Day 2: Clouds

Day 1: Windows

This little blog here has been neglected for far too long. I've decided to try and accept the challenge thrown by http://www.learnfoodphotography.com/ and I've signed up for their Photo-a-Day project. Most of these will just be pictures as I try to keep up with the daily themes presented, but once in a while I might have a story or two for you as well.

Here's my first entry for theme Windows:

Full Moon Fire Jam

I really have to be better about posting here, I'm sorry. Time just always seems to slip away from me, and at the end of the day, I never really know where it went. Though sometimes it disappears into the bottomless pit that is "television". I never really got caught up in any one show, but lately I've discovered Hulu.com and now I'm caught up in a whole bunch of them. Then there are these night time jaunts to listen to drums and watch fire spinners dance while the mosquitoes feast on my blood. These are not very frequent, but it was very cool to experience this at the Foster Beach park in Chicago, so I'll definitely be making a point to come back and do this again.



I already have ideas on how to get cooler pictures next time. But for now (and it'll have to hold until I turn the TV off and get off my lazy bum again) I think these came out pretty great.

Chinese New Year!

I am refusing to let my temporary lack of a fancy shmancy camera stop me from going "out there" and taking as many pictures as I can. I must admit that my accuracy is quite a bit lower with the inferior specimen I have at the moment, but I just shoot more frames and hope for the best. These two were my favorite shots (tweaked a bit for effect) from this weekend's New Year parade at Chicago's Chinatown. I got there an hour before the main event and I was able to walk around and take some nice shots before the crowds rolled in, but this one was pure luck. I lifted the camera over my head and pointed it in the general direction of the dragon as it floated through the crowd, flying over people's heads:

Random stop on the road

I was driving to my parent's house today and realized that I was going to miss out on the golden hour on the first sunny day we've had in a long time, so despite the fact that I was no where special, I decided to park right then and there (lucky for me there were no cars behind me, because I slammed on the breaks pretty hard) and shoot whatever I saw. I have to tell you a not-so-secret: EVERYTHING looks great in that magical golden hour. Look, it was just a fence, but in that golden light it just looks nostalgic:



And this one. In any other time of day, it's just a dried up weed. Doesn't it look pretty here though?



or here:



And this would be a boring shot without that beautiful light:



So the next time you find yourself with even an extra 5 minutes during this wonderful time, drop what you're doing and take 5 minutes to look around. You'll be amazed with how much you'll see.

Picasso in Chicago

I was walking to the train the other day from seeing Addams Family on Broadway, which was amazing, and noticed that the great Picasso statue in front of the Daley Center still had the holidays on it's mind. Everyone always photographs it from the front, which has been said to resemble a bird, horse, baboon or...ahem...a French woman who used to pose for Picasso a lot around that time. But seen from the back, it looked to me just like I was sneaking up to a man who was just realizing that I was behind him and was about to turn and see who's coming. It looks like a set of shoulders, just about to rise in defense, not knowing whether to be cautious or not. It looks like a person's face and the shape of their head and neck at the same time. Someone who you can literally see right through.


Isn't it fabulous how you can walk past something a dozen times and think you see and know everything there is to see, but then one day it catches you completely unaware and you see a completely new perspective. A facet previously hidden, just waiting for you to reach out of yourself and discover it. Look for it the next time you're called in for Jury Duty :D

No White Christmas Yet Again

And it looked so promising yesterday morning. The snow was falling in large clumps and gathering in billowy mounds on the ground, roofs, and tree branches. But as the day went on the snow turned to rain and everything got murky again. It looks like this will be the 4th year in a row that we are going to be stuck with a gray Christmas. Once more I won't be able to take pictures of the beautiful lights that people have put up and the world will stay in black and white.