fourpointedstar

Don’t shoot in direct sunlight; wait for an overcast day.
The direct sunlight creates harsh shadows and high contrast colors.
Unless you can use the shadows and bold colors to make a wonderful photo.

First of all, this hotel’s footprint is very odd, very random; almost as if the architect was moonlighting as a cubism artist.
But then the midday sunlight reflecting and refracting across the brick facade?

Absolutely delightful!

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Of course there is a joke about the Golden Arches on the River Point building, but honestly, this construction was a wonderful addition to the Chicago River split.  In 2008 and 2009, I visited this exact spot, but there was no building, only traintracks.  Now, there’s a beautiful park, wonderful art, and the space has been utilized.

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I love a photo that doesn’t have a lot of visual clutter, and I love a photo that has a strong point of focus.  For this photo, I love that the subtle colors work so well together, and that the lines are so strong throughout.

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Sometimes it’s just the simplicity of the photo.

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I’m not really a “street photographer”, but over the past two years I have been trying to expand my photography. As my friend Arnoldo and I walked through Elgin on that rainy November day, I found several scenes that were not my usual fare, but still felt photogenic to my eye.

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This wasn’t my favorite photo to capture. The railings on the staircase are glass and that just gives me the heebie-jeebies (is that how you spell that phrase?); moving my feet out of the way while trying to hold my camera over the edge.

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As I moved around the lobby in the Hemmens, these lights moved with me creating patterns and shapes. A centimeter this way or that and the entire frame would change; it’s one of the reasons that I love architecture photography, it really does embody that statement of “right place, right time”. The colors, angles, lighting are all impacted by exactly when and where you are standing.

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I’ve heard many people say the right place and the right time are essential for a photograph, but I would argue that the right mindset is also essential. As Sarah and I were standing in the lobby of The Hemmens in Elgin, I was watching the reflections and refractions on the windows and walls. And while my mind wandered, this distant aircraft caught my eye as it traced its way through each window pane.

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In today’s language, this house belongs to a one-percent-er, but I have a hard time feeling jealous of them. After all, if I had millions (or billions), I’d want a home in that exact spot as well.

It probably goes without saying, but you can’t go very far in Seattle without seeing Mount Ranier. When we took the tour of the harbor the sun was setting and illuminating the snow cap.

Sometime we’ll make it back to Alpental in the spring, when there are several veil falls along the mountains… This is the view looking off of the bridge from the parking lot the resort lodge. I would estimate that it’s a 30foot drop and then the most beautiful and hidden stream you can imagine.

The hike down to see Snoqualmie Falls is not for the faint of heart, but you can park at the lower parking lot too. The views down in the canyon are worth the hike though! Just this segment of river would be noteworthy anywhere in the midwest, but in Washington? Just part of a minor river’s path.

As I looked over the other side of the bridge (from the previous photo), the colors and detail in the shoreline struck me. The water was so clear that it felt like you could see dozens of feet into the river. I love the balance of shoreline, saturated colors, underwater cliff, and the reflection of the forest in this image.

Sarah pointed out this view. We passed by this vantage point on the way west that day, so when we returned east, she asked me to photograph this portion of the river. I wish that I could have captured a train on the bridge, but that would almost ruin the view.

Of course the series of waterfalls was my main focus when we stopped at Deception Falls Park, but the view downstream was equally gorgeous. The stream disappeared into the forest and fog and the small island added that extra touch of natural beauty. The stream’s soft green coloring and the damp air added to the mystical feelings that day.

As you fly over the midwest, you can see a patchwork of farmland, roads, and rivers creating right angles and natural curves across the earth. Perhaps that’s why I enjoy this photo so much, it reminds me of the mixture of manmade and natural shapes. The weathered run off from the rivets just adds a little pizazz too.

As the sun faded in and out of the cloud cover throughout our walk around the museum, the colors of the metal would change. The building would reflect the blues, yellows, and greys in the sky and then my Sony would attempt to record those colors as photographs. As I was editing the images, I found so many fun and fantastic color combinations; in this image, you can see the golds, coppers, and silvers as well as the grey, blue, and yellow in the clouds.

I struggled with editing this image. I love the composition, but getting the dark and light not too dark and not too light was a challenge; and I still don’t think I’ve got it right. The light parts just aren’t light enough, and I’ve always struggled with getting monochrome images to have nice lighter parts of the image without having just a texture-less white space. Each photograph teaches us a lesson and often that lesson is “you have a lot more to learn.”

I love the warble of reflected lines in glass, but it brought a smile to my face to discover the same thing happens with metals. The straight lines of the fantastic red-ish hues stand out against the reflected copper lines. I’ve photographed this exact phenomena in many windows but finding it present in steel was simply wonderful.

Unlike most of Frank Ghery’s most famous buildings, the Museum of Pop Culture is not simply shades of shimmering silver. The building has 5 or 6 unique segments in different colors, each segment with his signature curves and waves. Shadows and reflections wandered across each curve and surface, combining to form a lasting smile across my face.

This pigeon has decided that sitting on the top of this metal cloud is a great way to interrupt my photo. At first I was annoyed, but now I enjoy the tiny interruption – almost like it’s Monty Python’s French Taunter in the castle castle threatening “I blow my nose at you!”

Ghery’s architectural works stand out in any skyline. The multiple colors, textures, and waves on the Museum of Pop Culture exhibit a wonderful feast of the eyes. While many of his buildings and designs are similar to the Pritzker Pavilion here in Chicago – mostly uniform in color – the Seattle design has multiple treatments and colors for the sheet metal. As we walked around the exterior, I found dozens and perhaps hundreds of potential abstracts, and after editing, here are a few that stood out as spectacular.

