fourpointedstar

Recently I was reading about the Romanov family in Russia; the absolute lack of compassion on the commoners compared with their murder. Both seem equally horrifying to my modern understanding: treating others as serfs or slaves and executing someone, especially children.

Sarah and I visited Boston; we wanted to get away from work (both job & home), and since it is an important anniversary for the United States, we chose a town that was instrumental in the Revolution.

I’ve struggled with being proud of the United States since well before 2016, but that was a year that horrified me – not due to a presidential candidate, but because of the public embrace of treating others as inferior and the justification of inflicting pain upon another person, especially children.

It is still impossible to justify owning slaves, it is still impossible to justify class, race, gender, or religious constraints; but visiting Boston helped me regain a little bit of my pride in the United States.

No one is perfect, in fact everyone is tragically flawed – our biases, willful ignorance, and stubbornness can be easily picked apart. But to see the beginnings of something that could lead to a nation that millions would flock to and hold up as “freedom” was a small breath of fresh air.

Twice recently, I talked with a friend who had given up hope, and I realized hope is what we have, what drives positive change, and what can lead to a better future. We’re surrounded by bad news – social, environmental, financial – but there are people who have hope that they can make an impact.

Jefferson, Franklin, Washington, Hamilton – they were ALL flawed even for their time; the same way we are now. But their hope 250 years ago allows me to live in a country where we can have hope for change and impact.

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The entire neighborhood around Bunker Hill was decorated with bunting and other red, white, and blue decorations; and it made the walk up the hill from the USS Constitution to the Bunker Hill Memorial beautiful.

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This statue is outside of King’s Chapel – the “Memorial to Enslaved Persons” (notice the open cage and free birds) in recognition of all the slaves owned by members and ministers of the Kings Chapel congregation.

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I love that I have clients in downtown Chicago, it gives me an excuse to walk around in the city a few times per year! I needed to be at the client at 8am, but that means either leaving early or sitting in traffic. So I chose leaving early, parking, and then walking around for 45 minutes to take photos, which is the perfect start to my day!

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Borks Waterfall is fascinating, not because of the falls, but due to the fact that you drive through the upper stream to get there. Borks is also a beautiful waterfall itself, but I did quite enjoy driving through and wandering around the stream above the falls.

I wonder how many times I’ve wondered “is this *really* a waterfall?
How far does the water have to fall in relation to the width of the stream, how much water in relation to the volume of water, and does it matter if the falls will disappear when the flow increases dramatically?
But I keep coming back to my simple definition of waterfall? “Does the waterfall? Did I enjoy visiting the falls and taking the photo?” And that’s good enough for me.

What makes a waterfall a “waterfall”? Jelkes Creek doesn’t have enough elevation change to create a falls through its meandering path in Sleepy Hollow and Dundee Township to create much besides bogs and marshes. I would guess that this damn & spillway were created as a control point for Jelkes Creek as it flows under Hwy 31. What I find most interesting is that I’ve driven by Lake Beatrice for over 15 years and missed that this spillway existed the entire time.

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While on a call about photography of the boring world around us, I saw an image of blinds with a pull string. It was a perfect image – simple and yet compelling, so I attempted to re-create the image during that call using the blinds in my office.

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You might think that after 10 years of photographing butterflies in the same exhibit that it would be easier or boring or predictable, but during each visit, I have to search for the butterflies in a good setting within the reach of my lens, adjust for the proper lighting, and then capture the image while the butterfly is stationary.

The sunlight filters in and out, the butterflies often land far away or in an “ugly” location, or they take off right when you press the shutter button; so each year there is a challenge and a smile when I’m editing and see that I’ve captured a good image. Really, each one of those challenges is present in most photographic creation…

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Each winter, I make a sacred trek to Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum in Chicago. They have a wonderful year-round butterfly exhibit, and those colors are the perfect break from the dull nature colors. Even when the Illinois winter blesses us with snow instead of 43 shades of brown and grey, more of nature is still monochromatic.

Typically I focus on the butterflies; small pops of color whose unpredictable nature and flight paths make them a challenge to photograph, but this visit, I was inspired by a photo that Sarah took years ago – a simple image of the end of one of the vines. What images could I create in the butterfly house that weren’t of butterflies?

I do like these photos, but … (see previous post)

I don’t click the shutter button nearly as often as I used to; it’s not that I don’t take my camera out as much, it’s that I take fewer photos overall but have a higher percentage of photos that I like. Most often, I know before I click if the photo will be worthwhile, and I’m much more willing to wait for the right shot, scene, or composition. In short, I’m much less “spray and pray” with the shutter button that I used to be.

