Closed

I was saving this for the next time I'm away from home and not able to post here, but I'm a little bored with my file of images to post at the moment, so I'm using it now.

Hydrant

Not much to say about this. It's just a nice photo.

Bored

If you want comments about this photo, go ahead and post your own.

Fall!

Happy equinox! Friday was the first day of Fall. It's my favorite season, and I'm glad it's here.

Old And Out Of The Way

I shot this with my reversed lens Brownie camera this past summer while riding my bike. This was somewhere along the southern end of the Major Taylor bike trail in Chicago, I'm guessing south of 120th Street. It was a sunny day, and the viewfinders on those old Brownie cameras are pretty much useless in direct sunlight. I just aimed at the building and shot. It turned out ok, although I probably have composed the shot a little differently had I been able to see it.

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

I shot this a couple of years ago while wandering around downtown Chicago with my camera. Sepia tone courtesy of Photoshop. If you don't get the title of this post or how it relates to the photo, you probably haven't been paying much attention to indie rock over the past few years, not that that's a bad thing.

Books

I'm way too tired to write much right now, so enjoy a photo of books.

Frank

Shot in Necropolis Cemetery in Toronto when I was visiting there last month.

Where?

I can't remember where I shot this photo with my Holga camera, but if I had to guess, I'd say Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood, maybe on 53rd St. I like it, it's lovely and bleak.

Contest!

What is the object in this photo? The first person to post with the correct answer will win a copy of this print.

Steps!

Shot last May in the Dan Ryan Woods in southwest Chicago using digital Infrared.

Big Boy!

An outtake from something I'm working on right now. When (if) I finish some of it, I'll post it here.

Autumn!

A bit of Fall-like weather in Chicago today. It felt good. Fall is my favorite season, and it won't be long now before things look like this photo. This is the University of Chicago campus, shot last October.

Wolfy's

A cool old sign, wish there were more of these still around. Petersen St. near California on the northwest side of Chicago. Shot a year or so ago.

Ugh.

At least it's not as bad as the gigantic Marilyn Monroe statue that's currently in this location.

Photography Is Not A Crime!

I shot this photo in May, 2010 near Chinatown in Chicago. I’m posting it now because I returned to this location today to shoot a few photos, and was briefly detained by Metra police (Metra is the Chicago commuter rail network).  This area sits just north of 18th St. at Wentworth St.  There is a gravel, one lane drive leading uphill to a clearing with great views of the city. Most of this area is about to be developed as part of Ping Tom Park, a lovely park on the edge of Chinatown. For now, the gravel drive is used as overflow parking for Chinatown, which can get busy, especially on the weekend.

That’s why I was there. I had gone to Chinatown for lunch and to pick up a few groceries. It was busy, usual for Sunday, and I ended up parking in this area. After lunch and shopping, my plan was to shoot a few photos with my toy cameras. 

I had barely started when I noticed what looked like a police officer a couple of hundred feet away, waving me over. I figured he might have a couple of questions, because cameras seem to make everyone paranoid these days. He motioned me over to his police car, parked across some railroad tracks on what was obviously Metra’s property. He was yelling right from the start. I tried explaining that I was just shooting a few photos, but he kept interrupting, saying I was trespassing. I had read, just last night, an ACLU brief about photographer’s rights (again, everyone with a camera is apparently suspect), and thought I knew what to say. But, trying to say anything seemed to infuriate this cop, and, yelling loudly, he threatened to arrest me if I said another word. He made me drop my photo bag, produce my ID, and place my hands on the police car. He frisked me, and called in my ID. All this time, he was being as condescending as possible, insinuating that I shouldn’t be so far from home (Chicago’s Chinatown is about 20 minutes from my house) and refusing to answer my questions. 

When my ID came back clean, he softened a bit, and seemed to realize he had been way too aggressive, but still pawed through my camera bag without my permission and kept going on about the “post 9/11 world”. He finally let me go “with a warning”, but I’ve been angry and troubled by it since. 

