Indianapolis is My Home

13
Aug

Paul D’Andrea Captures the City of Indianapolis

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Indianapolis Photos, Local Artists, State Fair

I’m not sure what it is lately, but I keep coming across great photographers that are located here in Indianapolis. This time it’s Paul D’Andrea and I’ve become mesmerized by his images of the Indiana State Fair that’s taking place right now.

In the picture above he’s captured the quintessential imagery of a fair with the large Ferris wheel ride and of course the funnel cakes stand.

You can enjoy more galleries of his images on his flickr photo stream or read about what he also things about the photography he’s doing on his personal blog too.

09
Aug

Pan American Plaza by Polina Osherov

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Downtown, Indianapolis Colts, Indianapolis History, Local Artists, Lucas Oil Stadium, RCA Dome, Real Estate

Polina Osherov is a local photographer here in Indianapolis and she recently shared this photo with me that she took of the Pan American Plaza area downtown. I just thought this was a great photo showing some of the history of sports in this city.

From the Pan Am Plaza that was built for the Pan American Games that the city hosted in 1987.

You can see the RCA Dome, home of the Super Bowl Champion Indianapolis Colts that was built in 1984 at a cost of $82 million.

Then in the background to the south you’ve got the soon to be opened Lucas Oil Stadium, the new home of the Indianapolis Colts and the home of the 2012 Super Bowl!

07
Jul

Indy Fireworks - Brian Bonner

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Indianapolis Photos, Local Artists

Here are a couple of photos from local Indianapolis photographer, Brian Bonner. Do you love taking photos of fireworks? Do they turn out for you? I’ll have to upload mine from Greenfield this year and share them on flickr.

03
Jul

PHOTOS: Indy Lights at Night by Brian Bonner

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Downtown, Indianapolis Photos, Local Artists

I recently got a couple of more photos from local Indianapolis photographer, Brian Bonner. This time he’s sharing some photos with us of a couple of locations in downtown Indianapolis.

You can probably recognize these locations pretty quickly as different points along the Canal downtown. Be sure and visit Brian’s site for lots of other photos and great macro shots.

Do you have photos of Indianapolis you’d like to share? I’d love to see them.

13
Jun

The Bean Cup - It’s a Must!

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Business Entrepreneurs, Coffee Shops, Greenwood, Local Artists, Local Businesses, Local Musicians, South Side, Things To Do in Indy

After hearing about The Bean Cup a couple of different times from fellow Indianapolis blogger, Douglas Karr, I decided the next time I worked remotely I’d stop by for a visit.

I stopped in this afternoon to get some work done and try out their version of my favorite drink, a chai tea latte. I little darker than my favorite at my other remote office location (I feel dirty, like I’m cheating on my friends there).

I got to meet the two owners, Chris and Jason Carr. A great couple and seem to totally love what they’re doing with running The Bean Cup. The initiating factor to our conversation was that I thought it was cool they they run a place called "The Bean Cup" and their names are Chris and Jason. If you haven’t noticed yet, my name is Jason and my brother’s name is Chris and our last name is "Bean".

The other very interesting thing I learned today was about Douglas Karr, who’s affectionately referred to as "Norm" at The Bean Cup. Himself, Jason Carr and two other individuals and The Bean Cup, was recently featured in BusinessWeek. The group is competing in the Cisco I-Prize competition. Really cool!

The opening paragraph of the article lays everything out beautifully:

The Bean Cup, a coffee house on the southern edge of Indianapolis, is about as far as you get from Silicon Valley, culturally speaking. Shoehorned between an Arthur Murray Dance studio and a shuttered beauty salon in a nondescript strip mall, the Bean Cup bears faint resemblance to the storied Palo Alto work-play spaces where coders spend all night building what they hope will be the next big thing in tech. That’s not stopping Douglas Karr, a bearded, burly Gulf War vet, from using the Bean Cup to incubate his own big tech dreams.

