Show 'n Tell

Punctured

2010-02-19T18:39:00.000-08:00

On the way back from picking up some sugar cookies from Xoco for a friend's birthday, I saw this cluster of balloons forlornly caught high in the branches of a tree. It made me wonder about the circumstances that brought them there and how I'd react if my HUGE bunch of balloons sailed aloft.

Art or Mystery?

2010-02-18T21:36:00.000-08:00

After attending an artist lecture at school I came across what I believe are two art installations near the Harold Washington Library... a street lamp that throws out orange light and a projection on the side of a law building that combined the words 'heart beat' with dance/rock to the beat. Need to do some research into who's responsible for the pieces.

Rapunzel, Rapunzel

2010-02-17T18:26:00.000-08:00

I usually go to the Intelligentsia Coffee Shop in the Moadnock building several times a week as it's conveniently on the way from the blue line to school/work. This location is always packed with professionals in suits that work in the nearby financial district so I was surprised to find this more bohemian woman seated at the counter with the longest hair I've ever seen. It reminded me of the time when I was 10 and decided to grow my hair out to waist-length, that's the longest my hair's ever been (now it's shoulder length).

Window Shopping

2010-02-16T20:08:00.000-08:00

Dovetail, a vintage boutique on Chicago Avenue, always has the most innovative and adorable window displays--currently they have an homage to Alice & Wonderland, including these wonderful stuffed toad stools and clock. Looks like they might be getting some competition soon from Seek Vintage, a shop that's set to open soon (bringing the total of vintage shops on Chicago Avenue to four!).

Mad Mondays

2010-02-15T18:04:00.000-08:00

Mondays always seem to sneak up on me, not sure why the weekends are flying by this time of year. Several of my co-workers brought into Valentine's Day treats, including this HUGE heart box of chocolates and iced cupcakes. If you're wondering, that's my carpetbag purse hanging on a row of hooks in a storeroom at work.

chocolate & vanilla

2010-02-14T22:00:00.000-08:00

A chilly yet clear Valentine's Day that started at the new movie theater on Roosevelt and ended with coffee and treats at the Bourgeois Pig cafe in Lincoln Park.

Grafitti Hearts & Upside Down Signs

2010-02-13T20:51:00.000-08:00

Just another typical Saturday-- it was sunny again today so I decided to walk the mile or so up to Wicker Park, did some window shopping and stopped in Lovely, A Bakeshop on Milwaukee for an iced coffee & some cookies. Just discovered they now have French macarons and for Valentine's Day they had three types of cupcakes on offer (sadly still haven't tried one from them yet).

Harwood Heights Adventure

2010-02-12T23:00:00.000-08:00

Adventured out to Harwood Heights today, a community/suburb (?) just outside Chicago. While there I encountered rows upon rows of neat brick bungalows, Midcentury architecture in the form of signage and condos and an authentic Italian deli & imported foods store, Rex's Italian Deli. At Rex's it took me a while to settle upon my lunch choice-- I ended up getting an eggplant parmesan sandwich with a cannoli and lemon knot cookie for dessert. Quite tasty and I wish it was closer as I'd stop by once a week for the baked goods, lasagna and classic Italian subs.

Orphan Scarves & Pizza Crusts

2010-02-11T22:00:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately woke up with an eye infection today so had to take a morning visit to the doctor. The day improved, however, after using some medicated drops and I managed to walk around a bit in the South Loop and take these pictures. Later in the evening I met some friends for $5 thin crust pizza, quite good and it's what I call 'authentic' style as it had fresh ingredients and featured toppings like mozzarella, prosciutto and basil. Yum! The last photo, of the carved heart, was found carved in a post at an El (subway) stop-- urban romance at its finest?

Waiting for the Bus

2010-02-10T17:09:00.000-08:00

This is typical of what I see on the way home-- remnants of the 'blizzard', piles of slush and a longer wait than usual for my always-packed bus. Due to recent CTA cuts the buses run less often, especially at night. Instead of a 5-10 minute wait it can be long as 20 minutes in the cold!

SNOW DAY!

