fourpointedstar

When we visited St Louis with the marching band in 2022, this was the view out of our hotel room. The night before, I wandered around near the Arch, and captured some fantastic photos, but in the morning this was our view – absolutely spectacular!

Who decided that a flying bird was the best emblem for this Ford’s hood ornament? What person walked into a business meeting and said “Yeah, I think a chicken looking bird is perfect!”

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This was an interesting concept, but poor execution. The idea was that the sparks from the steel wool would look like they were coming out of the tailpipe, but – well, you gotta have your angles right. And since that’s me spinning the steel wool, well, my camera angle was all wrong. Oh well, I still think it’s a cool shot of Keith on his bike.

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Over the past 10 years, the Elgin Area Camera Club has hosted a steel wool photography opportunity three times. This image is from our most recent outing, and I’m actually the one who is spinning the wool in this image – I set up my camera and someone else pushed the shutter, so this is more of a collaborative image, you might say.

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I alway enjoy finding new locations to photograph light trails, and I found this particular spot about 2 years before I finally got down to photograph it. Grand Avenue crosses I-90/94 with a perfect view of the Willis Tower, but there’s also a Metra track there too!
However, that Metra line is not used that often on the weekends, so I will have to go back to capture a better photo with the train light trails too. (Oh, and LED billboards are terrible…)

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Most folks from the Chicago area will recognize that darker building, but why is the light blue building taller? I didn’t notice this trick of angles and perspective when I photographed this scene, but now I love the photo even more.

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The concrete and glass exterior of the building on the south side of Wells becomes the perfect canvas for abstract architecture presented by the stepped exterior of the top of the building on the north side of Wells.

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This fantastic oddity was captured from street level, and I just love all of the distortion. I’ve photographed the curved fascade of the building on the corner of Wells & Hubbard a few times, but always from the 4th or 5th floor of the parking garage with light trails in mind.
(This photo was from a photo walk that I led back in April.)

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The shadows from the melting ice or snow rolling down the glass were the perfect addition to all of the angles in this photo.

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Santiago Calatrava’s buildings never fail to impress. They’re almost always futuristic, but often can be mistaken for an animal in some kind of animated reality. Even his art installation in Chicago has a fluid and natural motion to it.

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If you crane your neck and look UP under Calatrava’s wonderful design, the view is magnificent!

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Perhaps someday I will grow tired of capturing the Quadracci Pavilion at the Milwaukee Art Museum, but for now, I love visiting that building. The whites and blues and sunlight are the perfect painters of abstract patterns; I can’t wait to go back!

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I’m drawn to reflections; the warbling that a window provides adds so much more interest to the scene. In this photo, you are actually looking at 3 different buildings, can you see each one?

Not all buildings are architecturally interesting. But every building has aspects that can lead to an interesting photo – like this stairwell in a parking gararge! And yes, I know that these doors are not in the correct stoplight order.

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Maybe it’s just me, but seeing the Sears/Willis Tower poking out from a scene was THE Chicago moment growing up. For a few years, my family lived on the south side, and it was a contest among the siblings to see who could see the skyline, specifically the Sears Tower, first when we would drive into the city.

On a recent photo walk, I found this little “window” created by the L tracks, the incredible rusty exterior contrasting with the sky, the Willis Tower, and the Merchandise Mart. I had to hop in between traffic on 2 different occasions to get this exposure correct; the afternoon sky was quite the contrast compared with the shadowed steel. This photo is one of my Top 3 favorite recent Chicago photos.

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The simplicity of this photo is what allows the three distinct shades of blue to stand out.

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I took this photo while on a walk with my daughters.  While the effect of the straight roofline “feeling” curved is fascinating, but overall, the complex simplicity of the facade is what drew me to this capture.

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Would these buildings be considered twins, just wearing different clothes?
Siblings?
Cousins?
Either way, these two buildings on Grove Street are wonderful examples of Elgin’s historic downtown.

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