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On The Road

by Kaylah Stroup August 23, 2014

I finally finished going through and editing the last of the photos from June’s roadtrip out west. It’s so strange to me that this trip was so long ago, and on the same hand, it’s also crazy that it even happened. It was seriously probably the best week of my life.

This is just a collection of landscapes, and a few other random photos from the trip that didn’t really fit into the other posts. Since we went through six different states, we got to see a little bit of everything geography-wise. Even in a single state it was incredible how rapidly the land changed from dry, barren desert to lush mountains.

So those wild horses are amazing, right?! We had seen wild horses a day or so prior but since we were rushing to get to Wigwam Motel to check in we didn’t have time to stop. I wasn’t too bummed about it because just seeing wild horses totally made my day. While we were on our way up to Mesa Verde we spotted another group of them! I wanted to take pictures but was feeling frustrated after a crappy night’s sleep, and not knowing exactly how close I could get to them. As much as I like horses, I’m still just a little bit afraid of them. I felt rushed and just snapped some crappy shots. On the way back down the mountain they were still there. I took it as a sign I needed to shoot them again. I borrowed one of Jeff‘s lenses and took the photo above. I love that the one is looking right at the camera. SO AWESOME. I’m pretty darn proud of that shot.

I’m dying to hit the road again, even somewhere closer to home would be okay with me. I’m so glad to have found a partner who has the same priorities as I do. If it were possible, we’d probably travel nonstop. Fingers crossed we make it out again before winter hits.
xoxo

Six months in Cleveland – the celebration!

by Kaylah Stroup August 19, 2014

Last Thursday I celebrated six months living in Cleveland, and boy oh boy did I celebrate! Jeff, , and I set out around in 8am to do some exploring. We were on a roll so after each building we’d all be saying “just one more…” Just one more ended up being the three of us exploring eleven abandoned buildings, nearly half of which were new ones to all of us, in fourteen hours with one short lunch break. It was one of the most fun days ever.

I have so many photos from the day to share over the next few weeks, I’ll be breaking them up by location. First I’m going to start with our last stop of the day. It’s actually kind of sweet, this building is a little bit special to me for a few reasons. I had seen it from the freeway the day I bought my car. It stuck out to me because of a piece of graffiti on the side that I really liked. I wanted to photograph it so bad but couldn’t imagine getting off getting off the freeway, venturing into the city, and getting close enough to the building to shoot it. Remember I’m from the country, cities were absolutely foreign and terrifying to me a little over a year ago. I never would have thought that months later I would inside that building taking pictures, exploring with friends, and watching the sunset from the rooftop. It’s neat how things come full circle like that. Funny thing is, I still haven’t photographed the outside like I wanted to so long ago. Haha!

While we were up on the roof I practiced my night photography skills. I’m still trying to get the hang of it. I mean, I understand the basics of how to take great photos at night, but I’m still trying to master it. The first photo is my favorite. The sky and clouds were so perfect that night, it was almost like it never got completely dark outside. Had we not all been absolutely beat from running around all day I’m sure we could have stayed up there for hours.

Can’t wait to share more photos from this day!
xoxo

found on the beach

by Kaylah Stroup August 18, 2014

It’s been since April that I posted a new “found on the beach” photoset. For the most part they’ve been keeping the beach fairly clean. The last few weeks though, it’s been a wreck. Shards of broken plastic, tons of bottles, and of course, the normal tampon applicator. Ugh. While looking for a place to lay out the days findings I was only able to spot one area that had sand and was mostly clear. After I dumped out my bag and started sorting the pieces I looked up and spotted toilet paper right beside me. I don’t know if it was clean or not but I guess I found the one thing that I cannot handle finding on the beach. It grossed me out so much. I pushed it away as best I could with some driftwood, and crossed my fingers I wouldn’t find any “treasures” while putting together my photo.

I guess the one positive of the current state of the beach that I’m finding really neat things for my photosets. My favorite things to find are always little people, like army men. Basically tiny versions of anything are cool in my book. I was more than pleased to find two little plastic cars on this trip.

As you can see I’m still finding tons of lighters for my little project. It blows my mind that there are SO many of them on the beach. I know lighters are easy to lose, but geez!

Quick FAQ – things that get asked every Found on the Beach post.
Do you keep the things you pick up? No way. Once in a while I’ll keep something I really think is neat but I’m no hoarder.
What do you do with it when you’re done? I toss it in the trash where it belongs.
Was this really all from the beach in one day? For the most part, yes. Sometimes if I find something I really think is neat on a day I’m not collecting for a photo I’ll pick it up and hang on to it until the next time I want to put together one of these.

I recently made a Found on the Beach
tag. I try to keep the tags for things I post about regularly except in
cases when I really really love the series, and I think this finally
deserves a tag!
xoxo

take me to your leader

by Kaylah Stroup August 17, 2014

A while back I visited this UFO shaped building very briefly, really just long enough to snap the two pictures I have of it. Recently we took a quick little trip down to check it out again. My last visit I suspected it was abandoned but like I said, I didn’t really look around. I was a nervous new driver who didn’t want to cause any trouble at all. This trip it only took a matter of seconds before we confirmed it was abandoned. Sadly, it’s closed up tight so there was no snooping around the inside. It’s still an absolutely incredibly building, in my opinion. I seriously can’t think of a cooler building I have ever seen in person.