2010-02-09T23:14:00.000-08:00

Scenes from the 'blizzard' Chicago experienced today... there really isn't as much snow on the ground as I expected though there is more forecast for tonight. I didn't think six inches of snow would shake up Chicago like it has but it's probably more of the fear of what could happen than really what occurs. I'm not going to argue though as my school declared a SNOW DAY today. Okay, it was a little wimpy because they decided only night class and activities (so after 5pm) would be canceled but fortunately on Tuesdays I have a night class (6-10) and I TA for a class that goes from 3:30-6. As soon as the school activated our emergency warning (pretty much a glorified phone tree system), I started getting calls and emails from my students, wondering if we would still have class (for an hour or so). The answer was 'no' so that meant I was free to go frolic in the snow!

Never thought I'd get a Snow Day in graduate school, the last one I had was nearly six years ago in high school. To take full advantage of the snow I decided to do something a little crazy, I walked the mile from my El stop rather than taking the bus like I normally do. While my hair and coat ended up getting soaked from the snow I had a good time taking pictures with my iphone, crunching through the fresh snow and watching other Chicagoans out playing with their kids or dogs. Have to savor the 'pure' snow while it lasts as it will quickly turn into treacherous ice, piles of grimy blackness and the worst for shoes-- slush puddles of death that wait for you on the curbs of sidewalks. Have ruined more than one pair of boots by going through a slush puddle that had disguised itself to look like the surface of the road. :(

Window Still Life

2010-02-08T22:15:00.000-08:00

Mondays are always tough for taking photographs-- I work all day so only have my lunch break to take a few snaps (and I'm getting tired of taking random shots in my office building). The natural light coming through the massive windows in our shared studio space at school inspired these vignettes. Knowing the age of our building and judging by those layers of peeled paint, the ledge is probably 100 years old.

The shells & stones were collected by a classmate during a vacation and I picked up the little souvenir bracelet at the Randolph Street Market last weekend. It's probably from the 1960s and features monuments of Paris including the Eiffel Tower. I can just imagine a young girl on her 'Grand Tour' of Europe buying it at a little stall in Paris.

Sunday Morning in Chinatown

2010-02-07T17:44:00.000-08:00

My first summer in Chicago I lived in Chinatown in an apartment on Wentworth. It was definitely an experience and while I much prefer my current neighborhood of Ukrainian Village I definitely miss getting iced milk tea with boba on my way to the El every morning and getting $3 pan fried noodles for dinner. It's an odd area to live as it's a mix of older Chinese families and tourists-- I never knew which I'd encounter when I stepped outside my door each day.

It'd been a while since I stopped by so on this sunny day my friend and I met up for late morning dim sum-- steamed shrimp dumplings, fried turnip cakes and bbq pork buns, yum! We also poked through the local market where the sweets tempted me as usual. This week is Chinese New Year so hope all that celebrate have a good holiday!

The Forlorn Fir

2010-02-06T21:56:00.000-08:00

In my childhood the saddest part of the holiday season for me was having to strip our live Christmas tree of its decorations and unceremoniously dumping it on the curb. While I like the smell and the texture of a real tree, now that I live in an apartment I keep my vintage Christmas decorations up yearround including a little white ceramic tree from the 1960s, so I never have to experience the 'death' of my holiday tree ever again. (Yes, I'm not even a vegetarian but get emotional over trees, odd). Anyways, saw this sad little potted Christmas tree near my apartment's dumpster today which was especially depressing as it was still very healthy and since it's in a pot will survive beyond the holidays. Would have rescued it but I'm horrible with plants (despite being the daughter of a horticulturist!) so had to leave it there in the alley. Hopefully someone else adopted it.

Also, it's so cold here that the water freezes coming out of the (outdoor) faucets! Ah, winter.

Art from the Underground

2010-02-05T23:19:00.000-08:00

Had a very arty Friday... started off the day with dropping off one of my framed photographs at a gallery in Pilsen (I'm in a show opening next Friday). The pinatas were part of an upcoming exhibit in one of the new Pop Up Art spaces that have been all over the city lately-- the idea is that artists take over unused business spaces (with permission of the owners of the buildings) and can stay in the space until the owner rents/leases it to a tenant. So a pretty good idea in this economy when there are a lot of closed businesses/vacant buildings!

