20100409 Chicago & Skyline Project

Date: April 9-11, 2010
Travel: Flight, L
Lodging: Hilton Garden Inn
Photos: 20100409 Chicago Skyline Project

After buying a better more portable MODO tripod for my trip in DC, I decided I would put it to more work when I was back in Chicago. The best time to play with it would be at night of course. The results were fantastic, and I just like how much more portable it was then my last tripod. I had a new project in mind, one that was inspired from a book photography book I received for my Birthday. I called it the Transitional Chicago Skyline project, which essentially was capturing the Chicago skyline project through out certain times during the day and then creating an image that displayed this time transition. It was a mild sunday in the Spring, making it bearable to be outdoors into the night, but the breeze by the Lake would make it cold enough so there wasn't going to be a crowd of people. This project would utilize all the techniques that I pretty much knew of and applied it. One of the better skyline vantage points is by the Adler Planetarium, which sticks out into Lake Michigan, and had a coastal view of the Chicago skyline. I had my Powershot with me to create a sunset timelapse while I was just in the area anyway. The essentials of this project was to make sure I find a spot where I could return later and capture the image at the same perspective. So I found a crack near a light post that I would place my tripod and camera on. Then at different times of the day I would capture multiple images of the skyline so that I would be able to stitch it again later. I also captured multiple exposures so that I was able to capture a higher dynamic range (HDR) and post process later. So around noon I had 1 capture, another one at sunset, then twilight and then finally at night. I created the multiple panoramas, and then blended the layers together to create some transitional images. For 1 transition, I had the the images of the day blended with sunset. Another I had sunset, day, and then night. And then another one I created one with just the sunset into the evening, which created a very dramatic sky.

Skyline during the day

Skyline at sunset

Skyline at night
Skyline with day and sunset transition
Skyline with day, sunset and night transition

Skyline with transition from sunset, twilight, and night

Return to St. Paddy's Day in Chicago

Date: Saturday, March 13, 2010
Travel: The L & CTA
Lodging: Hampton Inn & Suites Chicago
Photos: 20100313 Dyeing The Chicago River & More Chicago

Chicago is like my 2nd home to me, just like (Philadelphia, NYC, Kalamazoo, and the many other cities I continue travelling to for business). Chicago is a major hub for American Airlines, and also has direct flights from Tucson via Southwest, so if you count the number of times I land in Chicago, I've really been there over 30 times. What's kind of scary is that at O'Hare Airport, there is a smoothie shop which has a customer appreciation program, where for every 12 smoothies you buy, you get one free, and I have already gone through a few already. Anyways, it was only 3 years ago which I had made my first true visit to the city, as I was made a road trip from Milwaukee, and it was also St. Patrick's day. I did not do my research and just decided to wing it and drive through. What a mistake, the traffic was insane, there was no where to park, and I had no idea where I was going. I just figured....look for the Sears Tower (Now renamed Willis Tower). Anyways, I knew from watching the movie "The Fugitive," that Chicago dyes the river green, and I really wanted to see that, yet I had no idea where it was. As I finally found the Chicago river that day, it was truly green.

Advance the clock 3 years later, I know my way around the city a lot more, and I know how to do my research more. This time around, I would not miss the actual dyeing of the river. Walking from my nearby hotel on Grand & State, The best viewing areas is along the river/Wacker between Michigan Ave. & Columbus. Anyways, it was a very cold and foggy, yet there were a lot of folks that had made it to see the spectacle. So a few minutes before the scheduled start time, you get to see the initial dyeing boat leaving a green streak down the river towards Michigan Ave. Shortly following the dyeing boat is another boat swirling back and forth in an S curve stirring up the dye in the river. It was a neat scene, as if it was like a scene from Batman, with the green ooze down the water and fog covering the towering sky scrapers. It is quite different than to just see the river green.



I also decided to stick around a bit for the parade, with the marching bagpipes and the green dogs. It was really too cold for my arizona ass, and I'm not Irish enough to just watch the whole parade ( however, enough to drink the green beer at a pub...just half of course ).



A few days later I decided to come back to Navy Pier, where almost a year prior, I had lost my Canon pocket camera. It was a blessing in disguise though, because now I had no more excuses to not get a DSLR. If it wasn't for that misfortune, I would not have the ability to take a million new pictures. I suppose this picture and this picture would offer the best comparison.

Anyways, I expect to be out in Chicago in the next month, and I have a few projects in my mind that I want to complete.