But barns? I found it very difficult to find inspiration and compositions with the barns and other abandoned structures on our trip. It’s not that the buildings weren’t interesting; it’s that I haven’t developed the mind’s eye for it. Once I brought the images into Lightroom, I couldn’t “see” why I took the photo to begin with – or worse – I could see and now I thought it was weak or absent.

Perhaps I need more practice (I do), but as I mentioned before; there’s only so much time to take pictures, and maybe I’d rather spend it with the subjects and scenes that I already love.

At some point in life, most of us realize that we don’t have time for everything that we’re interested in – we’re forced to drop a hobby because we don’t have time.

Photography reached that point for me a few years back; I used to photograph anything, but I discovered that I wouldn’t edit certain photoshoots or would be annoyed at editing certain shoots. I enjoy certain subject matter and certain photo topics and would like to spend more time with those.

Old, abandoned buildings is one of those topics; it’s not that I don’t like the photos that I come up with, it’s that I’d rather be photographing something else. This was true on our trip to Southern Illinois with Keith French; on two days, we visited abandoned churches and barns, and I found myself wanting to wander through the woods instead.

I do like these photos, but …

Back in November 2023, Side Street Studio Arts hosted a photo walk; each participant was supposed to pick a “challenge” for the day, so I took every photo at 200mm. I’ve already posted several of my photos, so make sure to check those photos out too.

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What do you SEE as you walk around your daily life? A photographer friend of mine recently asked about taking photos of another artist’s work; but in reality, aren’t photographers normally taking photos of other artist’s work? Even nature photographers are taking photos of mother nature’s work, right?

A craftsman who creates an object out of paint, clay, wood, stone, or metal can claim originality, but most of us are taking photos of something we didn’t create; instead we are creating art by adding or interpreting the existing environment or material.

With that in mind, go around your home and create art by adding or interpreting your own personal environment.

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There are certain architectural elements that lend themselves to odd, abstract photographs, but in some instances, you must create the abstract image. As I walked around ECC some images just made sense – the concrete ceiling under the elevated walkway and the outdoor metal staircase. But the staircase’s metal railing and marbled look, I knew there was a photo; but as long as it was right side up, it just looked like stairs…

I’ve taken many photos along this theme over the years – I absolutely love the strong silhouette border and pop of colors in the sunlight.

As this biker rolled up, the chorus from Nirvana’s “Heart Shaped Box” blasted from his bluetooth speaker; I’m not certain that you could be more cool that this dude.  I crossed the street in front of him, and I gave him a sleight nod of my head to let him know that I felt his aura, and as I lifted my camera up to capture the image, he gave me just the edge of a smile to let me know that he knows that he’s worth of being photographed.

I’d passed this scene for a few mornings; the singular shaft of sunlight spilling through the forest skylight; however, there was no where to park along this stretch of Winfield Road (and the road has a curb too).  Instead I pulled up Google Maps to find the nearest spot and decided to walk to the scene.

I love the mystical feeling and wonder if you could find a sacred sword in that spotlight?

There’s a bit of a story behind this photo:
In late August and early September, the sun is at the exact correct spot for wonderful sunrise photos on my drive into work. A couple of days before this photo, the mixture of sunrise and fog was perfect. I took a dozen photos that I was very excited about, and once I got to my office, I turned my camera back on to see the images that I’d captured.

And that was how I discovered that my Sony doesn’t have any alert when you press the shutter that there are not SD cards in the camera…I’d missed all of those (in my imagination) wonderful photos. So, for the next week, I stopped at the same three locations and captured sunrise photos, attempting to recreate those images that in my memory were perfect.

Anyway, I simply love this photo. I’ve shown it to a few people, one of whom said that it needs more tonal range or the addition of another color (roll back all that yellow to get some blue into the image)…but I like that early morning punch of yellow.

I love these types of photos; photos where you can’t quite tell what elements are part of the foreground, background, or reflection.

I love photographic reflections because they lead the viewer to look more than once, hopefully to investigate what caused the distortion, the odd lines, or the extra shapes. This image makes me take second and third glances each time … and I took the photo!

I absolutely love that the St. Regis is reflecting the buildings across the river almost as if you were viewing a painting.

p.s. After posting this image a few places, two people chimed in: “what if you edited this to be a square and removed the trees?” and “that looks like you could give it a pop of color!”. Now we all know people who offer their opinions a bit too much, but differing opinions can add value to our lives, and in this image’s editing, I think ultimately the image benefits from their opinions.

As I stood waiting for fellow photo walkers to arrive, I could see the corner of the McDonald’s sign reflected in the triangular building across the street.  Moving to the left allowed the entire sign to be displayed in their windows; a great way to start a street photography photo walk.