Went to the open studio night at the Flat Iron building in Wicker Park for the first time. I walk by this building on a near weekly basis but never went inside it. It's pretty bohemian inside-- the second two floors are all tiny galleries or private studio spaces that mainly house painters and photographers. Today they had a special event where resident artists painted one or more wall murals that would only be up for a 4-hour time span, they called the event "Now You See It, Now You Don't" as it was all going to be painted over at the end of the night! Above are some sections of the mural that interested me, I especially liked the paper airplane installation.

A Little Racy

2010-02-04T20:00:00.000-08:00

An intriguing cover article in the Chicago Reader this week... an area woman has been collecting issues of Playboy magazine for decades and even manages a fan mailing list in her spare time. She has so many issues that she rents the apartment above her just to store her collection-- can you imagine?? Wish I had that luxury...

Orange Walls & American Flags

2010-02-03T20:36:00.000-08:00

Took a leisurely stroll this morning to drop off film at Phoenix Imaging, which is only about 4 blocks from my apartment (they also drop it off in the afternoon at school, convenient!) Yes, still snow on the ground but it was sunny so it took the edge of the cold. Is anyone tired of me talking about the weather here?? It seems like that's all we do here.

Yesterday's News

2010-02-02T23:00:00.000-08:00

Sorry to kind of continue the depressing theme from yesterday... we got snow again today, as seen through the screen window of my apartment. On the way home from my night class I also spied the above newspaper, it seemed rather forlorn lying there on the damp pavement.

Closing Time

2010-02-01T20:10:00.000-08:00

I've only lived in my Ukrainian Village apartment for 2 1/2 years but so much has changed in that time... businesses that opened the same time we moved in have now closed. Dominicks grocery store is obviously still going strong, but the popular brunch spot JAM replaced the short-lived Dodo, piccolo gelato shut its doors last autumn, several florists went out of business, a small Ukrainian grocery store, a coffee shop... the list goes on. Sadly today I found out that one of my beloved bakeries, located only three blocks from my apartment has now closed, without any warning. Sweet Cakes bakery had THE best blueberry scone I've ever tasted, they also had mini cupcakes in flavors like mint chocolate chip and last year my surprise birthday cake was from there... to be honest I'm not sure how people can live in a place for DECADES and not get upset about how things change. I'm all for progress but it's like an old friend is gone now.

Frozen River Waves

2010-01-31T23:00:00.000-08:00

Definitely felt like a gawking tourist when I was taking these photographs of the semi-frozen Chicago River from the Michigan Avenue bridge but it's fun to play the 'resident tourist' of your own city sometimes. Surprisingly my old fear of heights flared up when I was leaning over the rail, wasn't that high up but there wasn't much separating me from the icy water below either.

Old World Influence & Southern Pride

2010-01-30T23:45:00.000-08:00

My morning was spent exploring the Kenwood/Hyde Park neighborhoods of Chicago-- the architecture down there is pretty fascinating, lots of Roman and Greek influence as evidenced by all the porticos and columns. Most of the homes are from the turn-of-the-century and are still being lived in, others have sadly fallen into disrepair with the wood warping and paint flaking off though they still retain a chippy charm.

For lunch I checked out Istria Cafe in the Hyde Park Art Center (had a tasty iced vanilla latte & roast beef panini) and for dinner headed out to Irving Park to see what super-hyped bbq restaurant, Smoque was all about... being a Southern girl I was skeptical, especially after having to wait in line for 30 minutes, but I give it 3 1/2 stars out of 5... the pluses are the iced sweet tea, savory yet sweet corn bread and creamy rich mac 'n cheese. The pulled pork sandwich was tender but needed some cole slaw for acidity. Also, the packed-in-tight cafeteria ambiance of the joint left much to be desired. Don't come later than 8 as they often sell out of items, as evidenced by the sign above!

