All in Chicago
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Having said all that, it is hard for me to imagine any of today's rock and pop musicians staging an exhibit like this in 40 or 50 years. Given the web, social media, video games, and all the entertainment and expressive options available to people today, music just doesn't play quite the central role it once did in the culture.
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I decided to take a little walk today. Down Roscoe, down Broadway, down Clark, down Wells, down Franklin, and arrive three hours later in back of the Merchandise Mart.
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Richard Misrach is one of my favorite photographers. He undertook a three-year project in which he photographed the Golden Gate Bridge from the same vantage point from his front porch, located somewhere in the vicinity of Berkley. Misrach was demonstrating that photography is often more about the light and the weather conditions than the specific subject matter.
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Fermi Labs is located in Batavia, Illinois, about 40 miles west of Chicago. Sited on prairie land, the lab explores the "mysteries of matter, energy, space, and time," putting it in the same business as the late Leon Russell, who was the Master of Space and Time. And you know, there isn't really much difference between physics and music, its all about gaps in space, timing, acceleration, and deceleration.
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The sun continued to burn with intensity as the afternoon turned into twilight, spaying the the Chicago River with intense light. It was so intense that it lit the underside of the bridges, which is what caught my attention. You gotta love the clouds and that deep blue sky.
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The afternoon light was magnificent. The shadows finally came out after almost 10 days of unrelenting gray and white skies, with lots of fog and rain. What can you say? It's a geometric progression on the Chicago River. Simple, but powerful.
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Here is one more from Thursday afternoon's excursions. The colors are gorgeous, if I don't say so myself. That the Fuji GFX 50s at work, handheld medium format.
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It's a love hate thing. Joe Segal, the 90 year-old proprietor of Chicago's Jazz Showcase, loves Charlie Parker, which is why the photograph of Parker adorns the wall behind the stage. Joe has been in the jazz impresario business for 70+ years. Everybody who is anybody has been through that club. Joe is an institution in the world of jazz, receiving all sorts of accolades, including the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master honor.
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Not exactly the sunniest day, but pretty good considering that the Tribune 10-day forecast predicted clouds and rain for the next ten days. When I left the house, the temperature was in the mid-60s.
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I am not a big fan of photographs that feature statues, particularly of historical figures in representational style. Yet, I have always enjoyed the superhuman statue honoring the German philosopher and writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) that sits at the north end of Lincoln Park, with two Mies van der Rohe apartments serving as the backdrop.
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I thought I might go to a jazz concert tonight, but I didn't have the energy, so I hopped on the 151 and headed to North Pond. I took 68 exposures over a 2 hour period without once moving my tripod. This is the second to the last photograph of the session.
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Soon the leaves will return to the trees, which will make this a particularly interesting scene for infrared film. Shot from the bridge over the lagoon just southeast of Cafe Brauer, this photograph is pretty standard fare for me.
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March 13, 2017. Chicago had its first snowstorm of 2017. Up until today, there hadn't even been a flurry. Unfortunately, the storm was relatively minor, dropping somewhere between 6" and 12" inches. By rush hour, the roads were clear, but the clouds still blanketed the sky with white. No contrast and no falling snow: The city just doesn't look that great, which is why I headed to Lincoln Park.
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"Streaks" is today's world. The sky had some interesting dark streaks running through it. This is most pronounced in the space between the Wrigley Building and Trump Tower, but the upper sky also had dark streaks. Unfortunately my sensor had streaks of dust--not just spots--so it took some effort to remove the spots and streaks.
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The Allerton Hotel was originally a men's club with hotel facilities when it opened in 1924. It is noted for its set backs, which served as inspiration for many of the other taller buildings subsequently erected throughout the Chicago downtown area. The building's price tag came in at $4 million
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It isn't raining, but it sure is a purple sky. I am standing in Maggie Daley Park, looking westward toward the strip of skyscrapers on Michigan Avenue.
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Sunday afternoon, and this beer bottle is still so nicely balanced on the fire hydrant on Clark Street just a block south of Wrigley Field. I can only wonder if the person who put it there--presumably late on Saturday night or early Sunday morning--was as equally well-balanced.
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Today was "Not My President's Day" in Chicago and throughout the country. While I share the sentiment, it was a rather lackluster event in Chicago. Wabash and Wacker has become the regular meeting ground--directly across the river from the Trump Tower.
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While waiting on the steps outside the Michigan Avenue entrance for Evelyn to finish her scone, I heard a terrific trumpeter who clearly knew his chops. I assumed he was a jazz cat, but when I went to put money in his bucket, he asked me if I would take his photograph. Happy to do it. So we tried a number of poses. Turns out he is a blues player with J.W. Williams & the Chi-Town Hustlers.
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I left the house today looking for shadows and light in the South Loop, but when the bus turned the corner from Michigan onto Wacker Drive, demonstrators were spilling from the sidewalk into the street as a police horse brigade held the line.
