Daily Photos

< June 2025 >

June 1, 2025
If you`re ever in a jam, here I am. If you`re ever in a mess, S. O. S. If you`re ever so happy, you land in jail, I`m your bail. It`s friendship, friendship, just the perfect blendship. When other friendships have been forgot, ours will still be hot. COLE PORTER

June 2, 2025
This guy`s wingspan is over six feet: wider than I am tall. The honking geese let the heron know it was unwelcome. Meanwhile, here`s a mellow mallard. I`m going to assume that everything`s all right up there. I`m walking to work now, so I see things along the way.

June 3, 2025
`Excuse me whoops can I get by sorry passing through.` The Convention Center looks better inside and outside. Outside the Convention Center there`s . . . this. Baseball is all about teamwork. Only in America: this family event featured tours of the SWAT and Bomb Squad vehicles. Children posed for photos wearing bulletproof vests.

June 4, 2025
Flying squirrel. Splooting squirrel. Color your world. On this pinky-sized flower, there`s an incredibly tiny bug. I support live local theatre by buying tickets and then not going to the show.

June 5, 2025
It`s time for outdoor concerts. Another name change for this hotel (see May 27, 2021). Better luck this time! The guy with the razor blade finished the job (see June 3 above). A bicycle, not a Harley-Davidson. Somebody put the chalk to use (see June 4 above).

June 6, 2025
Welcome, but stay out. Other people`s photo shoots. How not to get rich: sing songs on the street. Ernie on the Shoot is a talented, creative photographer. This is in the portfolio of some graphic designer.

June 7, 2025
When I take pictures of someone, I often have to ask them to smile. With this young woman, smiles came naturally. And her smile came straight from a kind heart. I sometimes asked her to give me a serious expression, and this usually resulted in giggles. You can`t see that her toenails matched the blue dress.

June 8, 2025
She said: `Wow, that looks amazing!` She said: `My grandma`s really going to love that one.` She said: `I`m glad we were able to get together today.` She said: `That looks like a Taylor Swift album cover.` She said: `These are probably the best pictures anyone has ever taken of me.`

June 9, 2025
I can`t relate, although he probably spends as much time and money on fishing as I do on photography. I heard his mother yelling at him from 50 yards away. Pride parade leftovers. Your memento mori of the day. When I`m walking by and someone says, `Hey, are you a photographer?` that usually results in a photo.

June 10, 2025
A lady beside me yelled, `GET OUT THA STREET!` Water wraith. I took a picture of it from behind (NOTYAD) but this one was better. I`ve yet to master the mirror selfie. Downtown Dayton is still undergoing repair.

June 11, 2025
Roofing project: WATCH OUT! Killdeers have camouflage that helps them hide, but then they draw attention to themselves with their loud cry. And how do YOU spend your lunch break? I`m glad to occupy the same planet with this little bug. Very low on my priority list: building trust with geese.

June 12, 2025
When I take my first picture of the day at this time, that means I`m not in control of my life. The socks an organist wears. I`ve taken his photo many times (see May 6, 2025) and I usually walk away humming a familiar song. Back view of the Schuster Center. More pointless destruction at the same bus stop (see August 7, 2024).

June 13, 2025
Okay fine, pretend that I can`t see you. To this bug, I am a giant beyond comprehension. What giants do we fail to comprehend? If you`re a veterinarian, go to Smith Garden and help this rabbit. Shoot, adjust, shoot again, and you see the best picture. Then somebody started mowing and it was time to go.

June 14, 2025
Dayton Dance Initiative is back at it (see June 17, 2024, and June 29, 2023). I had the opportunity to observe a rehearsal today as DDI prepares for a show on June 20 and 21. There`s a lot of talent represented: choreographers, dancers, musicians, costume designers and more. DDI is a seasonal company, which means it exists only for about a month during the summer. DDI members are from professional companies and universities near and far.

June 15, 2025
I appreciate my neighbors who like to garden. The sparrow waits until the mourning dove has had its fill. And just like that, we lose a lane of a major street. The trash you find in the gutter of an artsy neighborhood. Me and my Harley.

June 16, 2025
This morning before going to work, I recorded narration for a brief video. This is my carefully-prepared script. Then I uploaded the finished video to YouTube. For 45 minutes, it had just three minutes of processing to go. Somebody told me that I need more protein in my diet. You`re a gig worker. Fine, maybe you don`t have a choice. But parking in the middle of an intersection to make a delivery was a choice. I don`t care about protein. I just like mushrooms.