Lost Loves, Newly Found

2010-01-29T21:03:00.000-08:00

The sun decided to make an appearance today... photographs are so much better with natural light--this is by far my favorite set of images in the project to date.

I started off my Friday at my long, lost love: Filter coffee house, newly re-opened after a 2 1/2 year hiatus. I'd discovered Filter shortly after I'd moved to Chicago from LA in 2007, it was my haven when I knew few people in the city-- it offered quality coffee, good food, comfy chairs & late hours. Then the Bank of America pushed it out and I'd never truly recovered, never found a replacement for my first love. All summer I heard murmurings of a re-opening, but then the date was pushed back to October, December, then finally (!) early January. But it was like the boy who cried wolf, the grand opening date came and went with no word. Then I got a press release two days ago that Filter would be BACK in a new location & opening today! Seemed too good to believe, but it was real, it's even better than the original (with an expanded menu and larger space!).

The rows of shoes were seen at the cobbler where I dropped off my newly thrifted leather riding boots (yay), there's some architectural details of Wicker Park in there and my favorite, an orange Ford Falcon. Speaking of lost loves, it seems a lifetime ago that I was close to a boy who drove a white Falcon...

Cabin Fever

2010-01-28T21:40:00.000-08:00

Sadly the more interesting pictures/larger posts will be done on Friday, Saturday and Sunday when I have time to roam the city. The rest of the week I'm cooped up in classes and work, with very little time inbetween to take photos! Will have to get more creative... took the above photos yesterday & today around my apartment. Boring, I know. I'll be happy when the sun sets later in the day...

Antiquated Technology

2010-01-26T20:32:00.000-08:00

It's the beginning of my last semester of school EVER (I'm in a 3-year MFA program and I'm thankful there is no such thing as a PhD in photography). This semester the professor I TA for used Polaroid film (yes, the two packs of film are probably worth more than $50) to document the students in our class. I suggested using digital but he was adamant on using up his last packs of precious film--some habits are hard to break I suppose.

P.O.S.H.

2010-01-25T18:00:00.000-08:00

I mentioned the store, P.O.S.H., in an earlier post and how it was always closed when I walked by... well today on the way to Trader Joes after work it was open! While it's a small store, it's packed floor to ceiling with vintage & vintage inspired home goods from the U.S. and abroad (France! Belgium!).

They have lots more available online, the store is just a small sampling of what they have-- hotel silverware, diner coffee mugs & dishware and one-of-a-kind trinkets found in Paris flea markets by the store's owner.

While I was enamored with the European goods, I ended up making an All-American purchase, a white coffee mug emblazoned with a blue anchor, part of a deadstock supply found in an East Coast china warehouse. It was originally manufactured for the U.S. Navy probably back in the '60s.

Abstract Mistakes

2010-01-24T12:41:00.000-08:00

Sometimes my iphone has a mind of its own, as evidenced by the above images. From time to time a blurry, abstract photo will pop up in my camera roll-- a result of my iphone deciding to take a picture, usually in my (red) coat pocket but sometimes when I'm holding my phone and walking along (so there's probably snow and a hallway in the above pictures too).

It's interesting how these 'mistakes' remind me of Minimalist abstract paintings from the 1950s-70s, like the work by Rothko, Helen Frankenthaler & Barnett Newman.

Chicagoland Junking

2010-01-23T21:25:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the blurriness of these photos... the iphone does not like low light conditions! Today I met up with fellow vintage blogger, Lara, who lives down in Frankfurt, IL which is about an hour ride south on the Metra. She took me to lots of little antique shops, where we both felt a little overwhelmed by all the goodies we saw! It was hard not to spend a lot of $$, I ended up taking photos of things I liked to try and stop myself from buying so much (a pretty good strategy actually). Lots more photos of the meetup will be up at my other blog, thriftaholic, soon!

Gotham City & Old Chicago

2010-01-22T15:09:00.000-08:00

It's on days like these (low-lying fog) that I realize why Chicago was chosen to be the fictional 'Gotham City' of Batman fame... our dark skyscrapers combined with the mistyness make our city mysterious and a little bit ominous.

