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O’Hare Excursion

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wpid5634-AU0E7883.jpgAnother benefit of the recent trip to O’Hare was getting into a conversation with some guys who know the area better than I.  One of them suggested a location I hadn’t tried before.  It is on the west side of the field so gets better light as the day wears on.  Moreover, the departure routes were favorable on this day and the sun was proving very cooperative so I decided to check it out.

The location is very good.  If the aircraft turn out towards you, the angles are very good.  Some of the local crews are quite aggressive on their turns and come very close overhead.  Even the aircraft heading out or turning away look good.  You do have a view of them on the runway but the combination of power lines and foreground junk mean these shots are not too valuable.  All of this got better and better as the sun went lower and the light got warmer.  Then, to top it all off, the moon rose in the background.  What a great end to the shoot.  Thanks guys.

Getting up someone’s nose

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wpid5616-AU0E6429.jpgI have shot many times at O’Hare over the years.  There are a few locations that provide opportunities but they do depend on the time of day and the approaches the jets are making.  I was out there recently and wanted to try something different.  I didn’t know how well it would work out but wanted to experiment.  I checked out what was due in and found a time in the schedule when nothing unusual was coming in.  Without the need to make sure I got something that was uncommon, I could risk not getting anything at all for a while.

wpid5618-AU0E6481.jpgwpid5620-C59F4692.jpgI wanted to get more directly under the approach path.  This is something that I have done before at Washington National but I have had less success at O’Hare.  I went out a little further on the approach.  The jets were a little higher but I wanted to see what I could get.  You end up with both a slightly more head on shot and also get to look right up as they pass overhead.  I like the view which is slightly less conventional.  Winter is probably a good time to do this since the sun is lower in the sky and the snow on the ground provides a bit more light on the underside avoiding the silhouettes more common in the summer.

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Arghh!! Technology Hates Me!

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Time for a quick vent.  It seems I have brought down upon myself the curse of technology.  Being a techie type, there are plenty of forms of technology in my life.  Recently, they have been conspiring against me.  I am not a superstitious type of person.  The world has more than enough of those so it doesn’t need me to add to the list.  However, even a rational person could begin to wonder.

First, the TiVo packed up.  It had been misbehaving for a while.  Finally, it gave up and could not be restarted.  It just kept running through the beginning of the start cycle but never got any further.  Time for a new TiVo.  I had been pondering an upgrade for a while so a repair did not seem the way to go.  Plus, I wanted to have TV back quicker than the repair would manage.  While working on this, I go to the computer to look something up and it is off.  It shouldn’t have been.  A reboot brings up a warning about the CPU fan failure.  Crap!  That is a lot cheaper to fix but still, CRAP!

Next day a new TiVo and a new CPU fan are in my possession.  I need cablecards for the TiVo and have two from the previous unit.  Only one is needed for the new one but it has to be the M-Card, not the S-Card.  I start thinking this is going to be the next problem.  I must have the old card type rather than the one I need.  A quick Google on my card tells me it is an M-Card.  Hurrah!  Plug it in and the TiVo is not so convinced.  I need an M-Card.  Quick cal to cable company says no problem.  Place isn’t open until tomorrow but it is an easy swap.  Meanwhile, I can replace the CPU fan.

Next day, a quick swap is performed and I have an M-Card.  The TiVo likes it.  I get some details and call to activate.  Done.  No picture yet but I’m sure it takes a while.  Later on, still no picture.  A call to cable company and we run through some stuff.  Should be working they say.  It isn’t.  All tricks tried.  No luck.  We’ll send out a guy – tomorrow.  Okay.

Next day guy arrives, tries all I tried and no luck.  He is confused.  Calls the office and they un-pair the card and my account and then re-pair them.  Bingo!  We have pictures and sound.  Something is working.  Shame we couldn’t have tried that yesterday but never mind.  Is everything working now.  Appears to be until, oops, a couple of days later, the website – this website – seems to have vanished.  A little tech support from the hosting company and it turns out the database password has miraculously changed to something different in one of the website config files and it is nothing like the password I set up years ago when I created the site.  (This is a password I have not needed since so do you think I know what it is supposed to be??  Of course not.)

All of these things are now fixed.  The question now is, what’s next?  Place your bets on the next thing to go wrong…

New American Livery – Not That Bad

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wpid5626-AU0E7638.jpgHaving heard a lot of comments about people’s views of the new livery American Airlines has adopted, I was reserving judgement until I had seen it myself. When I first saw images online, I was not bowled over with it but I was not appalled as some people seem to have been. Given the boring nature of many liveries these days, I thought it was a little different from the norm and certainly not cause for offense. Of course, there were plenty who thought the exact opposite.

