Photographer in Colorado

Day 2 of the conference was spent with lectures at the University Center. During the afternoon, I took a break to walk through the streets downtown. Close by was the Roosevelt University that had striking blue windows.

Roosevelt University

The architecture of the downtown area is unique because various different styles that have evolved over the years. This image shows a montage of several layers of buildings.

Downtown Chicago Window Montage

I made my way to the Crown Fountain. Here there are two pillars of glass tiles with a water flowing down from the top.

Crown Fountain Water Spray

Each of the two pillars have an animated face projected onto the pillar. Between the pillars is a pool where many kids were enjoying playing in the water.

Crown Fountain Pool

Here is another image of the kids splashing in the pool.

Crown Fountain Pool Reflections

I headed back to conference. Another image of the blue windows on the university building.

Blue Diamond In The Sky

The sun was low in the sky, casting long shadows on the sidewalk.

Sidewalk Shadow, Chicago

Later that evening, was another photowalk. I had enrolled in a walk with Aaron Nace. The plan was to visit the Calder Flamingo, Palmer House and the Bean. The Flamingo is a public sculpture located in Federal Plaza.

Calder Flamingo, Federal Plaza

Here are some images of the Flamingo.

Calder Flamingo, Federal Plaza, No 2

After sunset, the sculpture was lit by lights.

Calder Flamingo Detail

I made this image lying on the ground under the sculpture, pointing upwards.

Calder Flamingo Detail, No 2

Later we got back to the Crown Fountain. The pool continued to be a source of interest for kids late into the night.

Face On The Pillar, Crown Fountain

Finally I made this image of a young girl who found something of interest on the pillar.

Girl, Watching The Pillar

By this time, it was getting late. I found some dinner and headed back to the apartment on the “L”.

The Out Of Chicago Conference started on a Friday night. Prior to the event, I headed out the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) at Bronzeville. This is located on the “L” Green Line. The “L” runs in a tube located above the Campus Center. I made this image of the yellow windows of the center with the “tube” in the background.

Yellow Windows, Campus Center IIT

I waited at the other end of the tube, and waited for a northbound train to emerge. This was the reason for visiting this location.

Emerging From The Tube

I made my way back to the “L” to head downtown to “The Loop”. Here I made this image of one of the intersections of the “L”.

Rounding The Bend On The Loop

It was soon time to head to the Conference. After the introduction and key note, we joined the various photowalks. I had enrolled for the walk led by Levi Sim. Levi led our group to Buckingham Fountain. We had some fun along the route. After arriving at the fountain, I made this image.

Buckingham Fountain Spray Plume

At night, the fountain is lit by various different colored lights that cycle through different colors. In this image, I caught red and purple lights.

Buckingham Fountain In Red

The rain set in on our second full day in Chicago. We spent the day with many other visitors at the Art Institute. Since it was a Thursday, the Institute was open late. This is one of the images that I made of the low cloud hanging over the city, while inside the Institute.

Low Cloud Over Chicago

Angela enjoyed the time visiting the Impressionists. Here she is leaving the gallery to head towards one of the other galleries.

Angela At Art Institute

I hung around these stairs for a while to do some people watching.

Art Institute Visitor, No 1

This lady is one of the guides in the Institute with a badge that read “Ask Me”, welcoming visitors to the Impressionists gallery.

“Ask Me”, Behind Staircase

I made this image to show the detail of the impressive hand rail.

Art Institute Hand Rail Detail

This young lady was in the midst of making a panorama of the entrance and stairway with her smart phone.

Visitor, Making Panorama On Phone

Some more visitors to the gallery…

Art Institute Visitors

After visiting the Impressionists, I headed to one of the food courts for some lunch. This overlooks one of the passage ways joining the galleries. The far wall was labeled with “Roof” at the top and “Floor” near the bottom. In this image, I managed to capture a circular group of visitors as they walked through the area and in the same direction.

Art Institute Visitors, No 2

I headed over to the modern art galleries, where there are some Picasso and Dali paintings. While there, I made this image of a visitor studying one of the art works. This is a reflection in a mirror that had been framed in a gold colored frame.

Art Institute, Reflection

While in the Modern Art Wing, I spent many minutes gazing out at the Lurie Gardens. Several people were walking their umbrellas in the rain.

