I was there too
I’m reliably informed that many women enjoy the occasional trip to shoe shops and other establishments were garments and other finery may be purchased. Thankfully my wife isn’t one of them and hates shopping almost as much as I do. Nevertheless we found ourselves inside this shoe shop in Chicago so I decided to make the most of the moment and snap a few photos.
| Aperture | ƒ/5.6 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 20D |
| Focal length | 21mm |
| ISO | 1600 |
| Shutter speed | 1/100s |
Despite being a major city, or perhaps because of it, Chicago has plenty of open spaces and broad streets. I love this shot for it’s wide open space bordered by tall buildings.
If the photo looks slightly odd, that’s because I used the perspective tool, but never dragged it the other way..
| Aperture | ƒ/16 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 20D |
| Focal length | 18mm |
| ISO | 1600 |
| Shutter speed | 1/800s |
When I originally took this photo in Chicago (on La Salle, near the CBOT) it was a snapshot of a film crew. I took a few more shots of the crew but I was intrigued by the camera. Panaflex, what’s the specs on that then? Turns out it’s a product of Panavision, you know, that name that’s in practically every American film’s credits? Interesting history too although how they consider that big lump small enough to be handheld is beyond me!
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 20D |
| Focal length | 55mm |
| ISO | 800 |
| Shutter speed | 1/125s |
In 2001 Donald Trump announced he’d build the tallest building in the world in Chicago, “Trump International Hotel and Tower”. After the attacks on the WTC in September that year the plans were changed however, but it’s still an awfully high building. Check out the Wikipedia page for further details.
This is the building site of the “Trump Tower” as it’s known locally. I shot this in 2005, and they’ve made quite a bit of progress since then as you can imagine, but this is a piece of history, and a patch of bare ground that won’t see daylight again for many many years.
| Aperture | ƒ/7.1 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 20D |
| Focal length | 18mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/125s |
An old sign reflect in the windows of a new building, somewhere in Chicago.
| Aperture | ƒ/7.1 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 20D |
| Focal length | 55mm |
| ISO | 200 |
| Shutter speed | 1/100s |
The L is the elevated train system in Chicago and many films have been filmed underneath it’s tracks, including some scenes in Batman, The Dark Knight. Here’s the L under Kimball on the brown line. I worked close by a few years ago!
| Aperture | ƒ/4.5 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 20D |
| Focal length | 18mm |
| ISO | 800 |
| Shutter speed | 1/50s |
The River Martin flows near Blarney Castle in Co. Cork on a cold December morning in 2005. The Castle grounds were quiet that day with hardly a soul about! Spencer Tunick would have been hardly known in the area at the time.
| Aperture | ƒ/6.3 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 20D |
| Focal length | 18mm |
| ISO | 200 |
| Shutter speed | 1/100s |
I would love to know who made an email attachment of my thieving duck and thank them. The Aflac Duck seems to be a well known part of American insurance marketing and people got a kick out of these ducks stealing money from a lady on the street!
Apparently my thieving duck has become “the most sent-around-ha-ha-look-at-the-duck photo evar” but I wish I had watermarked the image with my blog url. It has appeared on:
To those that linked back here, thank you. To the rest, shame on you, why didn’t you use Google and find my blog?
I’m still chuffed that an image of mine is now an “urban legand” of sorts. Not many can say that! More comments on flickr but please link here if you’re going to link anywhere!
Update – welcome visitors from the Zefrank forum!
Update on June 14th. It appears the News of the World newspaper used the Thieving Duck last Sunday. I sent them off an email this afternoon so hopefully I will hear from them within a day or two.
| Aperture | ƒ/6.3 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 20D |
| Focal length | 55mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/80s |
How are the White Sox doing this year? I went to see several baseball games in Chicago and they were always a blast, more a social occasion than anything else. I of course had my camera, here are some shots from a White Sox game, and here’s the famous game where Sammy Sosa used a corked bat! That was my first baseball game, watched from a corporate box owned by Fox!
This picture was taken last year. It’s on the location of Donald Trump’s new building, Trump International Hotel and Tower (Chicago) on the site of the old (and ugly) Chicago Sun-Times building.
| Aperture | ƒ/7.1 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 20D |
| Focal length | 54mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/125s |
Aboard one of the trains of the Chicago L, the elevated and underground train network in Chicago. I think this was taken near the south end of the Loop, possibly around the corner from the library.
The last time I was in Chicago I took the L for nostalgic reasons and because it’s not a half-bad way for a tourist to see the town. The stations of the Loop are all elevated above street level and some afford a good view down the main streets of downtown Chicago! Maps and schedules are posted in each station, on the trains and online too making it very easy to find your way around.
Here’s a tour of the Loop with pictures if you’d like to know more.
I like this: Real Esteli played its best match ever – couple of great football shots!
| Aperture | ƒ/5.6 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 20D |
| Focal length | 18mm |
| ISO | 200 |
| Shutter speed | 1/100s |
This is the sky bridge between the two sections of the Wrigley Building in Chicago. We were walking through when I looked up and immediately noticed the leading lines of the buildings and the walkway.
Way back in 2003 I photographed the Wrigley Building a few times and I’m pretty sure it featured in the film Batman Begins too.
Wrigley.com has a page dedicated to the history of the building and it makes for interesting reading.
While searching ocaoimh.ie for those pictures, I came across this little nugget about Bill Gates from 2002. 🙂
Something else from the archives for you street shooters – A face in the crowd, tips from the Street Photography List on capturing the elusive face in the maddening crowd.
I like this: Cow & Gate, never mind the baby food.
| Aperture | ƒ/9 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 20D |
| Focal length | 18mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/250s |
Sears Tower in Chicago and it’s reflection in a flagpole on the grounds of the building. I love the light and shadows in this image and the mirror image of the reflection.
| Aperture | ƒ/10 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 20D |
| Focal length | 18mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/250s |
