Tag Archives: Illinois

Surely Not More Window Cleaning

I imagine you are wondering how many posts I can get out of the theme of window cleaning. Well, here comes another one. I think this will be the last one though, not least given our departure from Chicago. This time I found myself looking down as a couple of guys were heading out over the edge of the building roof to clean another line of windows. Watching people descend the side of the building is one thing but the first step over the edge always seems more precarious.

Additionally, the guys attach their lines to something solid on the roof. However, I was not so impressed by the choices they were making. Hooking on to an air conditioning unit did not seem quite as solid as whatever I would choose to base my survival on.

Shooting the Astar

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The team from Helinet was in town recently as part of a movie shoot. With the end of the shoot coming up, I was asked to get some shots of the helicopter in the city. Alan knows exactly what he is doing when flying in amongst the city buildings and can put the helicopter wherever I wanted it for the images. We even got lucky with some great weather. (The following day, it was foggy and no go at all!)

With some advance planning and some good communication during the shoot, we were able to position the helicopter to look dynamic in amongst the buildings. It would have been good to get some video too but time was limited and stills were required so that is what we did. A fun shoot and great people to work with.

Trump Views

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I watched the Trump Tower being built a few years ago since it is directly across from where we were living. Aside from a visit when the spire was being completed, I hadn’t been in again since. I then was asked to carry out a shoot from the terrace on the 16^th floor so ended up checking out the view. The 16^th floor is a long way from the top of the building but its terrace has a great view of the river and surrounding area.

I was able to get a few local shots while waiting for the shoot to start and then once it was over. Having seen this terrace out of my window for years, it was nice to finally be there. I probably should have gone at some point but I finally made it just before leaving the city. One more thing checked off the list.

Flying Over Chicago

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One thing I have been thinking about for a while is doing a flight across Chicago in a helicopter. I had contemplated this on and off for a while but never got around to doing it. Then I got an offer that was impossible to pass up. Someone I have been working with on a couple of things was going to be doing some flying across the city on another project and asked if I wanted to ride along. Let me think about that for a second…

The day was not the best for photography sadly. The city was shrouded in low cloud with the tops of the taller buildings in the clouds. This didn’t harm the work they had planned but it did change the perspective on things a bit. However, the city was still there and I was still in a helicopter – one with an opening window no less – so time to make the most of it.

With our departure from the city not far in the future at this point, it really was a great time to get a view like this. I have been on plenty of tall buildings in the city working with the helicopter crews so I have seen some great sights but heading around the city to different spots gives you so much more of interest. I grabbed as many shots as I could while the guys got on with the reason for being there. They were great to fly with and a very professional crew. Thanks for taking me along.

Kankakee Powerboat Nationals

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My friend Joel has introduced me to many things that are fun to shoot. One of them is powerboat racing and the Nationals at Kankakee are particularly good fun to watch. Taking place on the Kankakee River, it is a great location for spectators since you can be on either side of the river and still be close to the action. With the boats screaming up and down the river, they are close to you a lot of the time and you feel really involved with the action.

There are a variety of classes of boat taking part. The engines in use also determine the class so the same boat can race in different classes with different engines bolted on the back. Straight line speed of the boats is impressive but I find the cornering to be even better. They hit the corners at speed and then just turn. They seem to cut into the water and turn in no distance at all. They throw up some spray and then blast down the next straight.

The races are fast and furious and the action means that you can be shooting almost constantly. In fact, that was exactly what I was doing. So many shots. After a couple of races, I realized I needed to pace myself or I would end up running out of cards before the day was out. Even so, I still ended up with an awful lot of shots to go through. Combined with a bunch of other events shortly afterwards, it meant it took me quite a while to get through the whole shoot. However, I have managed to narrow it down a bit and these shots are hopefully a good summary of the day.

Our Window Cleaning

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Slightly strange to manage to get more than one post out of window cleaning but that is exactly what I am doing. I mentioned in my earlier post about the ways in which buildings have their windows cleaned. Our building used ropes with guys abseiling down them. I was working at my desk when they came by. I wasn’t prepared but I grabbed my phone and got a couple of shots. Here is the view of the guys at work from another guy at work.

Up Close and Personal with an Enstrom

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I was visiting a helicopter operator as part of an article that I am working on at the moment. Unconnected with the subject I was covering are some other operations that they undertake including some flying training activities. One of the customers was converting onto the Enstrom while I was there so I took the time to get some shots.

The Enstrom is a cute looking machine to my eye. The shape of the fuselage is emphasized by getting as close as you can to it. The best place to be was low and just off the pad. I was in a safe spot where I was and I knew the capabilities of those in control so was happy to get the shot. The hardest thing about shooting here is that the downwash is strong so holding steady is tricky.

When the sortie was over, they came back and taxied low across the site so I managed to grab a few more shots. What better way to spend time on a lovely sunny day?

Kemper Window Cleaning

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The window cleaning in Chicago is done one of two ways. Some buildings have cradles that are hung from frames on the roof in which the guys can stand while they clean the windows. Others involve ropes being hung from the roof with the guys abseiling down the side of the building cleaning the windows as they go.

I was working at my desk when I saw a crew cleaning the Kemper building’s windows being cleaned. The guys looked very small against the side of such a large building. As I shot them with a longer lens, the building became more abstract and the individuals looked even more remote. It looked good to me so I grabbed a few shots before returning to my work.

Lightning

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When we first moved to Chicago, we had a lot of storms that came through the city which resulted in some great lightning displays. For some reason, the number of great storms we had in the city decreased in recent years. You could watch them come through on the weather radar but they tended to go either north or south of downtown. However, recently we got a bit lucky.

A storm came through that lasted a long time and produced a steady stream of lightning. At first, I thought it was going to finish quickly and, by the time I could get my camera set up, it would all be over. However, as we sat and watched, the storm continued to be a steady stream of big lightning bolts all around us.

Finally, I decided it was too good to miss so I went and grabbed the camera, the tripod and the intervalometer. I set the rig up in one room to take a steady stream of shots and then retreated to the other room. In days gone by I have had the camera with the cable release and spent my time pressing the release as soon as the previous shot finished. Now I set up the exposure and set the intervalometer for one second more than the exposure. There is still a small window when the lightning might strike without the shutter open but it covers almost everything. Plus, I don’t have to do anything.

Then it is just a question of downloading the shots when the storm is over and running through to see what lightning I caught. Fortunately, there was a lot of lightning but not much rain so the lightning did not flare out the moisture in the air and I didn’t get rain drops on the window to ruin things. The result? A bunch of interesting looking lightning shots. I was happy…

Farewell Chicago

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After nearly ten years of living in Chicago, it is time to move on. Nancy and I are moving to California and have said goodbye to our home for the last decade. It is a shame to go but some new adventures await us where we are heading. The blog will now have to be propped up with images of new cities.

I hope you have enjoyed the bits of Chicago I have shared with you as much as I have enjoyed being here. A few stories from the city have yet to make it onto the blog so will show up in weeks to come. Hopefully I will have enough new source material where I am going to keep adding new stuff. Stay tuned…