Tag Archives: Illinois

Skating Action

Some time last year I wrote a blog post about photographing some guys jumping bikes in a park here in Chicago. If you want to check that out, this is the post. I had been inspired by a great book by Syl Arena on flash photography and what can be achieved to freeze fast action and to add drama to the shots. This has also got me interested in trying another sport, skating (the skateboard variety, not ice). They are a couple of skate parks along Lakeshore Drive in Chicago, one north of us and one south. I had never before managed to time it right to get to one of them but finally I have done it.

I got the park and a few people were skating around. I watched for a while to see who was a more comfortable skater before asking whether anyone would let me take their picture. One guy, Konrad, was kind of okay with the idea but seemed a bit skeptical. Most other people were not keen. Konrad had one location he had been making some good moves on so we set up there. We grabbed a few shots from different angles with me mainly using a single light triggered by cable rather than IR. This is tough stuff to do so you can’t just have them do it over again until you are happy. They get worn out.

We grabbed a few shots and then Konrad went off to skate some other parts of the park. When I got back, the shots were not too bad. The use of a single light was not ideal as, with the deck in front you get quite a shadow cast. Also, it reflected strongly which tended to limit the light on him. Two lights will definitely be better. Fortunately, a little work in Lightroom managed to enhance the balance on him a bit. A first time out and not too bad. Plenty to improve on next time though.

Some Board of Trade Video

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Over a year ago I shot a job that Midwest were undertaking on the Board of Trade building here in Chicago. The job was spread over three weekends and I was there for the first two. The job involved lifting a lot of steelwork and piping into location at the back of the building where the steelwork was then assembled using the helicopter to move the individual pieces into position.

All of this was a touch trickier since the assembly location was close to the building which is pretty high. Therefore, 300′ of lifting line had to be used which made the job of maneuvering the helicopter to position the loads just that bit harder! The final week involved the cooling towers being put in place but I could not be there for that.

I shot a bunch of stills but also got a fair amount of video which, at the time I did nothing with. While doing some work on my database recently, I realized just how much footage I had and decided to have a shot at editing it down to something a bit more digestible. Here is the result.

Marina City

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When you live in a city that has a bunch of recognizable landmarks, you start out by taking a lot of pictures of them. After a while, you figure that you have done all of that and move on. However, you have never done everything you could and so, every once in a while, it is worth trying again with something familiar in case you come up with something new.

So it has proved to be with Marina City. These two towers (also colloquially known as the corn cobs) are just a couple of blocks from where we live. When we first moved here I certainly shot them a lot. Recently, I was wandering back along the river and decided to pay them a quick visit. I was going for a couple of shots when I got there. One is to crop in close on the structures to turn them into something more abstract. The other was to get between them and shoot straight up to turn them into something different.

I had a wide angle zoom and a fish-eye with me, both of which can have advantages with these types of shots. The access to the buildings is very good so I had a lot of opportunity to mess around with variations on the theme. In the end, the ones you see here are some of those that I liked the most from the effort. I shall now ponder for a while whether there is something different I should try next time.

Trying the New Spot in Better Light

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I recently posted about a trip to O’Hare in some crummy weather when I didn’t end up with many good results. One of the better aspects of that visit was that I found a nice location directly under the approach to 14R. This provides some good head on shot opportunities. Head on shots are kind of fun I find. They are a different perspective to normal and mix things up a bit. You can’t do it all of the time or it is dull but it does make for some more dynamic shots that the standard side on pass.

I waited to see when the right combination of wind and weather would occur so that I could get the morning light just off the nose when this runway was in use again. Fortunately, I didn’t have to wait particularly long. Things lined up quite nicely so I popped out to have a look. My desire to stay in bed meant that I was about five minutes too late to catch the ANA arrival from Japan but others were on the way so it was a nuisance but not a huge loss. However, en route I did take a look at the south side of the field for other possible shooting locations.

I had shot a few years back at a spot that provided a great view of aircraft departing off 22L, many of which turn quite early after departure giving some topside views. This spot ended up having a warehouse facility built on it which was a nuisance. however, further development in the area has provided some spots to park so I checked out one of these and it seems a reasonable option. Then I headed to the approach.

In good light it seems to work really well. I experimented with wide angle shots as they pass overhead as well as long lens shots that crop tightly in on the aircraft as it gets closer. Both seem to have some merit. I didn’t stay too long as there was a gap in the larger arrivals so I headed back to my other new spot to try a few departure shots. Then it was back to the approach for the last of the big jets and then home. Not a bad morning really and with the day only just started, plenty of time to do other things.