Walking In The Rain, Chicago

I refocused on the raindrops in the window, and chose a large aperture to throw the background out of focus. This allowed me to capture a more impressionistic image of the walkers with their umbrellas.

Rain Drops, Umbrellas And Walkers, Chicago

Towards the end of our visit to the Institute, I headed over to the Modern American Art Wing to see the “American Gothic” piece by Grant Wood. Also, in the same gallery are some works by Georgia O’Keefe. Leaving this gallery, I looked out over the Sculpture Court, where I made this image.

Art Institute, Visiting The Sculptures

The final exhibit was the Charlie White Retrospective. This was really fantastic collection of many of his works.

Finally, after having a great time in the Art Institute, we headed out for dinner at one of the Greek restaurants in Greek Town.

A couple of weeks ago, we headed to Chicago so that I could attend the Out Of Chicago event. After being delayed by bad weather, we arrived several hours later than expected. The following day we walked to the University of Chicago campus at Hyde Park. Along the way, we passed a dead tree that had been made into a work of public art.

Tree As Art, Hyde Park

At the University is the “Campus North Commons” building. This is a hall of residence that was designed by the architect Jeanne Gang.

Campus North Commons

Here is another view of the building.

Campus North Commons, No 2

We also stopped by “Robie House”. This home that was designed by the renown architect Frank Lloyd Wright. The house was closed and is undergoing renovation.

Robie House

Here is another view of Robie House.

Robie House, No 2

Across the road is another campus building. Here I made an image of the window with a reflection of Angela exploring the surrounding area.

Angela, Reflected, University Of Chicago

I backtracked to a location near a book store that we stopped by earlier. Along the way, I found the patio with colorful furniture.

Patio Color, University Of Chicago

Here is the mural in the alley that we passed earlier.

Alley Mural, Minds Open

On the facing wall was a picture of a panda bear. I capture the mural with a window that reflected the bear.

Mural And Panda Bear Reflection

I noticed this broken light hanging from the edge of the roof. The yellow against the green background caught my eye.

Broken Light, Hyde Park

Later we decided to head towards the center of Hyde Park by bus. We got onto the “2” bus, but failed to get off at the correct stop. So we had no option but to ride the bus all the way near downtown. We got off at the “Shedd Aquarium”, where we took a break along the lake shore. Here I made an image of the Downtown Chicago skyline.

Chicago Skyline From Shedd Aquarium

We spent a couple of hours here before returning to Hyde Park for dinner.

Yesterday, while making images of the wrens, the House Finches were busy in our backyard. I made several images while waiting for the wrens to return to the nesting box.

House Finch On Fence

Here is another, sitting on the fence.

House Finch, Sitting On The Fence

This little guy flew to the creeper.

House Finch In The Creeper

And then peered over into the alley.

House Finch Peering Over Creeper

Enjoy

Earlier this year, I made several nesting boxes and located them around the house. Black-Capped Chickadees  nested in one of the boxes. Last week, the little ones fledged and the Chickadees moved out. Meanwhile, a pair of House Wrens occupied another box, where they are currently feeding baby wrens in the box. Today, I made some images of the wrens attending to their young.

House Wren With Insect At Nesting Box

The wrens made several trips feeding insects to their young in the box. Here is another image of the wren hanging from the outside of the box.

House Wren Outside Nesting Box

I managed to capture this wren, with insect, while it was perched in a nearby maple tree.

House Wren With Insect In Tree

I managed to capture some images with the wrens peering out of the nesting box.

House Wren Peering Out Of Nesting Box

Here the wren looks it is watching the babies.

House Wren Inside Nest Box

The parent wrens have to clear away trash and poop from the box. Here we see one of the parents with a piece of poop being removed. The other parent is behind the poop remover.

House Wren Clearing Poop From Nesting Box

I also made some images of House Finches… stay tuned!

Yesterday, we headed down to the Art Students League of Denver in the late afternoon to enjoy the Summer Arts Market. After the market closed for the day, we wandered back along the streets to the car. Passing the Rosebud Cafe, I made this image of the textured brickwork with the geranium plant.

Rosebud Cafe, Walls And Geranium

Adjacent the this plant were the empty table and chairs.

Rosebud Cafe, Table and Chairs

Further down the street, we passed by Waffle Brothers.

Waffles, 90 Washington

Outside, on the sidewalk, these red chairs were waiting for someone…

Red Waffle Chairs

… but both cafe’s were closed for the day!