June 17, 2025
I don`t know where they`re going with armloads of pizza, but I want to be there. I got rained on, and it wasn`t even raining. Somebody decided this tree was no longer necessary. It was this week in 1891 that Paul Laurence Dunbar graduated from high school in this theatre. Somebody has been in my office. I`d never put my books in that order. Maybe order isn`t the right word.

June 18, 2025
This was a difficult shoot. It was very dark, so I relied on my big beastly lens (see March 13, 2025). Sometimes the word `favorite` isn`t strong enough. One of the choreographers said I captured all of her favorite moments, which is the ultimate compliment. This is the second rehearsal of Dayton Dance Initiative I`ve photographed this week (see June 14 above). Tomorrow night, I`ll sit in the audience and watch the DDI performance as a spectator (without a camera).

June 19, 2025
Mmmm, this bus smells good! I was walking through the Levitt Pavilion, saw a Marley floor and got excited. I sat down and waited. Members of Dayton Contemporary Dance Company performed as part of a Juneteenth celebration. Last night I was the only person photographing the dancers. Not so tonight. Then I went home and had my (meatless) dinner.

June 20, 2025
This heron is being harassed by a red-winged blackbird (see June 2 above). Have you met my friend Skipper? This cardinal was singing happily, then it stopped. I saw it gobble up a green caterpillar, then it resumed singing. Swallows will drink from a pond as they fly, and that may be what I captured here. Uncomfortably close to a skipper.

June 21, 2025
It`s a good day for a birthday: longest day of the year. I took pictures of the concert, but here`s the t-shirt toss. A nice one-handed catch, and he didn`t spill his drink. She bobbled it a couple times, but brought it in safely. Fortunately, no one was injured.

June 22, 2025
Same spot (and the same chipmunk?) as June 13 above. There was also a rabbit in the same spot (see June 13). In the Oregon District, I see squirrels or possum in the yard, but Oakwood is a higher class neighborhood. I took pictures early because it`s gonna be a hot day. Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

June 23, 2025
Not long before I took this, I was asleep in bed. I`m usually not out and about this early in the morning. How long before a robot takes my job? Wilbur and Orville weren`t trying to change the world. They were trying to make money. Did you misplace your goose?

June 24, 2025
A beautiful setting, and Miles Davis on the speakers. While waiting for someone in the Wintergarden, I bought an overpriced drink. This is a dull photo, but I`ve now taken pictures for 7,700 consecutive days, so sue me. Food photos are desperate photos. Somebody was kind and generous to me.

June 25, 2025
The sparrow waits until the squirrel has had its fill (see June 15 above). This photo is a notecard waiting to happen (see April 26, 2006; May 4, 2006; December 28, 2013; June 5, 2022). What? There`s copper up there? This could be a problem. I`m walking home after work. The weather was clear by the time I walked home.

June 26, 2025
The squirrels really drive me nuts this time of year. Have you ever been in a relationship like this? I`m happy I got this with my `cheap` camera and lens. The beasts and bugs were cooperative today, since I need new photos for a workshop I`m teaching in July. Behind this massive vehicle, the wall says COMPACT CAR ONLY. I could barely drive past it this morning.

June 27, 2025
The big ol` red thing has been replaced by a patio (see August 21, 2012; April 1, 2014; and March 6, 2018). Today was a community open house at the Dayton Convention Center after a $45 million dollar renovation. The event was attended by all kinds of celebrities. I was very impressed by the renovated facility, and happy they handed out free macaroni and cheese. It was in this auditorium that another photographer THUMPED me on the shoulder because I took pictures of dancers from HIS studio (see April 22, 2007).

June 28, 2025
Thus began the most lopsided sporting event I`ve ever seen. Dayton won 280 - 43. I was back at the Dayton Convention Center, but there was no free mac-n-cheese today (see June 27 above). The lighting is better at the renovated Convention Center (see June 22, 2019). They knock each other down, but it`s all in good fun. I took pictures from the spotlight platform, just like I used to do for volleyball (see February 19, 2017).

June 29, 2025
My third visit to Smith Garden where I saw a chipmunk in this same spot (see June 13 and 22 above). And the third rabbit in the same spot (see June 13 and 22 above). Are they paid actors? I`ll ask my ophthalmologist if I can get eyes like that. Your favorite perfectionist took eight photos of this flower and it wasn`t even moving. I`ve never been stung while taking pictures of bees. They do their thing, I do mine.

June 30, 2025
It felt like Photo 101 all over again this morning as I played around with shutter speed. It felt like Photo 101 all over again this morning as I played around with aperture setting. It felt like Photo 101 all over again this morning as I played around with motion blur. I took this through the window of an out-of-business business, then somebody came out and offered to sell them to me. I politely declined. Oh there were so many inferior bee photos I shot that you don`t have to look at. You`re welcome.

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