fourpointedstar

I’m certain that the goddess is holding something from greek or roman legend, but to me it looks like a discus or a small tire and made me chuckle.

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

Who decided that a flying bird was the best emblem for this Ford’s hood ornament? What person walked into a business meeting and said “Yeah, I think a chicken looking bird is perfect!”

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

Every time that I have been to the Wauconda Cruise Night, there is at least one Duesenberg at the end of the main street. They’re absolutely spectacular cars, and I love photographing them!

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

Whenever I attend car shows, I try to take some time to walk through the spectator’s parking lot. This Mustang was just sitting there, looking angry, waiting for someone to take a photo.
While I was taking the photo, another Mustang owner parked right next to this car and asked me if it was my car – sadly no.

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

This was an interesting concept, but poor execution. The idea was that the sparks from the steel wool would look like they were coming out of the tailpipe, but – well, you gotta have your angles right. And since that’s me spinning the steel wool, well, my camera angle was all wrong. Oh well, I still think it’s a cool shot of Keith on his bike.

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

I alway enjoy finding new locations to photograph light trails, and I found this particular spot about 2 years before I finally got down to photograph it. Grand Avenue crosses I-90/94 with a perfect view of the Willis Tower, but there’s also a Metra track there too!
However, that Metra line is not used that often on the weekends, so I will have to go back to capture a better photo with the train light trails too. (Oh, and LED billboards are terrible…)

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

Most folks from the Chicago area will recognize that darker building, but why is the light blue building taller? I didn’t notice this trick of angles and perspective when I photographed this scene, but now I love the photo even more.

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

The concrete and glass exterior of the building on the south side of Wells becomes the perfect canvas for abstract architecture presented by the stepped exterior of the top of the building on the north side of Wells.

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

This fantastic oddity was captured from street level, and I just love all of the distortion. I’ve photographed the curved fascade of the building on the corner of Wells & Hubbard a few times, but always from the 4th or 5th floor of the parking garage with light trails in mind.
(This photo was from a photo walk that I led back in April.)

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

The shadows from the melting ice or snow rolling down the glass were the perfect addition to all of the angles in this photo.

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

Maybe it’s just me, but seeing the Sears/Willis Tower poking out from a scene was THE Chicago moment growing up. For a few years, my family lived on the south side, and it was a contest among the siblings to see who could see the skyline, specifically the Sears Tower, first when we would drive into the city.

On a recent photo walk, I found this little “window” created by the L tracks, the incredible rusty exterior contrasting with the sky, the Willis Tower, and the Merchandise Mart. I had to hop in between traffic on 2 different occasions to get this exposure correct; the afternoon sky was quite the contrast compared with the shadowed steel. This photo is one of my Top 3 favorite recent Chicago photos.

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

Sometimes photos just work better in monochrome, but this photo was nearly monochrome all by itself. This Corvette was pristine white and all of the dark accents were DARK – including the windows. Normally I’ll give a nod to the driver of a nice, well kept car like this one, but I don’t know if there was even a human driving it because the window tint was so dark.

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

At nearly every car show or meet, it’s difficult to get a great photo of a “cool” car. However, capturing an iconic detail is often a matter of patience.

Everyone has seen a photograph of a Lamborghini which makes photographing a Lamborghini in a unique way an interesting challenge.  How can I photograph this famous supercar in a way that is familiar but also new and interesting?  The direct sunlight helped so much in this photo, bringing out the shine in the rim and the paint job, but I am also fond of the double point in the nose of the car.

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

As we were walking out of a store in South Elgin, we watched this highlighter colored McLaren drive by. He parked a few lots down, so naturally I walked over to take a few photos.

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

I love photographing abstracts, and some of the coolest abstracts are in landscapes. On my recent work trip to Bakersfield, CA I took a few photos of the various landscape features that caught my attention.
This is St. Joseph, Missouri; and while that airport is in Missouri, everything else to the right (west) of the river is Nebraska. Rivers wind and change course over time, but state lines don’t.

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

A month ago at photo club, we had a group of photographers edit various photos so that the club could see various styles and choices. I submitted a few “bad” photos to the group of editors and one of my friends took my bad photo of this 918 Spyder and created an image similar to my edit above. I was amazed at how he’d taken a photo that I’d written off and created something gorgeous!
…to be clear, the image above is my recreation of his edit…

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

I think most boys who grew up in the 1980s had a poster of the Countach on their wall, or they at least had a friend who had that poster on their bedroom wall. So it came as a surprise to see an obviously-not-from-the-80’s Countach at the Auto Show. As it turns out, Lamborghini sold a hybrid supercar and in honor of the 50th Anniversary of the original Countach, they gave this new hypercar that classic name. The styling is reminiscent of the original, and the new Countach looks even cooler in person!

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

I love taking photos of cars, but I’m not that much of a mechanical car guy; however, I do recognize the “Lingenfelter” name and was happy to talk with the owner of this beautiful Camaro with a very unique paint color.

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

2025 Ford Mustang GTD, 2024 Chicago Auto Show
According to my notes, this was my 8th trip to the Chicago Auto Show to take photos. The show is much smaller than in previous years, but there’s always cool lines to photograph!

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

I remember the first time that I experienced the “Sneak Pass”; we lived in Pensacola at the time, and the Blue Angels were flying their end-of-the-season show. The Diamond formation flies off to one side, and while you’re looking over to the left and the right, one of the Solos sneaks up behind the crowd. Even today, knowing that its going to happen, it’s still impressive!

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

2022’s Chicago Air Show was rainy and humid, and Sarah and I got absolutely soaked by rain before the show. However, that did lead to some very cool vapor trails photos!

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

It struck me as somewhat comical that the counterweights for the various curtains and stage elements looked more like boxing punching bags. Each counter weight is specially balanced so that a member of the tech crew can properly move equipment quickly and fluidly.

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

While we were on our October waterfall trip, our guide arranged for us to visit the Historic Ironwood Theater in Ironwood, Michigan. The theater has been beautifully restored, and they use this film projector to show classic films.

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

What’s cooler than a fully tricked out hot rod?
Wauconda Cruise In always puts on a good show, and this year, I was able to attend in both July and August.

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

I’ve captured many images from this location over the past 15 years, but it’s only been the past 2 or 3 years that I tried to capture light trails of the Wells Street bridge’s CTA tracks. I love the light trails in this photo, now I just need to capture a bicyclist with lights on their bike riding down the river walk ramp.

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

…view older images with the thumbnails below…

…view older images with the thumbnails below…