[35mm Ohio] The North in November

Apr 11

With a Nikon N80 and Portra 400.

- Fresh Food Deli - Medina, OH.

So far in this series, I'd been making my drives on weekends. This time, it was a Thursday morning. I'm not sure what felt more unfamiliar: seeing I-71 in hazy weekday light, or, where I was finding myself in life—free on a weekday to roam. I had a colleague recommended podcast on, but halfway through, I gave up on what seemed to be insincerity expressed via TED Talk. If it had been a cassette, I would’ve tossed it out the window into the ether of the 90s.

I stopped at the Fresh Food Deli in Medina because it seemed like an interesting place to photograph. I didn't eat there, but wrote “next time” in my notebook (although, I haven't been back on the Ohio road since and didn't get this roll developed until recently).

- Shaker Square, Cleveland Rapid.

- Shaker Square Station and Michael's Diner.

- Michael's Diner.

- E. 55th Station.

- E. 55th Station/RTA rail yard.

Cleveland was a welcoming destination. Even when drenched with cold and blanketed in patches of gray snow, it's still a place I enjoy. When familiar anxieties returned at a diner situated near the tracks, the comforting ebb and flow of the rapid cars grounded me. I caught a train back to Downtown and drove some more in search of no particular sights before finishing off the day and the day’s coffee in Lakewood as the sun went down (cold, unseen, obstructed by clouds at ~5 PM).

- Tower City Center.

- Key Tower.

- Carter Rd, Cleveland.

- Lakewood.

The next day’s road home was mired by the same monotonous, gray skies that don’t lend the landscape to the kinds of bright colors Kodak Portra is known for capturing. After a rest stop in Jeffersonville, the sun made a cliche appearance following a torrent of rain, just before setting. I glimpsed all three major city skylines that day.