All in Chicago
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The day started out rather temperate, but by 4:00PM, a cold front had moved in, sending temperatures plummeting. Good light often accompanies a change in temperature, as it did today.
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I gave some thought to reducing the amount of water in the foreground--and I could have because I shifted several times as I made multiple exposures--but the reflected colors were so lovely, particularly as doom descends upon us tomorrow.
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I was interested in the fog, so I headed north, took the underpass to North Avenue Beach, and then headed south. From that vantage point, Chicago was socked in. A great day for two friends to take a walk, discussing whatever was on their minds.
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The Year 2016 is now resolved, with 2017 totally unresolved. Lots of New Year's resolutions remain unresolved.
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The Arctic Vortex has arrived as the holiday shopping season shifts into high gear. Last Friday night, Jane Byrne Park was a little more crowded, but Michigan Avenue was still hopping last night--with an eight second or so exposure, that is hard to tell--lots of ghosts--but folks are walking by with shopping bags full.
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Before attending Jules Masenet's Don Quichotte opera at the Lyric Opera this afternoon, I took my camera over to Belmont Harbor to commemorate the arrival of Chicago's first snow fall of the 2016-2017 winter. It didn't take the form of flurries. Instead it came down as wet snow that stuck to the grass, leaves, and bricks, but not the sidewalks or streets. When I left the opera at 4:30PM, it was still coming down. It had begun to accumulate on the streets and sidewalks. Mostly slush.
When I left the house today, I was headed to LaSalle Street, just north of the Chicago River, to get make a photograph of the Board of Trade on the south end of LaSalle. Much to my dismay, it isn't lit on Sundays, at least when I was in position. I had to settle for a classic river shot looking east.
Looking south from the Wolf's Point at the fork in the Chicago River. It's November 17th. The water taxis and the tour boats are still cruising. Temperatures hit 75F today, but light snow is forecast for Sunday.
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On the right, sits the vacant hi-rise office building locate at 150 North Riverside, just south of Lake Street on the west bank of the Chicago River. No lights yet, but I expect we will see some shortly in this Goettsch Partners designed project. It sits above the Amtrak railroad tracks leading to Union Station.
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It's never to early to celebrate Christmas and the holidays, unless, of course, you are Victoria Boros Liccione, who becomes distressed when merchants begin to display their holiday wares in November before Thanksgiving.
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This photograph was made from the north end of the Franklin Street bridge, which is just west of the Merchandise Mart at about 5:00PM. It depicts a classic view of the Chicago River, looking east. Visible are Marina City,
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This gentlemen should have ordered a Venti Triple Shot Expresso when he visited the Starbucks on Lake Street under the El tracks in Chicago's Loop.
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In one sense, a comparison between the aftermath of 9/11 and the Cubs' World Series Victory is inappropriate. I, however, was in New York City shortly after 9/11. The level of intensity I felt from those those around me at Ground Zero is similar to the the level of intensity that Chicogians are experiencing from the World Series victory. We see sports victory celebrations four or five times a year, but nothing I've ever seen rivals what is going on in Chicago. This is a big deal.
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Pick your poison, so to speak. I decided early on that I wanted the image depicted in the cover photograph, but that presents a problem. A photographer's worst nightmare is being relegated to a fixed position. I always say that when photographing in a club or concert hall. By picking this location, I did not have the opportunity to photograph the rally in Grant Park, the parade stepping off at Wrigley Field, or the chaos at the AMTRAK station. Only a media outlet like the Chicago Tribune has the number of photographers to cover all the bases, so to speak.
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The new Apple store under construction on Michigan Avenue just south of the Tribune Tower. The early morning serenity is deceiving. As this photograph was being made, some 5,000,000 people were descending on downtown for the Chicago Cubs' victory celebration.
It's all about the layers that exist in urban settings. Tokyo is known for them, but Chicago also has its share of layers.
While we waited for the return water taxi, we spent some time in Ping Tom Memorial Park. The willows lining the river have grown over the years that we have lived in Chicago.
The visual treat in this neighborhood is the Amtrak vertical life bridge that was built in 1915 (101 years old). It was built by the Pennsylvania Railroad. It doesn't look like it has been painted since then. I had never seen it in the "up" position, but on this trip, I watched it go upwards after a southbound Amtrak train rolled over it. It works just like an elevator.
My signature slogan "tomorrow's garage sale today," came to mind when I came upon this window in Chicago's Chinatown. This particular dealer is on Wentworth Avenue, which is the main drag in this concentrated community. I hadn't been down to Chinatown in a few years. The restaurants appear to be multiplying, but there seemed to be a lot of vacant store fronts.
As good as the cops are--I assume they perfected the technique during the NATO protests four years ago--they did make one big tactical mistake tonight, or maybe not. The demonstrators were funneled south on Wabash. That makes sense when the demonstration is crossing Chicago Avenue, but about six or seven blocks south sits what has become a politically charged Chicago landmark: Trump International Hotel & Tower Chicago. About three blocks before arriving, the protesters realized where they were headed. At about the same time, the police realized the potential problem they had created. That wasn't a hard realization to come by: People had begun chanting "Fuck Trump." The bicycle cops responded, racing down the far sidewalk in an effort to reach the Trump International Hotel before the demonstrators got there. Trump had to put his name on the building in two-story letters.
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Today, Holy Name cathedral is probably the best know religious facility in the Chicago. In addition to regular services, it is the ceremonial site for the Chicago's Catholic community. Major weddings and funerals are held here. One of the more notable recent funerals was for Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert. I was told by one wedding photographer that the fee for a wedding is $1,000, which does not strike me as a large sum given the extravegent spending that often accompanies the union of two people.