I searched and searched but couldn’t really come up with much more info other than it was built in 1976 and was used as office spaces for a variety of companies. It seems it’s been abandoned for a few years now. I peeked in all the windows in doors that I could only to see empty rooms and fallen ceiling tiles. It’s rare that I find myself thinking “wow, what a shame to see this place rot”*, but this is one of the few that made me feel that way. If I won the lottery, this is the place I’d be purchasing to make into my home!
xoxo

* I feel like I should clarify myself on that one – it’s not that I don’t think abandoned buildings all have an air of sadness about them for one reason or another. For the most part I’m pretty matter of fact about stuff like this, abandonment happens, buildings are left to rot. But geeez, I really hate seeing amazing architecture in a state of disrepair. I guess “amazing architecture” is a matter of opinion on this one because it is totally tacky, but I’m all about it! Novelty architecture is my jam!

celebrating six months in Cleveland

by Kaylah Stroup August 14, 2014

Today marks six months since I signed the paper work, and picked up the keys to my own apartment. Can I just say it’s been a damn fine six months. Perhaps the best six months of my life. Moving to the city was a big, scary change. A few weeks ago when I was talking to my mom about how much I loved Cleveland, she said something along the lines of “it was scary for all of us, but it really was the best thing for you.” And it was. I was unhappy for a long time before coming here. Something had to happen, I had to leap. It was a necessity. I left behind so much; a lot of possessions, and a lot of familiar things. I gave up a house that I helped buy. I moved somewhere where I didn’t really know anyone. Do you know what though? It was so worth it because I found things I had been missing: freedom, a sense of self, happiness.

Since moving to Cleveland, life has been so much different. I’ve made awesome friends that I love dearly, discovered a love for a handful of new hobbies, and grown as person. I don’t even feel like the same Kaylah I was this time last year. It’s kind of funny actually, when I got my taxes done back in April I visited the same accountant that I used the year before, during our visit she mentioned multiple times how happy I seemed, how outgoing I was, and how I seemed like a new person. I was just tickled pink that someone I had only seen on a few brief instances could see such a huge change in me.

This is almost kind of strange to post. It’s personal. Even though this is my “personal blog”, I try to stay away from most subjects that are too private. But I really do think it’s important to talk about this. It’s obviously a huge part of my life, and moving was definitely life changing for me.

Anyway, here’s to continuing to grow as a person in my new city and anywhere else my life may take me!
xoxo

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Abandoned Auditorium

by Kaylah Stroup August 13, 2014

On my birthday, Jeff and I went to one of the places we went on our first date. It’s kind of funny actually, I was SO incredibly shy he didn’t know whether or not I was having a good time. He swears I showed a total lack of emotion that day. I didn’t even pull out my camera once. I was overwhelmed, in a really good way. I was with this cute guy who took me somewhere I thought was incredibly cool. I was looking at all these spots in the building thinking “oh man, this would be a great spot for a first kiss!” At one point we even went up on the roof, and I thought “this is it, he’s gonna do it now!” Nope. Haha! Anyway, ever since then I’ve been itching to go back there and shoot it.

Two main things I’ve noticed about this building:
1. There are a lot of shoes in this place. Basically every room has at least one shoe in it. And they’re awful shoes. They remind me of being seven or eight and getting all the shoes my aunt wanted to put in the family garage sale, just ugly bridesmaid shoes. (Totally loved them when I was that young though, nothing better than dress up shoes! I mean, c’mon!)
2. Weird chairs! Are they melting? Jeff says they’ve slowly been doing this for a long time. What exactly is happening here?!
xoxo

ruins + mushrooms

by Kaylah Stroup August 9, 2014

Not too long ago Jeff took me to the ruins of an old power plant that just so happen to be next to a beautiful waterfall. It just occurred to me while looking at the draft for this post that I didn’t even take one photo of the whole thing. Hah! Guess I was a bit distracted by the abundance of mushrooms.

Once again, I’m amazed by all the little things you could miss if you don’t look hard enough. Ohio is a pretty darn awesome state that certainly doesn’t get the credit it deserves.
xoxo

camping in ohiopyle

by Kaylah Stroup August 4, 2014

The weekend before last Jeff and I went camping with my family in Ohiopyle, PA. When talks of a family camping trip came up I suggested Ohiopyle for it’s natural waterslides. We had camped there before over ten years ago and it’s still such a distinct memory. Due to the craaaazy amount of people there we didn’t actually even get to see the waterslides, let alone play on them but it was a great trip regardless. I saw lots of critters, photographed tons of mushrooms (more on those in another post), and Klaus even got to come along. We hiked, played in the water, and ate oodles of food cooked over the camp fire. It was a great little break from everyday life.

Saturday evening it started to rain, and I mean it RAINED. It was such an intense storm. Even though our tent was far from waterproof, and everything got wet it was actually really fun. Klaus was justifiably afraid of the storm so we let him sleep between us. He was quite the little tent hog but it was kind of the cutest thing ever.
xoxo

another year older…

by Kaylah Stroup August 2, 2014

Pictures with balloons on here can only mean one thing. It’s my birthday! It’s kind of become a little tradition for me to take photos with balloons to share on my birthday. I like how every year in my birthday blog post I also mention something about spending the day watching Jim Carrey movies. Not sure I’ll be doing that this year since for the first time in who knows how long I’m having a birthday party! I can’t wait for today to really get started!!

Hope you have a spectacular Saturday! I’ll be sure to eat lots of ice cream for you.
xoxo

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