fourpointedstar

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I was unable to track down exactly where this location might have been. It may be the valley in between Kingman, Arizona and the Arizona & California state line, but when viewing the desert from 25,000 feet, it’s a bit hard to determine specific landmarks.

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I think most people think of the Golden Gate Bridge or Hollywood or the beach when someone mentions California, but Bakersfield and the surrounding area in the south is so very different. As we flew over the mountains, my coworker mentioned how much he enjoys the mountains and the vistas they afford – something that California can definitely offer in spades.

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While flying over the dry and monochrome desert areas of northern New Mexico, we passed this one snowy cap. From my vantage point it looked quite out of place, but the Sierra Grande summit is all that remains of an extinct volcano. From a general Google search, it doesn’t look that steep or tall, but it is about 2,000 feet taller than any peak in the Appalachian range.

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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.

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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…

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Why, yes, I did enjoy taking photos of the Chihuly installation at the Milwaukee Art Museum. Some day, Sarah and I will make it out to Seattle to his museum…

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There were several of these kinds of infinite depth items; the previous yellow photo is another example. However, this installation was different, there were more than a dozen of these cubes stacked on each other, and the blue lights’ activity was somewhat responsive to the people passing by. It definitely reminded me of something futuristic, like maybe it represented the vastness of space.

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We took the girls to the WNDR Museum – which if you’re not sure what that is, you should think “Instagram/Snapchat scenes”. It was honestly really cool; and several of the art installations were very well done. Each of the girls found a couple of rooms that they really enjoyed interacting with.

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Some of my favorite images over the years have been my more abstract images and the images with a strong use of negative space. The “bird’s wings” floating in the void of the blue sky was absolutely beautiful on the day of our visit, and I also enjoy the simplicity of the monochrome image.

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Anytime that I visit a location for a second or third time, I want to take photos that are unique to each visit. Which means that with each visit the photos get more challenging but the images get more inventive. The intersection of lines in the pavilion is full of unique images and surprises.

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Each glass facade was a different shade, with the 3rd panes being pink. Overall the exhibit was simple and yet delightful; I’m not one for reading into art, but I definitely enjoyed viewing and attempting to capture the Icebergs uniquely.

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There are always new views and angles at the Milwaukee Art Museum. The spire that supports the suspension bridge is such an understated portion of this entire building. The simplicity of those understated lines leads to the entire building’s exceptional beauty.

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Can 16 pieces of glass arranged in 4 identical sets be photogenic?

After seeing a few fellow photographers capture this installation, I wanted to see the abstract art. I have photographed Calatrava’s Quadracci Pavilion before, and I really enjoyed integrating that architecture with “Iceberg”.

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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!

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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.

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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!

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What an odd viewpoint – looking north down the Black River after Rainbow Falls, you can see a straight(-ish) river for about half of a mile, before the river turns and enters the Black River harbor.

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I was very excited about visiting the Presque Isle Kettles during my October waterfall trip, but I’m not thrilled with my photos from the kettles. While I did get some cool photos; overall, I feel like I didn’t capture the location as well as I could have – guess I’ll have to make a trip back, right?

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Quite honestly, you could spend several days photographing the area of Bond Falls. The falls itself is actually several falls over a few hundred feet of stream, and the internet says that it drops roughly 50 feet in elevation.

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Lost Creek Falls might have been my favorite falls from the trip. There really wasn’t much water coming over the falls, but the scene was so peaceful. I’ve walked to many waterfalls, and while they’re in the woods, you can still hear portions of civilization – a truck downshifting, someone mowing, or something else.

This area of Wisconsin is very rural, and then you have to walk about 2 miles to get to the falls through the forest, so there is simply no noise other than nature.

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I’m back to those photos from my October waterfalls trip – Copper Falls State Park is absolutely incredible; four waterfalls with so many great trails too! The main entrance to the parking lot is up that river channel, and you’re actually looking upriver in this photo. But what you can’t see is the 10ft falls at the bottom of the image, and the 35ft Brownstone Falls just a little farther onward. It was a very impressive view, and someday I’ll have to go back and take a lot more time to wander.
You can see all of my images from Copper Falls here.

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I can’t imagine being a bird and needing to put my tiny feet in the cold cold snow.

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Nature always has such a delightful way of displaying her beauty. As the steam slowly lifted off of the river water and wafted over the shoreline ice, it would condense into these wonderful abstract stars. What a subtle display of beauty on a brutally cold morning.

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I drive past these wide open fields every morning, and in the winter they are typically very boring. But on Friday morning, the fog was perfect; just dense enough to conceal the horizon, and just thin enough to show the small patches of forest in the middle of the flat fields.

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This small falls was a fun little find on my way to the Perry Creek Waterfall. I always enjoy these little vignettes; there would be no way to have a better vantage point of this small spot without getting VERY wet or using a drone, and these kinds of little vantage points feel so natural and secret.

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I have often joked that no photography trip is successful unless I lose or ruin an article of clothing, and this trip was no less successful! As I was walking up the Roaring Creek to Lost Falls, I stepped into about 3 feet of gushy mud. My shoe barely made it back out as I pulled my foot back out.

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While I’m certain that at certain times of the year the Devil’s Punchbowl has a torrent of water flowing through it; it’s plainly obvious by this tiny channel that most of the time, its a small trickle.

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I had not originally planned on visiting Durward’s Glen Waterfall on my July trip, it just happened to be “along the way”. However, just the canyon was well worth the trip; it was absolutely gorgeous, and even though you’re surrounded by a Catholic campground & getaway, it feels miles away from anyone else.

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To reach the (very small) waterfall at Durward’s Glen, you have to hike along the stream, and once you get past a certain point, through the stream. What you can’t see in this photo is the “Private Property” signs on the right hand bank.

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The staircase in the Ironwood Theater was absolutely gorgeous! (And we’ve already established that I like photographing staircases.)

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I have always loved the more abstract forms in architecture and row after row of seating is no exception.  The Ironwood Theater had these chairs produced to be as close to the original seating as possible, and the chairs come in various widths so that you’re not always staring at the head in front of you.

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The Ironwood Theater is nearly 100 years old (built in 1928). Starting 30 years ago, a group of volunteers began restoring the theater to its former glory, and you can definitely see portions of their handiwork through the photos this week.

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I have a collection of stairs photos; so from the moment that I saw Lauri’s photo of this staircase, I knew that I had to photograph it and add it to my collection.

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If you know me, you likely know that I love photographing waterfalls, and recently someone asked “what counts as a waterfall?” Well, the water has to fall; it’s as simple as that. Now, I won’t drive hours to see a waterfall like this one (small, artificial), but the girls let me know about this cute location in Sun City Huntley, so one afternoon I stopped by to capture the small cascade along their artificial stream. The real question: does this count as a “nature photo” on my website?

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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.

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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.

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I’ve captured Elgin’s fireworks shows from the Chicago Street bridge a few times (link to the most recent set of photos), so last year I wanted to photograph them from a different viewpoint. We parked near the riverwalk and then walked just north of the Highway 20 bridge. I never posted the resulting images since I’d just come back from my July waterfall trip (link); however, this image definitely works to celebrate the New Year!

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It’s the end of the year; the time to consider your past year and to strive for a “new you” this coming year. I resolve to take more photos… and probably do other stuff too.

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