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One thing I learned long ago: Don't start watching the Super Bowl until very late in the day. This young man apparently agrees. He was at the Millennium Park skating rink early today taking a spin around the ice. Looks cold, but the temperature was probably 32F or thereabouts. And the sky was blue.
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It was cold Friday afternoon in Chicago, but the light made it worth braving the elements. The weather assured that no one disturbed me while I was working.
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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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Carrington and company performed selections from her tribute to Duke Ellington's Money Jungle, now 50-plus years old. I was particularly impressed by saxophonist Mark Shin's guttural tone. The notes had an edge that was more out there than one might have expected.
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Somewhere around 250,000 people gathered in Downtown Chicago today to take part in the Chicago Women's March, exceeding everyone's expectations. The crowd was peaceful and enthusiastic. The capacity crowd forced the organizers to cancel the "march" portion of the event. Participants were instructed to rally in place.
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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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Gone are the boats. Gone are the leaves. Gone are the late sunsets. Today Day Light Savings Time began. In 48 hours we may know the results of an election that has gone on too long.
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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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Friday night saw an exciting take on Latin jazz come to the Logan Center. Fourteen-time Grammy award winning Paquito D' Rivera brought his quintet to the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts for an evening of jazz that featured work from his 2014 album, Jazz Meets the Classics. On the bandstand were Diego Urcola (trumpet and valve trombone), Alex Brown (piano), Oscar Stagnaro (electric six-string bass), and Mark Walker (drums). Sitting in as a guest from Alejo Poveda on congas.
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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.