What Animals Are in Your Local Park?

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With a lovely spring weekend day, the city provides a lot of opportunities to hang out and enjoy yourself. One of these is Lincoln Park. Not a long walk from us but certainly a quicker bus ride gets you to the park. It is amazing how quickly the spring transformation is underway. The trees are rapidly filling out with leaves and the wildlife is also making itself obvious. There are certainly worse places to be on a weekend.

If you want to ramp up the wildlife, the park also has the zoo which is free to visit. It had been a while since we went there so we decided to take a look around. Since you can wander in and out at will, you don’t always end up looking at everything and this time was no exception. We did visit the big apes which is always a great experience. Taking in the bats was something I hadn’t done for a while as well.

We could have looked at more but I had a strong urge to find some lunch so instead we went exploring of a different kind. Maybe not as difficult as living in the wild but the results were certainly good.

I Thought These Bridges Were Moving

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Spring in Chicago does not always arrive promptly but this year the absence of a real winter has meant that it has. With nice weather comes the possibility of boating and that means the annual migration of the boats from their winter storage to the marinas for the summer. For anyone with some height to their boat, i.e. sailing boats, this requires you to make use of the bi-weekly bridge opening schedule.

A look online told me that the first opening of the season was coming up on Saturday so I decided to take a look. The weather was great and so some good shooting opportunities should have been available. I wandered along the river inland since no bridges along the main stretch were open yet so I had time to get to Wolf Point where the river splits. Along the way I grabbed a few shots of things that appealed to me.

At Wolf Point, I had two disappointments. First, the water birds were very active right in front of me but I only had a wide angle and a fish-eye with me so no good opportunity to get any shots. Second, looking all the way down the south branch, I couldn’t see any sign of activity. Since I had a limited amount of time before Nancy and I were planning on heading out, this looked like it was going to be a bust.

So it turned out, I wandered back towards home and we went out. When we returned in the middle of the afternoon, the bridges by us were just going down. That many hours would have been a disappointingly long time to wait. Maybe next week.

Another Night with Dolby and Some Strange Camera Rules

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A couple of nights ago I went to a Thomas Dolby concert at Park West here in Chicago. I had been to see a smaller event with him last year that I also blogged about but that was more focused on some dumb stuff more related to me than to him. Since the disappointment I had then was entirely down to my own stupidity, when he set a date for a full concert back here, I bought my ticket swiftly.

This is not going to be a concert review. I know I wander about on stuff on this blog but it is supposed to be more focused on the photography side of things and I promise that the heart of what I am talking about is actually photography related. However, I shall start off by pointing out that it was a great evening. The support act were a fun pair although possibly not your usual support act in that they were a duo playing predominantly bluegrass music. They were good and funny although possibly not what a bunch of electronic music fans might be heading out to see. Then again, the demographic of a Thomas Dolby concert is not what it once was – although you could argue it is exactly what it once was, just they are all a lot older now!

The main event was a lot of fun for an old fan who has continued to follow his newer music and the advantage of seeing an act that is no longer quite as big as once they were is that they play smaller venues and you feel a lot closer to the performer – because you are!

So, for those patient photography types out there who have stuck with it so long, where is the photography reference? Here it comes. I had popped up to the venue in the afternoon. Thomas has a steam-punk trailer called the Time Machine that he has been towing around behind the tour bus. I was interested in grabbing a few shots of it so went up ahead of time assuming it would be there. It was and I got a few images although the afternoon light was a bit harsh and the polished metal finish didn’t help in those conditions.

I figured that a camera would be a problem in the evening so the afternoon recce was the alternative I went with. When I came back up for the show itself, there were some big signs on the doors saying that video and audio recording were not allowed but feel free to take as many stills as you like. CRAP! I hadn’t brought a camera. I did have my phone but nothing else. I was feeling pretty annoyed about this but I was there for the music and the photos would have been a side benefit so not the end of the world.

I ended up sitting just behind a guy that had a camera with him. It was not long before one of the venue staff payed him a visit. They were checking his camera and that of everyone else around. Apparently, they had a rule (not on the signs) about professional cameras. What is a professional camera you ask? Apparently, an SLR of any sort counted. If the lens could come off, it was verboten. No explanation of why but that was it.

