Just A Little Song was uploaded to Flickr

Hancock Building (or whatever its called these days)

embiggen by clicking
https://flic.kr/p/2iwVebf

I took Just A Little Song on February 23, 2020 at 10:59AM

and processed it in my digital darkroom on February 23, 2020 at 05:14PM

Gazing Up In Awe – Added to Flickr Explore

A photo of mine was added to yesterday’s Flickr Explore.

Gazing Up In Awe

Click to embiggen

I took this photo on February 2nd, 2020, and processed it later that evening.

I personally like this photo more than the Chicago Union Station photograph I discussed previously, even though I didn’t quite capture the photo as I intended – aiming at the sun is always a challenge – I mostly was successful.

The winter weather has been frighteningly depressing this year, overcast skies for weeks and weeks, without even a glimmer of sun, has taken a toll on my mental health.

Specs:

Nikon D7000
18.0-200.0 mm f/3.5-5.6

ƒ/10.0
18.0 mm
1/640
200 ISO

Dirt Behind Your Daydreams – In Flickr Explore

A photo I took of Union Station made into today’s Flickr Explore.

Dirt Behind Your Daydreams

Click to embiggen

I took this photo February 2nd, 2020, and processed it in my digital darkroom a few hours later.

While I think this is a perfectly serviceable photograph, I’m not sure I’d add it to my portfolio. I enjoyed good light, I had the proper lens to capture a decent angle on a modestly interesting and historically significant building, but to me, this illustrates a flaw in letting an algorithm define what is an “excellent” image.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the pat on the back of being included in Flickr Explore, there is certainly a dopamine rush of pleasure when the positive attention of social media suddenly converges on my art.

But if I look at the photos I’ve worked on in the last year, this particular one would not be in my own selection of top ten images to hang in a gallery show or sell prints of.

Am I wrong?

Nikon D7000
18.0-200.0 mm f/3.5-5.6
ƒ/5.6
48.0 mm
1/800
200 ISO

I Mean It Sometimes – Added To Flickr Explore

A while ago, this photo was added to Flickr Explore ((August 30th, 2018, but I forgot to post it here))

I Mean It Sometimes

Walking south on Halsted, about to cross Chicago Avenue.

I took this photo with my iPhone in May, 2018, and processed it in my digital darkroom August 29th, 2018. I actually made a mistake, and imported this photo as a Digital Negative in Lightroom, thus I opened it in Photoshop as if was taken with my Nikon. Ooops. It worked out ok though, but I don’t usually process iPhone snapshots in Photoshop.

Marred By A Bitter Word – Explored on Flickr

A photo of mine was in yesterday’s Flickr Explore

Marred By A Bitter Word

Storefront, Fulton Market somewhere at night.

Click to embiggen…

I took this photo on May 29th, 2017, and processed it in my digital darkroom on January 27th, 2020.

I didn’t have to do much, just bring up light in the shadows a bit to show off the red dress on the mannequin, while keeping the green windows from over-exposing and thus maintaining the urban noirish feel.

I already forget where the title came from, but it meant something at the moment (and it is part of a longer poem).

Knut Sitting On the Steps of the Museum of Contemporary Art – Explored

A photo of mine made it into Flickr’s Explore

Knut Sitting On the Steps of the Museum of Contemporary Art

Click an image to embiggen

Labor Day weekend visitors Honoria and Knut explored Chicago with me (and on their own).

For instance, the Virgil Abloh show at the MCA

 You're Obviously In The Wrong Place
You’re Obviously In The Wrong Place

Some other photos from that weekend’s fun…

Knut After An Aperol Spritz


Knut After An Aperol Spritz

Tai Chi on Sedgwick El Platform


Tai Chi on Sedgwick El Platform (Knut’s photo)

Memorializing An Aperol Spritz


Memorializing An Aperol Spritz

Trump + Ricketts = Don’t Buy Tickets – In Flickr Explore

Another photo of mine made it into Flickr Explore (click to embiggen)

Trump + Ricketts = Don't Buy Tickets

Trump + Ricketts = Don’t Buy Tickets

Formula checks out.

I went to the Trump Tower protest 10/28/19, and took a few snapshots of the crowd and of various signs. Trump was in town to besmirch Chicago, make fun of people who have died of gun violence, and then fundraise with his buddy Todd Ricketts, owner of the Chicago Cubs. Trump wasn’t welcomed as much as he was jeered.

Dahleen Glanton of the Chicago Tribune:

The people outside Trump’s comfort zone were as different as America allows each of us to be. And they were united in a single goal — to let Trump know that he’s not welcome in Chicago. Even if he didn’t see it, maybe, at least, he sensed it.

It is obvious that Trump doesn’t like Chicago. He has no use for voters here. In 2016, Trump won only 38% of the vote in Illinois, compared to Hillary Clinton’s 55%. Buoyed by Chicago, Clinton got a whopping 74% of the vote in Cook County, compared to Trump’s embarrassing 21%.