There may only be a couple of weeks each year when the sun lines up perfectly with the doors on this building to create this photo.  If the sun is any lower, then the trees just outside the doors will block the rays too.  Opportunities like this abound everyday, we just have to pay attention … and bring a camera. 

ECC has many locations where plants have been integrated into the buildings; rooftop gardens, between buildings, and even small court yards.  As I’ve walked around looking at the architecture, the spots of nature leap out with their beauty and color.

A few months back, a photography mentor challenged me to find the photos in everyday life. I tend to capture many beautiful images on photo walks, but them rarely take photos outside of those “events”, so I began photographing the normal scenes in normal life. While this was taken while I wandered around ECC looking for photos, I would’ve likely ignored it without the challenge of looking for normal scenes.

Once you start looking around ECC, you’ll find many beautiful scenes to photograph, and since the campus has been built over decades, there are many different architectural styles to take advantage of.

I took quite a few photos of this sunrise before the sun peeked above the clouds, and they’re great photos, but they simply don’t hold a candle to the all encompassing orange as the light crested the foggy horizon.  The scene was simply incredible.

I pass by quite a few nature preserves and parks on my normal commute to work – or I can, if I drive a bit off of the beaten path. Last year, I discovered that there is a month or more than the fog hangs thick in the autumn mornings. Stearns Road is a four lane highway, but as it passes between Highway 31 and 59, there are so many beautiful spots.

Oh my, and to look inside that mountain outcrop?  What a wonderful spectacle of lines, shadows, and shapes!  This is definitely some kind of 3D TicTacToe game that I’m not aware of!

I’ve always loved these kinds of architectural elements; the abstract corners jutting out from a building. ECC seems to have a few of these; staircases that are not in the core of the building, but on the outside hanging onto the building, and in this case the blue pillar makes this element even more impactful.

There is something magical about a bee that is the size of a grain of rice.  Well technically, it’s not a bee; maybe a hover fly or a sweat bee, I can never remember which is which.  Either way, the way they flit and float around is wonderful, and then they choose a spot to land; but I can’t imagine that the tiny fraction of an ounce is even noticeable.

What a perfect metaphor for a Monday!  A traffic jam of aphids sucking the life out of this plant!
I am fascinated by aphids visually; they definitely follow a “pack” mentality, and hilariously are often only hanging on by their front feet and jaws. And their bodies are so simple or small that they just glow in the sunlight.

When we started our photo walk, I wanted to capture images that I may not normally see or look for. The stop light shadow immediately grabbed my attention, but I will admit that my second photo, the reflection, is the type of photo that I have taken many times over.

I loved the way the evening light played with the reddish bricks on the steeple, but when I saw the shadows on the RR Donnelly building? The way the straight shadow played across the rectangular windows and contrasted with the darkness of the second building’s window reflection? That was simply too good to pass up!

My friend and I took a nice slow walk around one of Elgin’s historic neighborhoods. Our meandering path matched our meandering conversation as we talked about life and pressed our shutter buttons. I remarked to him “I’m just not really feeling it”, but I continued to capture interesting images. As I tried to pick 7 images to post for this week, they all seemed to be missing something; but as pairs of photos?

The strong red-ish light of the sun played strongly across each scene, but was most evident on the brick buildings leading to the wonderful hues in these photos.

This particular morning, I saw very few spiders. While I do enjoy capturing a bee in a flower, it’s more fun to photograph other insects as they pollenate.  Spiders are even more unique; typically they’re “hiding”, hunched in an area of the plant that is out of the way, but paying attention to YOU the photographer.  It’s a cat-and-mouse game, but for the spider, it’s a monster-and-mouse game.

I took a much closer photo of this tiny jumping spider but the photo lacked any sense of scale. While the photo doesn’t show nearly any detail for the spider, this photo gives a much better sense of scale and shows how hard it can be to see these spiders, let alone capture them.

I will never admit how many photos it took to get this particular image: the bee would fly off, the bee’s face would be too dark or too light, the focus wouldn’t be correct, etc. As it is, there are still elements that I wish I could fix; I dislike that the center is so out of focus, and I wish that the bee’s were just a little more in the sunlight. But I love that the image implies that the bees are circumnavigating the flower, an insect Juan Elcano if you will.

It’s amazing how the simple addition of the pointy tail on this insect makes it go from “cute, like a bee” to “terrifying and menacing”.  I love photos like this one; all the texture in the head and torso, the contrast in the vibrant flower and the insect body, and the hint of sunlight in the eye.