As you walk away from the Seattle Space Needle, you’re treated to the chrome and copper variations in the anodized metal. The waves and variations reminded me of a patchwork quilt that has been tossed on the couch; almost as if the wind had blown the building into that particular spot in Seattle’s downtown.

I believe that Kristen has attended three of our Elgin photo walks; she has a great eye and great ideas.  She originally lined this photo up and spent her time capturing the scene with the Water Tower centered – and during that time, a dozen vehicles passed by interrupting her photos.  Then when I took my turn with the same location, I had to wait for several minutes to get my first car for the light trails that I wanted to capture.  I finally did capture an ambulance on Michigan Avenue (in the back), and three vehicles on Tower Court in the foreground.

I wonder if the Allerton Hotel felt the eerie presence of the observation deck on that cold and foggy night. The top of the John Hancock Tower almost disappears into the fog and mist leaving the blue and white lights as the only reminder of the dark obelisk.

I enjoy the rotating art displays in the courtyard between the Tribune Tower and the Apple Store on Michigan Avenue. Seeing “hope” in such a central point of the city is a wonderful reminder of something that we have to work at, to hope for a better future.
And of course, I had to shoot some light trails on any walk through Chicago!

On a previous photo walk (which was also rainy), Arnaldo took a few photos of reflections in the water; and as I waited for the December photo walk to begin, I noticed this perfect reflection. I considered asking someone to step in the puddle, but decided that the Wrigley and InterContinental buildings were a great composition.

The day was rainy, but the soldiers still stood guard. With the rainy concrete and the interior lights providing a warm glow, the entrance to The Wrigley Building looked perfectly festive and the marble facade added to the grandeur.

When I attended the Lincoln Park Zoo Holiday Lights exhibit, I wanted to create something more than a record of someone else’s artwork. In the past, I have captured images that combined the lights with camera motion, and I wanted to take what I have learned in the past and apply it to this year’s visit. This abstracted tree gave me the opportunity to see the image as something more than “a tree wrapped in green lights”.

There’s something magical about the hustle and bustle of early December. The busyness but excitement for the celebrations to come; spending time with family, fewer work obligations, and parties. Watching the joy of the people skating in Millennium Park still brings a smile over a month later.

The tiny streams that pass through the canyons communicate a powerful message – little actions over and over for a long time yield huge results. The daily trickle of water combined with the spring floods are a lot like our daily lives … for better or worse.

I’ve taken a few photos similar to this one; the abstract natural textures of colorful rocks. My favorite similar images are from Rockhouse Cave in Hocking Hills State Park, Ohio. But what struck me about this image is how much the color palette reminded me of the colors in renaissance art.

There’s something ancient and powerful about the angled shapes of these stones along the Vermillion River. The way they jut out into the air is an incredible reminder of the power of nature and geological forces and honestly such a beautiful sight.

In my mind, traveling before 1830 would have been absolutely terrifying. In the past 200 years, transportation across country has progressed from walking and horseback to paved roads, trains, and even aircraft. This view upstream near the Vermillion River reminds me of all of those dangers.

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There is something fascinatingly unattractive about this photo. It’s not that humans have ruined a scene – so many beautiful vistas are ruined by power lines, trash, or other remnants of humanity. No, this is just the backwater area of a creek that is very low right now; as you’ll see in a photo later in this series, barely a trickle.

The stone wall is muddy and inaccessible, and the water was murky and dirty. But I still love the location and the reminder that not everything is pretty – and it doesn’t have to be either.

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If you visit the lower area of Matthiessen State Park, you can walk through a naturally carved tunnel on the left side of the canyon to get a unique view of the waterfall and cliff face. While I was standing there, I felt like this was my little hiding place, so I edited this monochrome image to match that feeling.

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I first visited Matthiessen State Park back in 2014 on a day that I photographed 4 of the waterfalls at Starved Rock as well. You can see how sunny it was in quite a few of the photos, but the sunshine made it almost impossible to get a longer exposure of Cascade Falls – that is, until a cloud drifted overhead. The same thing happened throughout the day on this trip to Matthiessen; the clouds drifted overhead allowing for some longer exposures.

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When you go on vacation there are typically photos that you know about before hand, but this photo, I don’t think I could have anticipated even if someone had mentioned it before our trip.
If you stand on the loading platform for the Bainbridge Ferry you can see this one tree that is missing in the treelike along Wing Point. But the windows along the platform are highly reflective; all of them except for the one window that allows you to line up the Space Needle with the empty spot in the treeline.

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We stayed in a VRBO in the building to the right of this photo, and walking out to this patio / sidewalk each day was so welcoming. There was a variety of restaurants and entertainment along the first couple of floors and then housing in each building’s higher floors. Down near Skillet was the alleyway that leads up to Pike Place Market to the North, and as you can see, the stairs down led to the waterfront walk. But…don’t ask about the rent.

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We took a sunset boat ride out into Elliot Bay on our second to last day in Seattle. The colors in the sky were spectacular, and they mixed so well in with the colors on Pier 57. I hadn’t brought my wider lens, so I’m a bit sad that it’s so tight to the edges, but I love the colors!

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This might be my most serendipitous shot from our Seattle trip in October. Sarah and I were walking back to our VRBO that evening; Sarah wanted to look at a chocolate shop, but as we passed Union Street, the moon caught my eye. My feet were tired and I didn’t have my tripod with me, so this was taken with my Sony propped on top of a circular railing over the 3 story drop onto Post Alley. I probably took more than a dozen photos in my attempt to capture the scene; the ferris wheel would stop rotating, someone else would bump the railing, or I wasn’t standing perfectly still … but in the end I captured this 4 second exposure and only later discovered that it included Venus!

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