Tag Archives: Illinois

Kemper Window Cleaning

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…

Some Older Skydiving

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Another trip back in time today. I seem to be coming across older shots when looking for something else and they trigger the idea that they would have been blog posts had I been writing a blog at that time. Today, it is a bit of skydiving. The Clow Cavalcade of Planes is a great event held by a local airfield southwest of Chicago. I wrote a piece about this year’s Cavalcade previously and you can find that here if you want to check back.

A couple of years ago, I was at the event and spent a bunch of time with the team that carry out skydiving demonstrations during the show. Clow is under the airspace leading into Midway and O’Hare so there is a limit of about 3,500’ on how high they can jump from but that is enough to get quickly under the canopy. When the weather cooperates (which it didn’t this year), they jump multiple times during the day. I got shots of them prepping their parachutes, under canopy and coming in to land. I also got to go up on a couple of the jumps. The first was a bit of an unusual one. They were jumping from Midwest Helicopters’ S-58T. I was in their normal jump ship, the Cessna 182. The helicopter had a far higher rate of climb than us so, while we were airborne ahead of them, it climbed up passed us and we had to catch up. Then we orbited them as they jumped. Quite an unusual thing to see.

I also rode up in the 182 when they were jumping from it. There was only one seat in the plan and that was occupied by the pilot. I sat on the floor with my back to the instrument panel with the straps across my legs and they sat in the back. Plenty of time for group shots as we climbed and then time to open the door. It was hinged at the top and the airflow held it open. When you are sitting on the floor and that door opens right next to you for the first time, it is an interesting experience seeing nothing between you and the ground. Funny how quickly you adapt though.

Then they took it in turns to jump. There was a step on the gear leg they could rest on and the wing strut was also something to hang from. A lot of good poses before letting go. Then we side-slipped to let the door close, latched it shut and descended as fast as we could. It was a fun shoot and something I would like to do again sometime. We shall see if the opportunity presents itself again.

Chicago Air and Water Show

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Middle of August means the Chicago Air and Water Show is back. This year’s show, like all other shows in the US, was always going to be a bit different since the US military was not going to be taking part. That means a shift in emphasis from normal with a lot more civilian acts. With no headlining team this year (normally the Blue Angels and the Thunderbirds alternate), there was a question as to whether the attendance would be significantly reduced. It is a free show so you might think it isn’t that big a deal but the sponsorship is important and that requires people to show so it was going to be interesting to see how things shaped up.

There were some jets to add some noise and speed to the proceedings. Art Nalls brought his Sea Harrier and Paul Wood brought the A-4 Skyhawk. Both displayed twice on the show days to add a hint of military jets to things. Of course, these are not operational fighters and are nursed a little more carefully than a front line jet which the pilot can swap for another if he breaks anything. However, they still are able to up the tempo a bit.

I mixed my time between the flying on the beach in Chicago and Gary airport where everyone was staging from. It is fun to get the mix of the actual displays and the activity around launching and recovering the planes. The shots are a mix of those. I got to spend a lot of time with Team SHAR and will have a separate post about that in due course. From what I saw and heard, the attendance on the beach was pretty strong, if a little down on previous years. It looks like the show does indeed go on!

Sunset Into Midway

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Southwest Airlines and I are quite well acquainted. I am on one of their 737s on a rather regular basis. These days I am making the trip back and forth to the west coast a lot. Coming back from there usually means me arriving back into Chicago towards the end of the day. At this time of year, that can be around the time of sunset. I tend to sit on the side of the plane that gives you a nice view of the sunset as we are getting close to home.

I don’t always have my camera with me (although I always have the camera in my phone) and the combination of light and clouds is not always ideal. However, sometimes it just seems to work and give me something I am happy to remember. These images aren’t something that is ever going to be a big deal to anyone else but they are nice for me. No-one is going to want a wing and engine in the way either! Since you can’t change position, the view is a variation on the same theme all the time. That isn’t the point. I just have to remember to look backwards sometimes to see what is going on.

Baby Sloth Bears

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Last in the baby section, at least for now, is the sloth bear. One of the bears at Brookfield had a couple of cubs earlier in the year. They are now out in the enclosure for the public to see. Baby bears are really quite cute. Lots of fur and everything else a bit undersized so they look very ungainly. Add to that the typical youthful energy of young animals as they explore all of the new things on offer and you get a popular spot for visitors. I can’t judge – we were there for the same reason!

WHF Day Out

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What seems like far too long a time had passed since I had last had a chance to head up to Waukegan to see the team at the Warbird Heritage Foundation. A nice day and a break in my schedule meant that I was finally able to resolve that shortfall. I headed up to Waukegan keen to see what sort of day was in store. As with any collection of older aircraft, the chances of much flying are relatively limited since the planes are usually in need of some sort of care. However, there were a few parked out on the apron when I got there.

Sean and Mike were busy taking care of them as I wandered up. The first thing Sean told me was that he had flown the Bird Dog that morning and that it was a shame I hadn’t been there. Indeed so! Telling me I have missed out on a great opportunity is just cruel! Never mind. I still haven’t seen the Bird Dog fly so it would have been good to see it let alone fly in it.

The project for the day was the T-28 Trojan. Not so long ago, this aircraft had an engine go bad. The chip warning light came on while Sean was flying it and, since he was close to the field, he made a speedy descent to land. The engine pretty much gasped its last as he taxied in. A rebuild later and now the plane is flying again. However, as with all engines after overhaul, it is going through a running in period. This also requires a different grade of oil and a change of oil was the task for the guys.

With the new oil in, the engine was run and the oil topped off. Then it was time for a flight. Jeff is a regular T-28 pilot and member of the Trojan Horseman and he came along to fly with Sean in the back seat. Putting hours on the airframe is the goal but not going too far from the field in case anything goes wrong. They did their duty flying patterns over the field and I grabbed some shots when I could. Most of the time they were quite far away but, with the moon traversing the sky, a couple of opportunities presented themselves for shots with the moon in the background.

I also grabbed some shots of the aircraft on the ground while they were off doing their thing. I haven’t got much before of the Bird Dog so spent a bit of time with it including getting some shots of the cockpit. Harsh exterior lighting meant a but of HDR was required for some of the shots but hopefully it isn’t too obvious! I have shot these planes a lot over time but there is always a chance for something new. Good to see you guys again and hopefully it won’t be so long next time!

Brides on the Bridge!

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Photography can be a frustrating thing. So often when you don’t have a camera to hand, you see something that would have made an interesting picture. Then again, I have had many experiences when I was shooting something else that something came along which caught my eye and I could grab some shots. Perhaps the lesson here is that there is almost always something interesting going on as long as you are looking!

I was actually shooting out of our window recently. There was some helicopter activity over the area and this was my main target when I looked down at Michigan Avenue, a couple of blocks from us. There were a bunch of women in bridal gowns walking along the street. Looking more closely at the images, the women have red paint on their faces. I have no idea what this meant since I didn’t get one of the flyers they were handing out. They continued down to the bridge and across the river after which I lost track of them. The people around certainly seemed surprised to have a pack of brides (what is the right collective noun for brides – a nightmare?) bearing down on them. That is one of the cool things about this city. Something always is happening!

More Cute Animals – Addax

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The baby animal saga continues. The Addax group at the zoo have also had new additions. A couple of babies in this case. Probably not quite as cute as the giraffe but still pretty interesting. I suspect the Addax enclosure does not normally have as many visitors as they are getting right now. Babies of all species seem to have that effect on people!