Stained

I had the opportunity recently to photography the interior of a church with lots of really interesting stain-glass windows. Said to be a light philosophy that expressed the "...thought that light reflected on earth is the closest we can get to the divine", I wanted to capture the essence of the glass and its impact on the viewer.

Tough Love

Last Friday evening was belt promotion for 3-9 y.o. and I was honored to be asked to shoot it. The instructor is an amazingly gifted teacher and gave this little guy special attention and words of encouragement to increase his chances of succeeding. In the end, despite everyone's heartbreak, he fell short of securing his belt. This time. I felt bad for the little guy but thought back on my martial arts days and remembered how much I appreciated the lessons of tough love I got to know so well. Life is indeed full of fun, happiness and good times. It's also fraught with pain, suffering and unfairness. Although I lose to the negatives periodically, I'm confident I'd lose more often if it wasn't for those lessons of tough love I learned as a child.

Up Close and Personal

I took a quick trip to our downtown area one day because I just had to get out of the house. I decided to do what I often hear you should do periodically and this is take only one lens and just do what you can with what you have. I took my 50mm and was near some these "sky rats" as a friend used to call them. I finally gave up on sneaking up on them for a close shot and soon after I started concentrating on the riverbank this one starts photo bombing me. I followed him and got what he probably wanted.

Mother Ship

On a trip to Chicago's Millennium Park one evening, I came across a rather odd art display involving colored flood lamps and white sheer fabric cloth in odd shapes. Their oddity and size reminded me of spaceships and alien invasions.

Day of the Dead

Yesterday was Mexico's Day of the Dead. Last weekend I attended a crazy shut-down-the-downtown-streets type of celebration called Nightmare on Chicago Street. I shot hundreds of this one was my favorite.

The Future

Laid off the other day. Future's a bit unclear but I'm staying positive and hopeful. “A stumble may prevent a fall.” - Thomas Fuller

The Dead Reach Out

Broke my lens that day, but before I did, I looked for a different take on the gross green film on the water. The dead tree sorta reaching out to the live ones did the trick for me.

A Path

This year I climbed a rather steep hill at a forest preserve I had never visited to find this solitary tree on top. It was an gloomy day. For the next hour or so, I sought to squeeze how I felt into several shots. This is one of them.

Our favorite Chocolate Chip

Yesterday my daughter asked me to enlarge her favorite photo of our recently-passed cat, Chip. I shot hundreds in the course of his life and he meant a lot to us. Especially her because it was principally her cat. This is the picture. She likes it because it's as though he is thinking hard about something as the sun sets. He thought a lot. We miss him. :*(

Starved Rock

Visited Starved Rock State Park in Utica Illinois last weekend. Lots of people but tried to stay focused on finding expression for how it made me feel. Not quite done.

Sit 'n wonder

The drizzle had started when I arrived so I started packing up. Then, I thought, oh what the heck, I'm here and probably won't be back for another year. I took it. Haven't been back in over a year.

Waves of Time

[caption id="attachment_19" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Waves of Time[/caption]

I was captivated by the rush of the water in the very small stream and surprised how much time and nature had changed the shoreline.

The Tower

[caption id="attachment_5" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Chicago's Water Tower[/caption]

Vendedor

Visited Nuevo Leon (est. 1962) Mexican restaurant today in Chicago's Pilsen Neighborhood. The color, smiles and great food made the visit memorable. As I was leaving, I was attracted to the vendor just outside the door. He was selling candy, gum, toys, tortillas, cups and many other impulse items for which you might find a need. I asked him if I could take his picture and he, rather quietly, said, "Sure...my profile." Not sure I'll ask next time, but self-respect and dignity were obviously important to him.

LHS v. EHS

Togs at Willis

See the full gallery on Posterous

Lots of photographers at the Willis Tower today. Yes!

Missing winter in Chicago? Not me!

Wing Park

Slump over

For 3 weeks or so I've been out of my slump. Still trying to figure out if it was a creative slump, laziness or the depressing weather (cold, wet, overcast). Oh well, though fodder for future.

I was given a rare opportunity to re-shoot a client. Seems new folks joined the company since last shoot. I revisited the original shoot and thought how to shoot better. Of course, my main thought going into AND after the shoot was securing a good flash. Since it'll be about $450 I've waited. Still, I needed something just a little bit better than my on-camera flash. I finally just headed to Best Buy (gift certificate) and bought an open-box Canon "baby" flash (270ex) for about a C-note. I'm surprised at it's power. It'll certainly help with portraits and other close-up situations but more importantly, it'll let me get the flash OFF the camera so I'm happy.

The re-shoot went great and I'm much happier with having had the flash to use rather than relying on the overhead florescent lights.

I also brought my reflector which was very useful. However, gotta say, using that 43" disc by myself and position g it where I wanted it wasn't easy. Gotta work on a good solution.

LIGHTwriters

Last fall, I finally bit the bullet and created an online Facebook photoclub. It has it's typical Facebook limitations, but given it's trial nature, I'll live with it. It was my desire o share photos, critique, encourage and share thoughts, questions and resources. It's been a slow process. Realizing I was doing most of the posting, I inquired if we should kill it. A few said they enjoyed it so it remains alive. Since then, activity has picked up a little. I often wonder if my passion for things scare people; maybe even put-off people. All my life, I seem to take my passions to the 'enth degree. I've learned my passion level is rarely another person's passion. For the past couple of years ago or so, my fire for photography has been reignited and has been a roaring inferno to the day. Several podcasts every day, a dozen emails daily, several monthly magazines (like Playboy of my youth, I subscribed to National Geographic just for the pictures - I rarely even read the articles!). Things are picking up in LIGHTwriters and I'm glad. I fear my passion sometimes...that's disconcerning.

Scarry

My 50mm 1.8 scares me. I must overcome...