I have now had my first chance to see it for myself and I have to say my opinion is much the same. I was lucky in this instance that I got to photograph it just before the sun went down so it was bathed in some very favorable light. Even so, I think it looked okay. You will make your own decision of course. In time, we will forget this discussion ever took place!

And the First Piece is Away!

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As I mentioned before, the first piece was free.  I hadn’t planned for a time lapse.  I had no idea I was going to time my visit for when this happened, nor that it was going to happen so soon.  However, I was there with the camera on a tripod so I manually shot a sequence and cut it together.  It is short but you get the idea.  I left town shortly after this so missed the new section being put in place.  I shall hope to be around when the second span is worked on.

Cutting Through the Night

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wpid5756-AU0E8296.jpgI headed back to the work site later the same day to see how things were progressing.  I wanted to know how fast things were moving but I also wanted to see the work at night.  The cutting torches they are using provide a great shower of sparks but, during the day, it is hard to make that impression since they are not very conspicuous.  If they were cutting at night, I figured the effect would be more pronounced.  That certainly was the case.

Moreover, they had got a lot further than I had expected.  The section was almost totally cut free.  It was now rest on the barge ready to be moved when the final cuts were made.  As you can see from above, it wasn’t long before this happened.  They really had made swift work of the first stage of the task.

Wells Street Bridge Prep

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wpid5731-AU0E8097.jpgA major engineering activity is underway in the city at the moment.  The Chicago River is crossed by many bridges.  Most of them are bascule bridges and they are part of a cycle of maintenance with each bridge getting refurbished periodically.  Metalwork repair and repainting is usually the order of business but, sometimes, they need more significant work.  The Wells Street Bridge is undergoing just such a work program.  Part of it is being repaired but some of the metalwork needs replacement.

wpid5729-AU0E8085.jpgThis bridge is more complex than some.  It has two levels with street traffic on the lower level and the “L” on the upper level.  Replacement is, therefore, more problematic.  Shutting down a line on the “L” is not done lightly.  The street traffic is more easily diverted so, having that closed is easier to handle and it has been shut for a while now as the preparation for the repair was underway.  The bridge has two spans and they are being done one at a time.  The south span is first.  They have prepared the section that is remaining and now they are cutting off the rest.

wpid5727-AU0E8070.jpgA new span has been constructed offsite.  This is floated to the location, the old section is cut off and the new section bolted on.  That makes it sound so simple, doesn’t it?  It obviously is a little more complex, not least because it has to be done in just over a week including replacing the train tracks and electrical systems.  These shots show the site in preparation for the big task.  I will provide updates as the job progresses.  Sadly, I have to be out of town during some of the work but will show what I can.

 

What Does Humble Mean

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This isn’t a photography post although it arose from a photographer.  It actually goes much further back but I was reading a blog post by Syl Arena, a great photographer who wrote a couple of books, one of which I have.  I like the book and learned a lot from it.  He was writing about updating his bio and this updated bio included the following sentence.

“I’m humbled to say I have written two bestselling books on lighting…”

This caught my eye since I think the use of humble has changed recently.  I have heard people accepting awards talking about being humbled.  Here, Syl is talking about being humbled to have sold lots of books.  I really think people don’t understand humble anymore.

If you think you are something special and then learn that you aren’t, that could be a humbling experience.  If you meet someone who is demonstrably more capable than you are, that can be a humbling experience.  If you find yourself stranded in the middle of a vast ocean with no way home, that can be a humbling experience.  Being told you are great or seeing proof that you are is not humbling!

Why is it used then?  I don’t know.  I have a thought as to what it might be but I can’t get inside the heads of others and say why they use it and I am certainly not trying to put Syl down in this case – he is just an example of something happening a lot.  Maybe it is a fashion that is being followed.  However, I suspect it is a way of pointing out that you are not big headed about your success while acknowledging you have been successful.  Being grateful would seem a more appropriate term but I don’t control others and I probably won’t find myself in a situation that needs me to worry about addressing such success.  If I do, I wonder whether I will really be feeling humble?

Another birthday!

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Regular readers might think that i am being a lazy blogger.  Today is another family birthday.  Happy birthday Dad!  It’s true that I am not making any new content today and two birthdays in a row might seem particularly lazy on my part but I didn’t schedule them!  Have a great day Dad.