A few more images from my trial run with the new Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II lens. More to come!
Scenes from town
Tag: photojournalism
Goodnight, Chicago
Finally, I present the last of my Chicago images. Not necessarily for the master’s project, but for me: Elizabeth and I lived in Chicago for a time, but I never really carried a camera with me because I was concerned about keeping my equipment safe at our apartment in Hyde Park. I figured the less I had, the safer we were (and we never had a break-in). But this project gave me an excuse to walk around downtown and the Loop with some of my better gear. Frankly, the 5D Mk. II and a 50mm lens would be a great combination, with a wide-angle lens and a telephoto as two accessory lenses, but I really needed to have the 24-70mm with me that day as I was working on my project, and needed the flexibility that it provides. The next time I go to Chicago with a camera, it will just be for me, and the equipment choices will certainly reflect that!
Three more photographs after the jump!
Vignettes from the Waterfront
I’ve been spending the better part of the week processing my photos for my master’s project. The trips to Chicago were surprisingly productive. And the 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO IS lens that I’ve been borrowing from my dad–I briefly reviewed it here early this year–proved to be invaluable in the city. Sure, the images aren’t as sharp as they would be with a 70-200 lens, but it’s a smaller, less “obvious” lens for street shooting: the black barrel doesn’t draw attention to itself.
As always, comments and criticism welcome! And more photos after the jump!
The “Green City”
Chicago and the river that bears the city’s name are a large part my project about Asian carp: the river is a conduit through which the fish are likely to find their way into Lake Michigan. (In all fairness, they have already found alternative routes that take them into Lake Erie.) Here, then, are a few more photos of this city that is the seat of so much controversy.
Berkeley, Illinois Metra Station
A few images from Berkeley, Illinois, where I took the Metra West line to get into Chicago a couple of weeks ago to play tourist at Wendella Boats. I think it’s fitting to show some of the rail infrastructure surrounding the city as rail would be one of the alternatives for carrying the cargo that barges currently push in and out of the region.
Also, I’ve been experimenting, perhaps too much, with leaving my large-aperture lenses wide open even mid-day for the selective focus and natural vignetting that you can get…and then enhancing the latter a touch in Lightroom. Don’t worry–I’m sure it’s a phase that I’ll get over sooner rather than later. At least the vignetting part!
Two more photos after the jump! Continue reading “Berkeley, Illinois Metra Station”
Like living on a working river
A few more frames from my day on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal with Illinois Marine Towing. I wanted a little “more” both from the portrait of Dan Egan and the image below, with Steve Gray growing in proportion from one frame to the next. As for the third image, I can’t help but be drawn to photos of flowing water, although usually I try to make it silky, I enjoyed the way that the faster shutter speed froze the large droplets.
(Two more photos after the jump!) Continue reading “Like living on a working river”
More views from the Sanitary and Ship Canal
Before I even got onto the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, I found myself outside the office of Illinois Marine Towing in Lemont, Ill., talking to some of the deck hands who were scheduled to start work that morning, and would remain at work for three weeks. Crews on the tugboats that push barges up and down the waterways live on the boats for three weeks at a time, sometimes four if they’d like to earn a bit more money, before coming home for a few weeks. There are a lot of moving parts in the discussion about Asian carp and the Great Lakes, and these people who make their living working on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal are a part of that debate, as is the cargo that they help to push up and down the waterways.
See the rest of the photos after the jump! Continue reading “More views from the Sanitary and Ship Canal”
Scenes from the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal
Last Wednesday I had an opportunity to spend most of a day on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal with three men who make their living pushing cargo up and down the man-made waterway created 110 years ago. Bill Russell at Illinois Marine Towing, a small barge company in Lemont, Illinois, granted me access to one of the fleet boats as it repositioned barges and other tug boats around the shipyard and up and down a stretch of the canal. Capt. Dan Egan, Antonio Lopez, and Steve Gray were all very open to the idea, and basically allowed me great access to the work that they do, although there are some safety precautions that certainly limit how much of their job I could photograph from close range. But I didn’t want to be the victim of a snapped line or fall into the water, either! Be sure to see the rest of the images after the jump. And there will be more to come!
Continue reading “Scenes from the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal”
Shield your eyes
Giant Horse Alive
On Sunday, Elizabeth and I went to the closing day of the North Carolina State Fair. You see a lot of strange things at events like that, but this one just depressed me. I don’t know what poor creature lives inside this tent, but I doubt its existence is a happy one.