Archive for the ‘Events’ tag
August 20-22, 2010
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The weekend started out busy with an assignment Friday evening to shoot the surprise homecoming gala for Captain Russell Litko in Tinley Park. A very emotional event that was attended by about 350 people. The good captain never saw this coming!
Saturday morning we headed out to Highland IN with the Northwest Indiana Meetup Group to photograph a battle re-enactment. This was a lot cooler than I thought. This was my first meetup with this group and it was a lot of fun. A good group of people for sure!
Luckily I checked my email as soon as we got back. One of my editors had an assignment to shoot a “Movies in the Park” event. The movie was Toy Story and a few of the kids were really into it! Finished up with that and went fishing until the mosquitos tried to carry us away! Thought my picture making was done for the day until I found a Cicada on my slider right before bedtime!
Sunday we just chilled for most of the day and went fishing later on in the afternoon. Fun weekend but sort of sad. School starts this week and Kieran is heading back to his Winter Home Tuesday night. Gonna feel pretty empty around here for a few weeks.
Trains, Planes, Eyeballs, and Fountains Oh My!
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Geez, the Air Show was this weekend already! It seems summer just started and it’s already ending. At least it was cooler by the lake! This has been one hot summer.
We caught the train to go downtown and were pleasantly surprised to find it was an express and not the usual milk run. The train was packed though. I think a lot of folks who got on after us had to stand. Once downtown, we hopped on the el and headed north and after a quick stop at McDonalds, we headed for the beach.
We have been going to the Air Show for years and I always find it interesting in one way or another. I’m not really thrilled by the military planes but the stunt guys are pretty cool. Pretty nuts too. They do some crazy stuff.
This year however, the dragonflies caught my attention. There were hundreds of them. And they weren’t small ones either! Almost every picture Kieran and I made had a couple of them in the frame. Whenever there was a break in the action I would try making a picture of one. Not an easy task I gotta tell ya! Fun though. Then there was the kid digging a big hole in the sand. He spent a lot of time digging and when I went over to talk to him I saw that he was packing the sides so it wouldn’t collapse. Smart guy! North Avenue Beach was packed but it didn’t feel packed. If that makes sense. After the show there is usually a bigtime traffic jam at the bridge going over LSD and this year traffic slowed a little but never stopped. That was almost as nice as an express train! Read the rest of this entry »
Dog Days of August….2010
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Last Saturday, we headed out to Cantigny Park in Wheaton to meet up with a few members of the Chicagoland Digital Photography Meetup Group for Dog Days at Cantigny. We went last year and I made what I thought was my best picture of the year there. You can’t miss there. The park is filled with dogs of all shapes and sizes!
This years event was even better. The weather was great and the turnout was very good. We wandered around for a few hours watching the dogs as well as checking out the frisbee and agility demonstrations.
The highlight this year was meeting Sandy. Sandy it turns out, is the Queen of the Sled Team. She actually gets hooked in with the team and pulls! She even has a crown!
It was a fun day. I for one, am looking forward to the next one!
Worldwide PhotoWalk 2010
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Another year, another PhotoWalk! Scott Kelby may be the modern day equivalent of a carnival barker but I have to give the devil his due, these walks are a great idea!
My previous walks were in Chicago. They were a lot of fun and it’s always good to make new friends! This year I joined a photowalk in Crown Point, Indiana. It sounded interesting and I have never been to Crown Point before.
Crown Point is a pretty cool city. Unlike Chicago, you can find parking right in the middle of downtown. And it’s free! I pulled up about 10 minutes early and walked the 100 feet to the steps of the court house. This was a nice sized group of about 20 photographers. There were beginners, intermediate, and pros in this group. A really nice mix!
About 10 minutes after the walk began, the rain caught up with us. Fortunately it didn’t last long. Unfortunately, as soon as it stopped, it got crazy humid out! The good conversation and cool sights quickly made you forget about it though. There were some really nice homes to see and towards the end of the walk there was a house with a boatload of sunflowers in the yard. One of the ladies who lived there came out and told us about the flowers. She was great!
I would like to get back out there one of these days. There were some spots we didn’t get to and there just wasn’t enough time to take it all in. Hopefully before the snow shows!
After the walk we met at the Crown Brewery for food, drinks, and conversation. The beer was good as was the conversation! A variety of subjects were brought up and I would think a good time was had by all!
The ride home was a real treat. As Chris and I walked back toward our cars, it was raining lightly and the sky was flashing like a Strobist meetup! It rained so hard in spots on the way home it was tough to see the lines on the road. As luck would have it, the rain stopped about a mile from home. I’m already looking forward to next year!
4th of July Photo Ideas
As the 4th of July rapidly approaches I start thinking about how I’m going to top last years pictures. I start sniffing around the interwebs looking for new ideas. Here are a few articles that may or may not interest you:
Unique Fireworks photos using Lensblur
Photographing Fireworks in your backyard
How to photograph Fireworks displays
This isn’t even close to being all there is out there but it’s a start! Have fun this weekend and be careful. If you think good photography is tough, it’s even tougher with one eye.
Good Times at the JJJ
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I know I had a great time! This is always my favorite weekend of the summer. A big tip of the hat to Jim and Jeanne for their hospitality, Brett and Nick for once again whipping up some fantastic chicken, and everyone else for making this the coolest family in the world!
If you have any questions about the pictures, please don’t hesitate dropping me a line!
