Bee Thyme

Busy as a bee,
Put a bee in your bonnet,
Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee,
The birds and the bees,
Make a beeline for it,
Like a bee to a honeypot,
You're the bee's knees...

Humankind's survival may well depend on the continued existence of these remarkable communal creatures. Some scientists have suggested that if all the bees disappeared tomorrow the rest of us would not be far behind. Unfortunately bee populations have been diminishing for decades, with colony collapse disorder a major concern not just for honey manufacturers, but environmentalists around the world.
So finding my new backyard literally humming with the buzz of so many of these busy pollinators gives me at least some hope for the future. Here are just a few shots from yesterday. I may have to make an ongoing project on these little guys.
Oh, and yes, these bees are indeed collecting pollen on flowering thyme.

(please click on images for an enlarged gallery view)

All Photos ©David Sorcher 2017

Punch Out!

I never seem to have much opportunity to shoot organized sports. It is not necessarily my greatest photographic passion as it is for some, but i do find it both exciting and challenging. It's also generally a regular part of any good journalistic portfolio.
While there are still a number of sports on my to-do list, i have always had an interest in shooting boxing and finally got that opportunity last week. Albeit, this was no big name professional bout or even some prestigious AIBA event. Punch Out: Round Two was the second annual bragging rights competition between local breweries here in Cincinnati. While refereed in a regulation ring under the bright lights, it was not exactly a serious match up between fighters with career training and intent. It was more akin to a big drinking party where a fight breaks out, only it's a good thing and everyone cheers in the end.
This is not to say that these competitors did not apply themselves in ernest. Though perhaps not Golden Gloves material, these boys and girls pulled no punches in the ring and approached these matches as sincere endeavors even if a high level of boxing skill was not always apparent. There were some solid jabs, knock downs and a few staggering blows that proved that while it would all indeed end with a fist bump, a hug and a cold, local draft beer, it was nothing but serious business between the sound of the bells.
I'd love to find more opportunity to shoot a good inside story on boxing, perhaps from an amateur youth perspective. Certainly it has been done many times before, but it's just one of those subjects i have always found alluring for some reason. Of course, the beer was probably better on this occasion.

(please click on images for an enlarged gallery view)

Referee Stephen Hooks

Future Champion

Standing Eight Count

All Photos ©David Sorcher 2017

The Last Parade

Well, yes, that is a somewhat ominous and depressing title for a generally joyous gallery of photographs, but as i progress towards my eventual emigration to Canada i continue to assess the many wonderful things i will be leaving behind when i go. If all goes according to plan this will, unfortunately, be my last Fourth of July as a Northsider.  

I  know i will be starting out on a new life in Nova Scotia that will undoubtably yield fresh and equally wondrous adventures ahead so i have no regrets or second guesses on my intended path. Life is a trade off and in this game i feel confident that my exchanges are at least on equal footing. Still, i believe it is important to make a full accounting of what i have had here in Cincinnati and say to this city at large, and especially to Northside...Thank You! 

Frankly, there is no place i'd rather be on the Fourth that the Northside Fourth of July Parade. This  irreverent and somewhat kinky "patriotic" procession cuts right to the heart, soul and spirit of my Northside neighborhood. Young, hip, progressive and eclectic, we are a community that knows how to party. I will dearly miss my Northside neighbors. 

Of course, after 20 years in Cincinnati i will certainly be returning to visit with friends after the move and i can't think of a better time to come back than during this holiday. So maybe, just maybe, this isn't "the last parade" after all. 

   

(please click on photos for an enlarged gallery view)

All Photos ©David Sorcher 2017