Taken by Ryan
Out and About… Cleveland, OH
Photos by Ryan
This weekend I couchsurfed for the first time (www.couchsurfing.org). I’ve always felt that you can best experience a city or country by staying with someone who actually lives there, and this site makes it very easy. After sending a few email requests, I found myself watching Roller Derby and partying with my new friend Svetlana and her roommates in Cleveland. Sveta has hosted several couchsurfers and couchsurfed herself for 2 weeks in Scotland.
1st photo: Evelyn by day, Rogue Cheddar skating for the Hard Knockers by night.
2nd photo: Bettie Shocker and Margarita Mayhem skating for the Rolling Pin-Ups.
3rd and 4th photos: Devoted fans.
More info on Cleveland Roller Derby at www.burningriverrollergirls.com
Out and About… Canandaigua Lake, NY
Photo by Ryan
One of the challenges with using an extremely wide-angle lens, like the semi-fisheye I used here, is that the lens must be extremely close to the subject for it to fill a significant portion of the frame. This can be rather awkward when the subject is a person to whom you haven’t been introduced yet. My face was less than a foot from the tattooed and sunburnt back pictured above, but I don’t think he noticed me since I’m about a foot shorter than him.
Out and About… Boca Raton, FL
Photos and notes by Ryan
What can I say about Samantha? Not much, since we just met. She has a sweet apartment in Boca Raton which offers “roof access” if you’re not afraid of heights or climbing out windows. I know her boyfriend quite well, so I suppose I could say something about him in an effort to expand this paragraph. He surfs, snowboards, is decent on the drums and with nunchaku (numchucks, for you numbskulls), and is dating a girl named Samantha.
Jess – Canandaigua, NY
Photos and notes by Ryan
My friend Jess is just full of surprises, such as the musical score on her shoulder and the dead flower on her back. When we first met, which was at a local bar, I wanted to say… “your hair looks really good messy”. I really would have meant it in the best way possible, as I was immediately drawn to her carefully disheveled locks. However, I’ve learned that such things do not make good introductions and are best kept to yourself until you’ve become friends with someone. For instance, a girl once mentioned to me that she liked Monty Python, so I said… “your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries”. She wasn’t amused, so apparently she didn’t like Monty Python as much as she thought she did.
Out and about… Halloween in Flint, NY
Photo and notes by Ryan
It’s actually possible to hold your breath for the entire time it takes to drive through Flint, NY. If you take a deep breath at the “Now Entering Flint” sign, you will, without a doubt, make it to the “Now Leaving Flint” sign. Don’t worry about getting stuck at a traffic light… there aren’t any. Therefore, you really can’t blame those who live in a town such as Flint for taking Halloween this seriously, can you?
Out and about… Halloween
Photo and notes by Ryan
I spotted this disturbing ensemble at a Halloween party where guests were given the choice between popcorn or gummi worms that had been soaked overnight in vodka. I actually opted for the gummi worms because somehow I had made it through 32 years on this planet without ever once hearing about, much less being offered, gummi worms that had been soaked overnight in vodka. After sampling the all-in-one apertif and appetizer, I decided I would much rather just do a shot of vodka and then munch on an untainted gummi worm sometime later at a time of my own choosing.
Out and About… Canandaigua, NY
Photo and notes by Ryan
I’ve known Jimmy for about 12 years and never knew that he had this peculiar birthmark on his shoulder. He tells me that it holds a secret code only revealed when viewed in a mirror. Am I a sucker?
Ashley – Mt. Hope Cemetery, Rochester NY
Photos and notes by Ryan
Mount Hope Cemetery in Rochester covers almost 200 acres and is the permanent residence to almost 370,000 dead people.
Out and about… Keuka Lake, NY
Photo and notes by Ryan
Not technically a tattoo, but a good example of how henna can be cute when applied correctly (and on the right tummy).
Out and About… Phuket, Thailand
Photo by Karl, notes by Ryan
My dad took this photo because I was too busy mounting an elephant at the time. We had stopped at a remote roadside bar in Phuket and discovered an elephant trailhead in the backyard.
Out and About… Keuka Lake, NY
Photos and notes by Ryan
My friend Preston invited me out to help him demo a brand new 2008 Air Nautique Super Sport on Keuka Lake, which turned out to be the nicest boat I’d ever been on. For the first time in my life, I actually felt comfortable wakeboarding. All I had to do was ensure that I got up and the boat took care of the rest.
I commented that Preston looked a little red and he replied… “no, this is just how I tan”.
Out and about… Providenciales Island, Turks & Caicos
Photo and notes by Ryan
This barely visible tattoo only came to my attention when Nicci (pronounced like Nikki, just like Carl is pronounced like Karl) happened to look to her left to see what was on the dessert cart. I only had a moment to snap this photo as Nicci already knew she wanted key lime pie.
Out and about… Kershaw Park, NY
Photo and notes by Ryan
Jordan, whose last name is Gambill, as you could probably guess, was cooling off at Kershaw Park in Canandaigua. The water here at the north end of Canandaigua Lake is only about 5 feet deep for several hundred feet offshore, so Jordan was actually standing next to the boat while I took this photo.
Out and About… Muar Lake, NY
Photo and notes by Ryan
I took this photo while sitting in the bow of an Air Nautique during a wakeboard competition on Muar Lake. These 3 colorful characters were selected as judges because they knew just a little more about wakeboarding than the other people in the audience, and they already had clipboards. I was selected as the photographer because I was the only one that raised his hand, and I already had a camera.
Out and About… Phuket, Thailand
Photo and notes by Ryan
An elephant and a Mahout (elephant trainer) are usually paired for life. This baby elephant was learning how to take tips from tourists and stuff them into his Mahout’s pocket. I was so enthralled by what I was seeing that I didn’t even notice the Mahout’s tattoos until viewing the photos later.
Out and About… Keuka Lake, NY
Photos and notes by Ryan
My cousin Bobby is the best wakeboarder in the Finger Lakes. He has won every competition except for his very first one (he was 12 and he placed 2nd). When he rides, usually in the evening when the water is glass, people come out to their docks to watch, gasp, and applaud.
Out and about… Canandaigua Lake, NY
Photos and notes by Ryan
My friend Brett came to visit us on the lake for a weekend. I used to get emails from him while he was backpacking through Europe and Asia after college. I’d get an update every few months or so with a picture of him in an unidentifiable location with a vastly different stage of hair and beard growth from the previous email, and a quick note saying that he had decided to keep traveling for “another month or so”. I received various renditions of the “another month or so” email for about 2 years. The most recent email I received from him was to tell me that he and Lara are getting married in Panama next year and I’d better get my ticket soon. I can’t wait.