I explored North Michigan Ave. today after a lunch meeting... I usually avoid this stretch as it's usually packed with Suburbanites headed to the American Girl store but one of my favorite places in Chicago is located just north of H & M... the 4th Presbyterian Church. While I'm not religious, there's something about the ivy and old stone amongst the temples of consumerism that really intrigues me. Built in 1917, the church feels like a slice of the old city, it's actually just across the street from the Hancock Tower, it makes me wonder what the area was like 90+ years ago when the church was built.

The last photo is actually from a Catholic church in the area undergoing construction. It was odd seeing the statue of the bishop (?) with the contemporary steel supports surrounding him.

Sunsets & Cheeseburgers

2010-01-21T11:42:00.000-08:00

Nothing overly exciting today... just little details seen on the way to work & while walking around on my lunch break.

The stack of sunset postcards were found at Beans & Bagels in Lincoln Square-- they were advertising an art show and they reminded me of Penelope Umbrico's Suns from Flickr project.

I've also found myself drawn to representations of food lately-- whether on billboards, painted on restaurant signs & windows or graphics on menus.

The quaint window display is of a vintage home decor store in the Gold Coast area named P.O.S.H., unfortunately they're always closed when I go by-- including when I took this picture, even though the lights were on and customers were inside the front door was locked! grr.. Oh well, better for my pocketbook I suppose!

In & Around the Office

2010-01-20T14:36:00.000-08:00

Quick set of photos taken in & around my office today... I'm going to take photos at the Yelp Fantasea event at the Shedd Aquarium tonight but probably won't be home in time to blog them (so they'll be up tomorrow). For some reason this set kind of reminds me of the movie Office Space...

Skate Sharpening & Pie

2010-01-19T21:47:00.000-08:00

Since I moved to Chicago 2 1/2 years ago I've been wanting to go ice skating on one of the outdoor rinks... unfortunately the first winter here I injured my ankle, the year after that we tried to go twice but the lines for skate rental were over an hour and now, this year is THE year.

To get around the $10 rental fee & the lines I decided to seek out my own pair of skates, at the thrift store of course! I thought this was a fool's errand until I stumbled across a black pair of figure skates waiting for me at The Attic Thrift store in my hometown of Fayetteville, Arkansas for only $4!

Of course since they are decades old (I suspect the '50s though skate designs haven't changed much over the years so who knows) they needed to be sharpened. I could find only one place in the city (that wasn't a sports store) that does it-- Johnny's Ice House in the West Loop. So after work today I ventured over there on the Pink Line and wandered past the hoards of little boys suiting up for league practice to the little supply shop on the 2nd floor.

Behind the counter was a slightly surly man who sharpened my skates in about 5 minutes, he looked like he'd been behind the same counter for the past three decades. My skates were so sharp afterwards that they nearly cut through the bag I brought them in (oops).

I wanted to take pictures of the rink but felt awkward with all the families around so instead snuck some shots in the store (sorry for the bad quality, was trying to work quickly).

Also, as per my Tuesday custom, I stopped off at Hoosier Mama pie company on the way home for a big slice of chocolate cream pie... took a photo of the fruit pie instead as it was more photogenic in the case.

Later this week look for photos of my skates & ice skating extravaganza!

Monday Holiday

2010-01-18T17:18:00.000-08:00

Another meandering journey today so again lots of photos to share. I was off from work today for MLK Day so my old roommate and I met up at our old brunch/lunch haunt, Milk & Honey cafe on Division. The photo of the flowers was taken there as well as the 2 men... we were amused by the 'old timers' who looked like they were more used to eating at greasy spoon diners rather than Ukrainian Village/Wicker Park cafes.

Feeling a bit aimless after lunch I decided to hop on the blue line and go to Logan Square, hoping to grab a doughnut & coffee at New Wave cafe. Unfortunately it was packed wall-to-wall with people (someone definitely needs to open up another independent coffee shop in that neighborhood!) so I decided to walk along the boulevards for a bit and take some more pictures. My favorite is what I call the 'sidewalk to nowhere' a bit of pavement that no longer serves a purpose.