When I was a more regular concert goer, cameras were always a problem so I had assumed nothing was allowed. When I saw something was allowed, I was then confused by their arbitrary rule. Some of the cameras people had were pretty capable. A Canon G12 would have been fine for example? How does that work? Who knows. Anyway, since I had not brought my stuff, I didn’t have a problem.

One amusing footnote to all of this, the support guys made a big deal of pointing out that they didn’t care if you videoed the whole of their performance. They just wanted to make sure that you got their names right! Great stuff. The shots I did take I grabbed occasionally with my phone. I think they came out quite well actually. However, I was there for the music and didn’t allow the shots to distract me more than a little. Fun night!

Cranes – Probably Not Here!

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A sign of spring is when wildlife starts showing up that you haven’t seen for a while. I had a couple of experiences within a day of each other of exactly this. One seemed perfectly reasonable but the other was probably not the best idea. We were walking in a state park up in Wisconsin when we heard a lot of noise. At first I thought it was geese but, as the huge flock of birds approached, it became obvious that they were cranes.

The cranes flew around a lot as we walked, some were high but others were quite low. We walked on with not too much more attention to them as they honked their way around the area. However, the following day I was down at O’Hare. I saw something large and wispy in the sky and realized that it was a flock of birds. As they came closer, lo and behold but more cranes were coming to town!

Now, O’Hare is not exactly a bird friendly location. Having flocks of pretty substantial birds in the vicinity of so many aircraft did not appear to be a particularly good combination. The birds swirled around for a couple of minutes, fortunately a little higher than the aircraft on approach. Then they drifted off in a different direction and i didn’t see them again. Not a great idea but, thankfully, no harm done this time!

Final Overnight Time Lapse

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I mentioned before that I had tried to do an overnight time lapse video. In that post I detailed all of the ways I had screwed up the process. Rather than sulk, I did take all of those lessons to heart and went back for a second attempt. This time, I was a lot more successful. I hadn’t got around to figuring out how to make the tethering work properly but the alternative was acceptable and I had learned the rest of my lessons.

One minor hurdle still existed. Our windows are not at their cleanest at this time of year and shooting through the glass is the only option. We are due to have the cleaners take care of them shortly (although that will probably only guarantee some rain immediately afterwards). In low light and with a wide enough aperture, the dirt smudges are not too much of a problem. I have to make sure the shoot doesn’t include any time with direct light on the window which would make the muck flare up in the shots.

The other minor issue is a function of the double glazing. More intense light can show up the effect of the light bouncing between the glass panes. At night this isn’t a hassle except with the moon which is so bright. For some reason I should be able to figure out but can’t, the center of the window almost totally removes this effect and it gets worse towards the edges. However, the moon is so bright in the scenes it blows out and, since the whole thing animates to a video, the loss of shape in the shots becomes less apparent as the moon zips across the sky.

With all of that said, here is the video itself. It seems to have worked out well. Sadly, the messed up effort seemed to have got some more interesting light sequences from the windows of the building but you can’t have it all. Enjoy!

Turn the River a Slightly Different Color

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Since the birthday of this blog has just passed, I am now going to spend my time repeating previous blog posts from a year ago. Seems a lot easier than creating new content. In fact, for those of you with an inquisitive nature, I will make things easier and you can go to this post to see what I wrote before and decide for yourself whether I am being original or whether I am totally ripping off my own work. If it is different, has the quality of my posts improved???

This year St Patrick’s Day was a Saturday. I am not sure whether this really made any difference because the city chooses a Saturday to celebrate everything and that is the party day whatever the date. The odd thing this year is that it was warm. Mid 70s is not what you expect for this time in March. In fact, my first St Patrick’s Day in Chicago, we went to see the parade and gave up half way through because we were thoroughly frozen!

This time being too warm was more of an issue. I won’t go in to whether the madness that the city falls in to is any way related to St Patrick or even the Irish (and we shall leave the fact that Patrick wasn’t Irish anyway for another day!). Instead, I am going to focus on the tradition of dying the river green. I went down to join the crowds and see how things were developing. It was very busy with the weather really bringing out the crowds.

Dying the river went fine despite the coxed eights that didn’t get out of the way in time. The Police boats seemed mad but hadn’t made an effort to get rid of them ahead of time so what did they expect. It was funny to see the speed boats running close by and putting quite a wash over the eight who looked less than happy about how close they were to sinking!

Watching the crowds was also fun. You do see some sights on a day like today and some of them can be photographed. However, you also have to be careful since the drinking starts early and can affect the good humor of some people!