First Sun
The Mississippi River valley is very quiet early in the morning, with only the occasional boat motor from passing early morning fishermen disturbing the silence. This is especially true when you’re high up on the bluffs over the east bank of the river, in the Mississippi Palisades State Park near Savanna, IL, waiting for the [...]
Projections
Thanks to Rachel Hulin’s blog for pointing out these really neat portraits from Nadav Kander for Puma. Such a cool idea, I’d love to try something like this myself. Anyone got a slide projector?
A Fall Preview
I spent an afternoon in the Apple River valley last week, the area between Dahinda and East Galesburg, IL, along the BNSF’s former Santa Fe mainline. This area is very scenic, for west central Illinois anyway. There are many hills and valleys for the roads and railroads to snake their way through, and the very [...]
Out With Friends
Most of the time, my photography is a solitary pursuit, finding me by myself wandering around looking for that nice light. Sometimes, though
Full Moon at Verona
Obviously, full moon nights are great for night shooting, especially when you get out away from the bright, artificial city lights and into the dark country, where the bright light from the moon is illuminating everything. Last week, with not a cloud in the sky, we headed out to Verona, IL, west of Joliet, to [...]
Model Trains
Most people (not me…), would consider trains ugly. Cold, utilitarian pieces of machinery designed to move freight, and only to move freight. For the most part, the industrial designers at General Electric and Electro-Motive (the two major North American locomotive manufacturers) have given up on aesthetics. That’s why I believe it’s important to put trains [...]
Thursday Nights in the Hub City
Thursday nights are party nights in Rochelle, IL. The ‘bar district’ between the Union Pacific and BNSF mainlines is hopping, or as hopping as it can be in a town of 9000 population in the middle of the cornfields of north central Illinois. This particular Thursday night a month or so ago was no exception, [...]
Freight Yard
I figured I’d put up another photo that I got from my late evening sunset shoot at Union Pacific’s giant Proviso Classification Yard in suburban Chicago. As the sun was setting over the large expanse of tracks, it was almost hard to NOT make a good photo. The light was glinting off of everything in [...]
It’s in the Details
Sometimes, even in a big scene, it’s the tiny details that can make all the difference in a photo. And sometimes, it’s hard to even notice those details when you’re taking the photo. For instance….the photo below was made on Monday night, just before sunset as the storm clouds rolled in over the Illinois prairie [...]
