Long Distance Relationship with MKE.
It’s funny how you remember thinking as a kid about what your future will bring you. Will you be a rock star, a doctor, or maybe even a veterinarian? You rarely hear a kid say, I am going to be a budget analyst, a child welfare worker, or a stripper. I know as a child I wanted to be a construction worker, a mailman or Neil Diamond. As I got older I realized aspects in my life that changed how I viewed the world and it made me the person I am today. One of the things that always stayed consistent from childhood, to high school, to college and even adulthood was I thought I would always live in Milwaukee. Most people know that Milwaukee is my favorite place on this lovely planet. I try to travel often and see different cities, but every time I am on the plane or driving back into Milwaukee, I feel a smile on my face and love seeing that skyline, Lake Michigan or that giant State fair main entrance (Corny I know, but the state fair is the shit). I mean I even have MKE tattooed on my arm, I talk about it and defend it like it is my child. So when the love of my life got a job in Madison, I knew my relationship with MKE would be going long distance. Overall I was pretty excited to move to Madison, I knew I would miss Milwaukee, but it is such a short drive away and I am still there frequently. I was pretty content with moving, and being able to see my girl daily made it a pretty simple decision to move.
I have now been in Madison for 1 year, and have been very committed to exploring the city as much as I can. We tend not to stay at home much because we are trying new eats, going on bike rides, hanging with friends and exploring different bars, and obviously photographing the hell out of the city. We got very lucky with the apartment we found and couldn’t be happier with the neighborhood, I mean I have a concert venue almost in my backyard, it’s pretty amazing. So I wanted to share a few things with you on my 1 year journey in Madison thus far:
Friends and Family: People are friendly, I mean I think that is just a thing across the board in the great state of Wisco, but it is so easy to make friends in this state, so it is awesome that always remains consistent. I quickly realized that I have a good amount of friends in the Madison area, and it is pretty cool to see them often. I find it weird that I tend to see a lot of my Milwaukee pals more since I moved away. I obviously miss my family but I am still able to see and it gives my brother an excuse to come back to Madison and relive his glory days, and staying with my roomates (my parets) is something I greatly enjoy. I also have family here. It’s been nice to get a drink with my uncle and see my grandparents as often as I can. I can’t officially call them the in-laws but its good seeing them often and hang on the farm for a bit.
Food and Beer: You can’t get much better than a nice hot wing and a delicious beer. This leads me to probably one of the only negative things about this city. You can’t find a good wing joint in this damn city. I’ll admit I am pretty spoiled coming from Milwaukee. We had Johnny Hammers, Jackson’s Blue Ribbon, J&B’s Blue Ribbon Pub, and the best wings ever Points East Pub. In Madison, it has been a battle to find a wing that doesn’t taste like it went from frozen to deep frier. Sure there is Chicken Lips which is one of the better places, but it just doesn’t compare. If you can find me a place for wings please tell me I would be welcoming of any suggestions. On the flip side, what Madison lacks in wings, they make up in Beer. There are a lot of good places for beer in the city if I just want to go to a brew pub I can pick from 120 plus beers at Hopcat or check to make sure the taps are full at Dexters and then head across the way to the Malthouse. If I am choosing a brewery to drink at my go to is Next Door Brewing or One Barrel. I also enjoy Alt Brewing, of course Karben 4, Bos Meadery and Ale Asylum. There are a few more on the list and many more to try. The only place I would not go simply based off beer would be the Great Dane, bar time and atmosphere the place is awesome, but the beer, Blah. But the best place of all to hang out and have a nice Shlitz or Pabst is Genna’s man o man do I love this place, one of a kind bar and just an awesome atmosphere.
Festivals/Farmers Market: Let me just start by saying that the near east of Madison is the shit, seriously during the summer months you can’t walk a mile without running into something going on. Throughout the summer the neighborhoods in the area all have one or multiple festivals. Anything from waterfront festival, to Orton fest, Fete De Marquette, Fruit Fest, Willy Street Fest, and many more. There are summer concerts throughout the parks and on campus that you can find at any time during the week. Sure Milwaukee and almost any other major city has these types of things, but the fact that they are close by, cheap and most importantly the people within these neighborhood have so much pride inputting these things together it amazes me. The farmers market on the square is a must. It is every Saturday starting in April till October. I love taking pictures here and all the amount of people there. I take my Yashica 12 and easily find interesting people in the area to snap a picture of. Lastly, although it is not a festival, the Iron Man is so much fun. Those athletes are incredible and if it is a nice day just spending the day around the city, and watch athletes make their 140.6 mile trek is astounding.
Photography: I’ll admit I am pretty addicted to photography. Most of the time my work day is filled with searching for places to shoot, looking at photos, and thinking of new creative ideas. I love shooting in Milwaukee. There is a large photography base there and a lot of people I enjoy shooting with. Whether it is the dedicated gents in the early hours for sunrise or walking the city with some of my favorite Milwaukee photographers, it is one of my absolute favorite things to do and I take great pride in working with most of these people. I have been exploring Madison like crazy for creative places to shoot, parking garages with nice view, the people and neighborhoods with uniqueness. I know there are good photographers in the city, I have met a few and hope to continue to find more, because the community of photographers in Milwaukee is something amazing and I would love for Madison to emulate that. The city of Madison is not very big and the whole landscape revolves around the capitol, and it is hard to get away from it when doing cityscape. The lakes are amazing and I am starting to find some rocks, piers, and trees to shoot during sunrise and sunset. I am hoping to get more creative and make Madison look as beautiful as I see it everyday.
Madison is home to the Badgers, it has been fun to tailgate and head to some of the games, but remember that Madison is not just a college town, so leave campus and explore the city. I hope you enjoyed the article, and I think I will continue my journey in Madison. Here are some of my favorite pictures throughout my year in Madison.
