Amsterdam By Night

This may not be the best photo in terms of technique, but I like it. It was shot in Amsterdam, on the edge of the red light district. I love the reflections of the light on the water, and I love the blur seen in the moving canal tour boat. This photo makes this part of Amsterdam look pretty good. Amsterdam is a beautiful city, but the red light district is a little grubbier, more run down, and packed with tourists than the rest of the city. Don't let that stop you from going, should you ever visit Amsterdam. The red light district is a must see (especially at night, when the red lights and lots of neon are visible), it's just not an area to spend a lot of time in.

Crater Lake

Here's a photo taken at Crater Lake National Park this past July. It's a beautiful place, and one I'd always wanted to visit.

Coins on Coit

I like this photo a lot. It was taken on the viewing platform at the top of Coit Tower in San Francisco on a rainy afternoon, not long after my flight back to Chicago was canceled due to the rain. With an extra day in the city, I climbed the steep streets to the top of Telegraph Hill and went to the top of the tower to shoot.

There are plexiglas panels covering the window openings at the top of Coit Tower, and visitors have pushed coins through the small space between them and the concrete walls. I used a long depth of field to make sure both the coins and the buildings of downtown San Francisco were both in focus.

They Crowded Up To Lenin With Their Noses Worn Off

Lenin, in statue form at the Communist Sculpture Park in Budapest. The song lyric that titles this post pops into my head whenever I look at this photo. Anyone care to guess what the song is? No cheating!

Marin Headlands, Golden Gate

Over the past month or so, I've posted several photos taken at the Marin Headlands. What can I say, it's an extremely photogenic place. This one was taken high on a bluff, with the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco in the background. I would love to go shoot there again. I'm in San Fransisco every couple of years (I have family there), so a return to the Marin Headlands is likely.

Comic

This is a page from a comic book, placed on a light table and shot with a macro lens. One of those things I do when I'm between projects and feel like playing in the studio.

Coit

Here's Coit Tower in San Francisco shot in brilliant, lifelike black and white.

Zion

This photo was shot (with a 35mm film camera, not digital) during a visit to Zion National park in Utah in 2000. I've always liked this photo and the dark, backlit foreground contrasted with the colors on the canyon walls in the background.

Salon de Juegos

This is one of those photos of random things that catch your eye. There's no big meaning behind it, I just liked how it looked through the viewfinder. Shot in an elementary school in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood last June.

Marin Headlands Bunker

Here's another photo of one of the old bunkers in the Marin Headlands. I've posted a couple other photos of these recently, you can see them if you go back a few posts. It's a really beautiful area; the abandoned bunkers accentuate the amazing views in an interesting way.

Art Institute Model

It's been a while since I posted one of these. This is a photo I shot of an architectural model for the Art Institute of Chicago's new modern wing, which opened last spring. I made a lot of photos of these models, some of which wound up as cyanotype prints (you can read about my adventure shooting the models here). I'm hoping to shoot in the new wing this fall, once the excitement (and huge crowds) die down some. I'm hoping that shooting in the actual building will give me an interesting set of images to compare with the photos of the model.

Still Horribly Hot

Another nasty day in Chicago today. Right now it's 90 degrees and the temperature is still rising. It's also very humid. Another day to stay indoors, but at least I'm getting some work done.

Here's a photo I shot last month while on vacation. It's at Lassen Volcanic National Park, and the high altitude (8000+ ft.) means that there's still snow on the ground in July.

Frost

Today's weather here in Chicago is going to be nasty. The forecast high is over 90 degrees, and it's extremely humid. I rarely run air conditioning, but today sounds like a good day to turn it on.

With that in mind, I posted a photo remind people to keep cool. It's frost on a window, shot on a bitter cold January day a couple of years ago.

Holgarama Haight

You're looking at a Holgarama (a panorama made with shots from a Holga camera) of the intersection of Haight and Ashbury in San Francisco, the famous epicenter of hippie culture in the '60's. That building with the blue awning near the center is a Ben & Jerry's ice cream store. I've always wanted to go in and ask them if they sell more Cherry Garcia there than at other Ben & Jerry's locations. Maybe next time I'm in San Francisco.

Let's Go Bowling!

This is a sign outside of a bowling alley (which I'm not sure is still open) on Western Ave. at about 79th St. in Chicago. I took this photo with my Holga camera while on my bike a couple of years ago.

I made a cyanotype print of this photo not too long after I shot it. Here's what it looks like:

Confusion Hill

Confusion Hill is one of many tourist traps which line Highway 101 in Northern California in and around the giant redwood groves. This is one of those 'mystery spot' places, basically a ramshackle cabin perched at an odd angle on a hillside which fosters visual illusions about size and angle of objects. I didn't take the tour, I just hit the gift shop here. There were no tacky postcards to be found (I collect them), and their t-shirts were badly designed (I like t-shirts from tourist traps).

A couple days (and a few hour's drive) after visiting Confusion Hill, I saw the real thing: The Oregon Vortex, the very first of the mystery spots. This time, I actually paid the nine dollars and went inside, figuring it was worth it just for the history of the place. It was a dud, and the visual illusions were pretty unimpressive. I'm still glad I went, a cheesy tourist trap is a good palate cleanser from all the natural beauty in the northwest! They didn't have any tacky postcards, either, and their t-shirts were pretty uninspiring as well (but better than the ones at Confusion Hill).

Colors

This is one of those photos that really shouldn't be very interesting, but I like it anyway. In this case, I think it's the colors. The blue, orange and green work well here.

Mussels

Here's a photo of mussels on a rock I shot while exploring tidal pools on my recent vacation. This was shot on Enderts Beach in Crescent City, CA, part of Redwoods National Park.

Don't Make Me Explain This...

I'm not really sure I can.

F-Stop Magazine

The new issue of F-Stop Magazine is now online. They published two of my photos. To see them, click on the link, then on the group exhibit (titled 'Amusements'). My photos are in the bottom row, on the right hand side.
While you're there, take a look at the work by other photographers. There's some good work there.

60's Apartment Building

Here is a Holga camera photo of a generic 60's apartment building in Naperville, IL. I like this photo quite a bit. There's just something about 50's and 60's era buildings that works when shot with a crappy Holga.