Here’s a screenshot from Google Earth (click on it to see a much larger version). I was standing at about position A, waiting for the sun to come out from behind a cloud so I could shoot the old iron train bridge, B, framed by the branches of the trees. The cop was at position C when he called and waved me over, and we met at his car, D (there’s a car in the Google Earth shot-the Metra Police must park there regularly). I don’t know if I was trespassing or not, to be honest. The area I shaded in blue is the approximate boundary of land owned by the Chicago Park District that is slated for development. I may have been within the Park District property, or I may not have been. Ultimately, that’s unimportant. If someone is photographing on private property, they must cease shooting photos and vacate the property if asked. That’s the law. The law does not state that police have the right to search your belongings and frisk you for trespassing. They can ask you to leave. 

I understand the need for security, but I also know that the law is very clear on the fact that it is perfectly legal to photograph infrastructure and buildings, even private property, from public spaces (the Google Earth screenshot above is proof that photos of a location are irrelevant to a potential terrorist, as better views can be found online). If you are on private property, the law is what I described above. I feel that the officer went beyond his legal rights, and as a result violated my rights. I just don’t know what to do about it. I know that a lot of people have had much worse treatment at the hands of the police (and Homeland Security) for photographing things. This is a big enough issue that Googling “photographer's rights” turns up thousands of hits (including one from me that I posted in June, 2008). What happened to me today was stressful and upsetting, but ultimately such a small event that I doubt anyone would care, even if the cop was out of line. So, do I report it, or let it go? I haven’t decided.

Today, my Facebook status read “Remembering the day Americans started giving up their freedoms and rights in order to cultivate a false sense of security.” Yes, the cop was right about one thing. We certainly are living in the post 9/11 world. 

Wet Web

Shot at Mirror Lake neat Mt. Hood in Oregon.

Two Chairs

Shot last spring in lovely digital infrared.

The Red Tack

Closeup photo of an outdoor bulletin board on the University of Chicago campus.

Burn

Here's another animated Gif taken with my Nishika camera. This one was shot on Northerly Island in Chicago about four years ago, on a day when they were doing a controlled burn of the wildflower gardens.

Click on the image to see the animation. I don't know why it isn't working in this post. The first one I posted didn't wok, the second one did, and now this one doesn't. Maybe it's a Blogger issue. I've had problems in the past with them.

Where I Grew Up

I shot this a couple of months ago while visiting my mom in Michigan.  This is what it looks like directly across the street from the house where I grew up (the view from the backyard is pretty much the same).  I sometimes miss the quiet and space of the country, but after a couple of days there I start craving something interesting to do.

Beef Ball

Shot in Toronto this summer. This and several similar posters were all over the place. I liked this ripped up one, it made the design better.

Just for fun, here are two extreme crops of the photo.

Which of the three do you like the best?

Here's an animated GIF of a photo I shot with my Nishika camera in San Francisco. This was the fantastic view from my sister's old apartment.

I've posted photos from my Nishika before, but they usually look like this:

This animation isn't perfect, it was thrown together quickly and I can see some mistakes. I like the 3D effect the animated GIF gives, though, and it's making me want to pull out the Nishika camera and start shooting with it again.

I Just Taught Myself Something

Animated GIF's from stereoptic photos (click on the photo if it isn't moving). This is my first test, completed just a couple of minutes ago. It's a scanned stereoptic card. Hopefully, tomorrow you'll see an original animated image from my Nishika camera.

Frosty Coolness

95 degrees in Chicago today, and it's forecast to be 97 tomorrow. UGH. At least it's supposed to cool off after some Saturday storms. I heard a forecast today that projected 69 degrees, dry and sunny on Monday. Sounds perfect. Meanwhile, enjoy a photo of frost and think cool thoughts.

Art & Glass

Shot somewhere in Chicago's Loop about a year ago. I like this photo, but it would he a lot better without the bit of a person at the right edge, and the reversed Office Depot logo (which may have been on a truck in the street).