There is no way he can count on Chicago in 2020, so he’s resigned to making our city a punching bag.
On his first visit to Chicago since becoming president, Trump wasted no time trashing our city. Speaking to a gathering of international chiefs of police, he again compared Chicago to Afghanistan, saying that the war-torn nation is a “safe place by comparison” and declaring that Chicago is “embarrassing to us as a nation.”
Mayor Lori Lightfoot struck back, calling his attack “insulting, ignorant buffoonery.”

That was mild, though, compared to what other Chicagoans were saying.
The overwhelming sentiment at the rally, which turned into an impromptu march through downtown picking up cheering bystanders along the way, was not only that Trump should be impeached, but also that he needs to be in jail.
The chants were loud and fierce, often accompanied by a drumbeat.
“Lock him up!” “This is what democracy looks like!” “Hey, Hey, Ho Ho, Donald Trump has got to go!” “Democracy is under attack. What do we do? Stand up, fight back!”

 

(click here to continue reading Column: Chicago threw a great protest rally for Donald Trump. Unfortunately, he didn’t get to see it. – Chicago Tribune.)

AP reports:

While in Chicago, Trump headlined a campaign luncheon at his hotel in the city, raising approximately $4 million for a joint fundraising committee benefiting Trump’s reelection effort and the Republican National Committee, according to the GOP.

Thousands of demonstrators rallied outside the hotel, waving colorful signs that said “Impeach Trump Now” and “Quid Pro Quo Trump Must Go.” They also shouted chants such as “Lock him up” and “Trump must go.”

Some said they came to protest out of a fear for the country they have never felt before.

“It will take decades to put things back in place,” said Caroline Mooney, a 61-year-old marketing analyst from the Chicago suburb of Tinley Park.

“If something doesn’t happen next November, we may not recover,” said her friend Steve Schaibley, who drove 2-1 / 2 hours from Livingston County.

(click here to continue reading Trump calls Chicago an embarrassment to U.S. | State News | news-gazette.com.)

Lynn Sweet, Chicago Sun-Times:

Cubs co-owner Todd Ricketts, the Republican National Committee finance chair, will oversee fundraising for President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign as the two organizations merge their 2020 efforts, the RNC announced Friday.

Ricketts, a Wilmette resident, took over RNC fundraising duties in January 2018. The RNC appointment came after Ricketts withdrew his name to be deputy commerce secretary because it was too complicated to untangle his finances.

Under Trump, the RNC and the Trump bid for a second term will fundraise under a unified joint flag called the Trump Victory Committee.

“I am honored to continue to support President Trump and the Republican Party through the Trump Victory Committee,” Ricketts said in a statement. “As we head toward 2020, I will work to ensure President Trump and his campaign have the resources they need

(click here to continue reading Cubs co-owner Todd Ricketts to run President Trump’s re-election fundraising.)

Some other of my photos of the protest:

Trump - Black Lives Matter

Trump – Black Lives Matter

Traitor Go Back To Moscow

Traitor Go Back To Moscow

Great Impeachment, Robin!

Great Impeachment, Robin! Batman and Robin showed up to protest the Dotard

Impeach Trump

Impeach Trump

Get Out Trump

Get Out Trump

Make America Great Again - Deport Trump

Make America Great Again – Deport Trump

Remember When I Needed A Helping Hand – Flickr Explored

Another photo of mine made it to Flickr’s Explore gallery.

Remember When I Needed A Helping Hand

I took the photo a couple years ago in Lincoln Park with some friends, waiting for a solar eclipse. Unfortunately, the only mind altering substances available was a few sips from a cold bottle of saké.

In my digital darkroom, I used a filter to emulate cross-processing, which is an analog darkroom technique where film is developed using chemicals intended for a different type of film.

Wikipedia:

Cross processing (sometimes abbreviated to Xpro) is the deliberate processing of photographic film in a chemical solution intended for a different type of film. The effect was discovered independently by many different photographers often by mistake in the days of C-22 and E-4. Color cross processed photographs are often characterized by unnatural colors and high contrast. The results of cross processing differ from case to case, as the results are determined by many factors such as the make and type of the film used, the amount of light exposed onto the film and the chemical used to develop the film. Similar effects can also be achieved with digital filter effects.

 

(click here to continue reading Cross processing – Wikipedia.)

I’m considering making a large print of this, but we’ll see.

Strangers To Love – Explored

Strangers To Love

(Click to embiggen)

Photo taken a couple summers ago at some Wicker Park street festival, added to Flickr Explore 10/9/2019.

The woman was playfully teasing her boyfriend because while he hemmed and hawed and tried to line up his perfect shot, I stepped in and took a quick photo, and she gestured at me, saying something, “come on, this guy already took my picture!”

I’m a zen photographer: I see something interesting, snap, and either the photo turns out ok or not. And in fact, this is a flawed photo, my focus was a little off, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

Tri-X 400 in emulation, using Exposure 5.

Weary Of Remaining Upright was uploaded to Flickr

Kinzie Street Bridge

embiggen by clicking
https://flic.kr/p/2hrcZeH

I took Weary Of Remaining Upright on October 20, 2017 at 04:44AM

and processed it in my digital darkroom on October 06, 2019 at 04:35PM