Later on that afternoon I had an iced white-chocolate blackberry latte ( I think that’s what it was) that was delicious as well. The atmosphere is great, they seem to have a very diverse client base so I think everyone would be happy here if you love great coffees and tea and more.

Similarly to The Strange Brew they also feature artistic works from local artists which you can buy right off the wall if you find something you like. The only challenge I noticed was the same challenge I find with every location offering free wi-fi, FAR TOO FEW POWER PLUG ACCESS!!! The Carrs said they’ll be working on that soon so they will be no reason to not go visit and get some work done of your own.

All in all the final score is that the south side of Indianapolis has two great options for locally owned coffee shops where local artists (both artistic and music) can showcase their talents as well as connect with the community around us.

If you’re on the south side of Indy around the Greenwood Mall, stop by The Bean Cup and get your java fix there. If you’re further south, stop on by The Strange Brew. If you’re a regular customer of one already, give the other a try and spread the love. Don’t worry, St. Arbuck’s will get along without you and these local business owners will be more than happy to serve you some great coffee.

26
Nov

A Little Caricature Error

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Art, Conseco Fieldhouse, Indiana Pacers, Local Artists

One of the things my son and I were able to do at the Pacer’s game this weekend at Conseco Fieldhouse was get our caricature drawn. It was really cool because it was free. I’m not sure if they’re always free or not, but afterwards I noticed one reason it could have been free. I might have to get someone a prize for the first person to comment on why it could have been free.

I’m not sure if the artist, Josh Smart, would ever find this post, but if he does I’d like to tell him “Thank You” again.

Josh did a good job of capturing the essence of how we look. Luckily my son recently got a haircut. He  looks pretty darn close to that image. I guess the picture of me looks pretty good as well, for some reason though I think my face looks like Paul Giamatti.

Speaking of local artists, do you know anyone that would like some exposure? If so, just send me their name and contact information. If they already have a website that’s even better.

21
Aug

Gary Varvel Does Editorial Comics Justice

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Education, Elementary, High Schools, Local Artists, News, People

I was recently introduced to the talent of Gary Varvel, a local editorial cartoonist featured on the IndyStar.

I love his artistic design and comic style. Here’s one of his recent comics about the changes in local Indianapolis Public Schools with the addition of school uniforms.

My personal opinions are that school uniforms are a great idea and I think decisions like this will be the start of a whole new era in Indy public schools.

For more of Gary’s great editorial insight and artistic talent, you can check him out on the IndyStar website, in the printed edition or on his blog.

11
Jul

It’s a Mobile Day Today

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Art, Coffee Shops, Local Artists, People

Today was an interesting day for me. I was like a little geeky, nomad wandering the Indianapolis byways looking for a free wi-fi to get some work done.

Actually I wasn’t looking, I ventured out to a couple of my favorite places and connected right up and got down to business.

First I started off at Strange Brew coffee shop (their MySpace page) on the far south side of Greenwood. It’s located in a little strip of commercial stores on Smith Valley Road, just east of Morgantown Road. This has become one of my favorite places to hang-out when I need to get some work done, but don’t want to drive into the office. I come here when I can’t focus at home and get stuff done. My drink of choice is the Large Vanilla Almond Chai, which is absolutely delicious and I highly recommend.

It of course helps my opinion of the place since they have a very large aquarium that I can listen to bubbling while I work. One of the other things I love is that they showcase different artist’s work on a rotating basis. Right now they’ve got pictures from a photographer named Travis Taylor I believe. He’s done some really great stuff with photographs and matting with writing over the mat and sometimes even the photograph itself.

Around lunchtime I headed a little ways east on Smith Valley road and landed at Qdoba Mexican Grill. They also offer free wi-fi, but more importantly a Naked Queso Chicken Burrito with fiery habanero salsa. Their China Mist Jasmine tea is one of my favorite drinks among all restaurant chains as well.

Where are some of your favorite places in the city to go for some free wi-fi, amazing atmospher and all-around laid back couple of hours?