shots and wide angles.

.. thank you for this pictures ..

but where is this ?

 

#  034 ...

Quote:(Oktoberfest is pretty boring when you are 19 and can't purchase alcohol).

 

I'm 20, I feel your pain brother.  Your pictures are lookin good though, very mature as a potographer.  haha

^^Cincinnatus, that is the Riverfront Transit Center. Publically funded, but apparently the public can't use it, or even walk down into it! The doors are open.

 

--

 

And I missed the Naked Cowboys  :| :cry:

-To the left Interstate 75 and on the right the entrance to 75 from 4th street.

 

This is hilarious...I drove past you on my way back from Atlanta that night.  My girlfriend and I noticed some weirdo taking photographs from the center area of the highway and I joked..."probably some UO guy getting time exposure photos of the traffic going by...I bet I'll see pictures up on UO in the next couple of days."

 

I guess I was right.  :laugh:

:lol:

 

We are freaks!

LOL, I think I saw you setting up that tripod near Fountain Square for this shot, I was walking back from the Helmut's pretzel stand with a cup full of Franziskaner Weissbier.  The photos turned out great.

 

 

 

 

Stunning photographs.  Really great work

I really enjoyed those!

fun shots of the fest and i am especially glad to see more night shots on uo. i am sympathetic, those take a lot more finesse than i would have thought.

 

also yeah, you can bet that transit center will be put to better use someday.

Awesome shots.

Tasty!  Thanks for these

 

Go Bobcats

Beautiful, creative work! I usually don't think of highways as being photo material, but you made it work.

 

UO should hold a civil disobedience event in the RTC -- picture a couple dozen forumers chained to a column and chanting, "TRANSIT FOR THE PEOPLE - NOW!" while cops stand around trying to figure out what to do and TV new crews gather.

 

OK. So maybe it's four guys and two cops with bolt cutters and a van, and two column inches buried in the paper a couple days later.

 

BTW - The Naked Cowboy has pretty awesome legs.

Beautiful, creative work! I usually don't think of highways as being photo material, but you made it work.

 

Someone I know :wink: as a teenager used to take shots along the interstate at night. Although they never turned out like the above.

 

Great shots!