After my walk I managed to snag a seat at New Wave but alas they no longer sell doughnuts! Got a vegan chocolate chip cookie instead to satiate my sweet tooth.

On the way back to the El stop I ferreted out the Hemingway book from the free book box on the corner, it's a 1956 edition. We never read it in high school and I think it's time for me to read more of the literary classics.

Sunshine & Coffee

2010-01-17T18:47:00.000-08:00

Lots of photos today as it was sunny again (after two days of gloom) and I decided to do my favorite thing-- walk the mile up Damen to Wicker Park, have lunch, do a bit of thrift shopping & then read at a cafe/coffee shop.

There's still snow on the ground but it's slowing melting away as the temperatures have been in the mid 30s this week.

Five of the images were taken at Lovely, a bake shop on Milwaukee just off the blue line El stop. It serves the best cookies (my favorite is the peanut butter & chocolate chip) and has a really cozy atmosphere that incorporates a lot of vintage elements (like the blue egg beater, typewriter and electric fans!).

Hodge Podge

2010-01-16T17:01:00.000-08:00

Bit of a hodge podge today... went a lot of places but the battery was low on my phone so not many photos were taken. That's the bottom of my leather satchel resting on an old tile floor of the Bourgeois Pig coffee shop in Lincoln Park (it's located in a 2-story Victorian) and the last picture is a little painted image on the front of a taqueria near the Addison red line stop.

All photos taken with my iphone (as per usual).

Hyde Park Adventure

2010-01-15T22:00:00.000-08:00

Despite living in Chicago for 2 1/2 years I hadn't made it to the Museum of Science & Industry down in Hyde Park... so on Friday I played the role of 'local tourist' and took advantage of their free admission days (all week days in January!).

Definitely the best non-art museum I've ever been to... trains! airplanes! fuzzy baby chicks! They had it all. We spent four hours in there and still made it to The Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago (and also poked around their campus), an art exhibit at the Renaissance Society (also at UC) and went to Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House... just looked at the outside and gift shop as we didn't feel like spending $$ on the tour. Overall a great day and a fun 'field trip.'

The Death of Colour

2010-01-14T14:04:00.000-08:00

Okay so I'm already feeling a little bogged down by this project... maybe if there was more sun here and/or the days were longer I'd feel a little better. As it is I'm in an office from 9-5 so there are precious few moments to take photos so I'll be taking more inside photos from now on.

This set of images was taken on my way home yesterday... the little notebook has "Love" on the cover which I found unusual (it also seemed abandoned as it was on an empty bench with no one around). I also stopped by the Pearl art supply store yesterday as the Chicago outpost is closing. Everything in the store is 50 percent off which was pretty much a 2nd Christmas for me & all the other art lovers out there... it's been a while since I've painted/sketched but I picked up 2 sketchbooks, premium Prismacolor pencils (sadly the sets were already sold out, just got individual colours) and something I've been lusting for my entire life... a T-square!! Yes, I am a nerd. Don't hate-- when perusing the store I saw at least five other people clutching T-squares to their chests too, so clearly others have nursed this dream as well.

As usual photos taken with my iphone... sorry for the especially bad quality this time around, it doesn't seem to like florescent lighting. A 'Holga' filter and 'Lomo' filter were used for the last three photos.

Lunch Break on Michigan Avenue

2010-01-13T13:30:00.000-08:00

Having grown up in Hawa'ii and Arkansas and after living in L.A. for 4 years, I never thought I'd see the day when I would consider 35-degree-weather to be 'warm.' Today, however, in Chicago seemed like spring compared to the 7-degree weather we had just a few weeks ago... I didn't think it would get above 30 until next month. It's also sunny today which meant that I felt motivated to take a little stroll south on Michigan Avenue, along Grant Park, to pick up a mozzarella & prosciutto sandwich from the little Italian deli.

I'm getting really sick of snow pictures already though... it's like taking beach pictures, it's hard to be original. Anyways, all three photos were taken on my iphone again, with the "Holga" filter on the camerabag app applied to the last two. The last image is of some Italian sweets at the deli.

