Photo Links Wednesday

March 3, 2010 by 10 Comments
Celebrating Spring with Window Display Color!

Colorful Window Display at Crate and Barrel

I love these spring colored banners at this store entrance on Michigan Avenue in Chicago. And all those curves and lines makes me smile at all the energy. I always find so many things to photograph when I visit Chicago!

As far as photography goes, I read dozens of articles a week on photography and such. There is always much that I’d like to share, and so I’m going to start posting a list of links every Wednesday.

Photo Link Day!

  • Joe McNally’s article, We Just Can’t Help it! Are we photographers different from regular folks? Here’s a quick quote from the article, but the whole article is worth a read:

“We [photographers] don’t stop seeing things.  We try to push reality into a better composition.  We keep shooting until we’re satisfied that we captured the story we’re trying to tell.”

  • I know it’s a little late in most areas of the country to be photographing snowflakes. Still…it HAS been a crazy winter and March generally has a storm or two saved for many of us, especially in the northern states. Here is an article from EarthSky, in case you want to know the REALLY cool way to photograph snowflakes. It’s either now or wait ’til next December.
  • Anyone ready for Baseball’s Spring Training? (Me! Me!) These great photos from DenverPost.com of  baseball players in their spring digs sure got me in the mood! (You’ll have to click the link after you click this link–I don’t know why!) Spring Training starts. . . TODAY!  (But the Milwaukee Brewers don’t play their first game until tomorrow. Boo hoo!)

“People ask me what I do in the winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.”  —Roger Hornsby  (Roger must have been very single minded – perhaps he would have enjoyed a Polaroid.)

  • PhotoCritic talks about a subject that I used to feel guilty about, because I hadn’t done it – yep, backing up photographs! – but I’ve finally gotten my act together. Now I’ve backed up ALL my photos. In two places! Here’s a good article, and a good reminder, on backing up your photos properly.
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Skating below “The Bean”

January 10, 2010 by 8 Comments
Millenium Park

Millennium Park

We went on a quick trip to Chicago to take care of some family business, and squeezed in a trip to the Loop and Millennium Park. This was my first opportunity to photograph “The Bean” as Anish Kapoor’s stainless steel sculpture is fondly nicknamed. The official name of the abstract distortion sculpture is Cloud Gate.

As is typical for January, it was cloudy and cold – perfect weather for ice skating, but not such perfect for prowling the lakefront, scouting for the best angle to photograph this enticing work of art. I loved how part of the sculpture was snow covered, and how the cloudy skies reflected a gray and threatening feeling, and I was able to capture that in a short photo shoot. But truly, this sculpture is the kind of thing that would be fun to spend half a day admiring and photographing, and so I will return. I didn’t get close enough to explore it in depth, but I did read that you can actually walk underneath.  I’ll definitely check it out the next time we’re in Chicago.

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Tribune Tower – More Rocks from History

October 26, 2008 by 8 Comments
Moon Rock Window, sans Moon Rock

Moon Rock Window, sans Moon Rock ©2008 Bo Mackison

This is the second in a series of posts on the Tribune Tower on the Miraculous Mile in downtown Chicago. The moon rock is supposed to be in this front window facing Michigan Avenue. It is always here, wired to an elaborate security system. But the Friday I happened to be in Chicago, the moon window was filled with promo stuff about the Tribune newspaper “new look.” Unhappily for me, the moon rock was safe in the building’s vault and not available for public viewing. Agghhh!

But it does give you an example of how the numerous historical stones are placed in the exterior of the building. Some 140 rocks, bricks, and even pieces of coral and metal, are embedded in this architectural wonder.

Coral from Fortress at Cartegena Colombia

Coral from Fortress at Cartegena Colombia ©2008 Bo Mackison

This piece of coral is from the walled city of Cartegena, Colombia – one of the oldest cities in the Western Hemisphere. It was founded in 1533. Its walls, built in the 17th Century, are 50-60 feet thick and 40 feet high.

Twisted Metal from World Trade Center

Twisted Metal from World Trade Center ©2008 Bo Mackison

Part of a steel beam from the Twin Tower site, this was added to the building as a permamnent tribute to the victims of the September 11, 2001 tragedy and their families.

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The Tribune Tower and a Few History Lessons

October 3, 2008 by 9 Comments

The Tribune Tower on Michigan Avenue in Chicago is one of my favorite buildings. Yes – it’s a great building.The architects won a huge contest in 1922 for designing, as the contest requested, “the most beautiful and distinctive office building in the world.”  The Tribune newspaper publishers were serious – they offered a $100,000 prize. The building is a combination of the medieval and the modern. And though the building is quite remarkable, mostly I love it for the quirky stones embedded in the exterior walls that are from famous buildings and historic structures around the world. Pieces from more than 30 countries and all 50 states are represented.

Rock of Peter

Rock of Peter ©2008 Bo Mackison

Yes, I know these rocks and bricks don’t make for grand photos, but I am so totally taken with the very idea of journalists bringing back these kinds of artifacts to their boss – just so he could mount them on his building. The claim is that they were all obtained by appropriate methods, but who really knows. Imagine asking the Pope for a piece of the Dome of St. Peter’s Cathedral!

The story goes that the Tribune’s Rome correspondent informed Colonel McCormick, longtime editor and publisher, that the above stone was obtained from the Pope’s apartment “due to the fact that repairs were being made.” Oh. Okay.

The stone does come from the largest and one of the most widely known Christian churches in the world which took 181 years to build (1445-1626). The dome itself was built from 1573-90, and designed by Michelangelo who died in 1564.  This is really quite the artifact.

Tribune Tower Historical Stone

Tribune Tower Historical Stones ©2008 Bo Mackison

New Hampshire is represented by this brick from Fort William and Mary in New Castle. The fort, built in 1704-05, was one of the first forts involved in the new country’s struggle for independence in December of 1774.

I managed to take photos of about 80% of the stones. Some were just too high for me to photograph. Looks like there may be a few Tribune Tower posts in the next few months. Seems like something I would like to document. I can’t find much information about them anywhere on the internet.

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Hello from Chicago!

October 2, 2008 by 8 Comments
Chicago postcard

Chicago Postcard ©2008 Bo Mackison

Spent a few fun days in Chicago recently. My eldest kiddo has lived half way across the country for the last six years – three years teaching in a high school in NYC and then three years going back to school for another degree once she realized she didn’t really want to teach for forty more years. And so now it’s time for job interviews. She just had several in Chicago.

Chicago is just a drive across the state line and then a few more miles from home. Sure beats traveling to and from New York. The last time we visited, we had a noon flight out of LaGuardia and finally flew out about ten the next morning. And no, the weather was fine. I won’t even try to rationalize why our trip took nearly 36 hours instead of six! There was no rational reason, though we heard a lot of excuses.

So I have my fingers crossed – my toes crossed, too – for a great job offer in Chicago.

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