All Aboard the CTA

2010-01-12T09:29:00.000-08:00

So I was bound to take photos of the El (our subway/elevated train system here in the city) at some point. It's pretty much unavoidable as it's a part of my daily routine. Again I used my iphone & the 'Holga' filter in the Camerabag app.

Empty School Halls

2010-01-11T19:21:00.000-08:00

During winter break (yep, it's still break, we get 6 weeks!) several floors of our various school buildings are pretty abandoned, including the floor just below my office. As the womens bathroom is on that floor, I've had ample time to discover that NO ONE has been around for quite a while and that several of the offices are even abandoned/been re-located to other spaces. Today during my break I decided to wander around and take a few photos with my iphone.

I decided to use the Camerabag app to give the images a 'Holga' look. Not sure how I feel about the results... there's something odd about using new technology to imitate the look of film. Back in undergrad I used to love using the Holga camera, I started using it to get away from the 'perfect' look of digital... there was something rather romantic about the colours and lighting effects (heavy vignetting) and the sheer unpredictability of the results that appealed to me. What do you think? I know there are still tons of devoted toy camera users out there...

Off of Western Avenue

2010-01-10T16:49:00.000-08:00

Just a few interesting things I saw while wandering around the Lincoln Square & Bucktown neighborhoods today (photos taken with my iphone).

Night Vision

2010-01-09T13:43:00.000-08:00

Night photography is always tricky... to best execute you need to use a tripod & long exposure times but since the point of this project is for me to be loosen up a bit and shoot more on the fly I decided to see how my iphone handled low-light situations. Not too bad, I think the snow helped reflect the available light. Photos taken last night (hope this still counts!) on my walk home from the Star Lounge coffee shop in the Ukrainian Village.

Winter Stroll

2010-01-08T17:36:00.000-08:00

Lots of photos today... these were taken while I slushed through 7 inches of snow on the way to an estate sale on the North Side (Ravenswood/Albany Park area). Most people have their holiday decorations still up... it's interesting to see the artificial snow and snowflakes juxtaposed with the reality!

Living Inside a Snowglobe

2010-01-07T20:05:00.000-08:00

After living in Chicago for almost 3 years I've gotten a little cynical about snow. Gone are the days when I'd go to sleep as a kid, praying for snow--in Arkansas we only got 4 or 5 snowfalls a year, usually an inch at most, that would melt within 4 hours of touching the ground.

There's a weather warning advisory on-- it's been snowing since I left my apartment at 8AM this morning and we're supposed to accumulate up to an inch of snow per hour! This is the view from my office window-- on the 7th floor of a building on S. Michigan Avenue. It appears so still and peaceful out, like a dream.

A Historic Piece of Plumbing

2010-01-06T17:28:00.000-08:00

Okay, so not the most aesthetic picture ever but I wanted to document my over 80-year-old toilet tank that was likely original to my apartment building-- can you imagine it's been in use since 1923?? Tomorrow they're replacing it with a new, eco-friendly, water-saving toilet so its long reign is now over.

Simple is Best

2010-01-05T22:00:00.000-08:00

Tuesdays at the MCA (Museum of Contemporary Art) are free so I swung by to check out their new exhibits-- Liam Gillick's minimalist sculpture/installation pieces on the ground floor and the "Italics, Italian Art between Revolution and Tradition 1968-2008" on the third. It's funny, despite being a photographer, I'm usually drawn to minimalist, colorful, design-driven pieces at gallery and museum shows. The photo above is of one of my favorite pieces in the Italics show-- an installation piece consisting of long metal trays filled with colored pigments and glass. I wish I'd written down the artist name... I'm not even sure of the title of the piece or the year it was originally produced (most likely the last 1960s or early '70s).

Structure of a Snowflake

2010-01-04T14:00:00.000-08:00

While waiting for a Western bus in Lincoln Square I happened across an empty storefront (sadly now a common sight in this economy) whose windows had been taken over by lacy, icy configurations of condensation. I'd never seen frost accumulate like this before-- they reminded me of other configurations in nature (namely leaves and trees) and also Japanese brush paintings and 1960s minimal paintings.