CameraBag Photo

Sometimes I forget how cool Chicago can be on an everyday basis. No mountains but when thus is 10 minutes from the house.....

Strolling thru river north

Friday

The air is cool while the sun streaks thru the blowing clouds to make shadows on the beach. Whitecaps jump out of the water, announced by the sunshine.

Friday morning

5:30 at soccer practice

Thursday morning

Wednesday morning at 8:25

CameraBag Photo

CameraBag Photo

CameraBag Photo

The damen stop

winter sycamore

rene margritte

early evening in downtown Chicago.

Rene Margritte is most known for paintings that I'm just not that excited about.  Beautifully painted images of a fire place with a train suspended in mid air as it comes through the back of the fire place.  An apple suspended  in a landscape, a bowler hat with clouds instead of a face.  Sorry, these paintings just don't rock my boat.  But then there is a painting that in my mind is so different from his usual.  It is a street lamp lighting the underside of a tree and the courtyard while above the dark trees is a royal blue evening sky.  Just that contrast between light and dark.  It is such a normal sight and at the same time an abstract composition.  Okay maybe it is like his other work - real and yet abstract - but for this painting he didn't have to use the surreal; it is just that turning point in the evening that provided a natural surreal image.

I saw that painting in Venice at the Guggenheim for the first time.  I bought the poster but left it at the hotel when it was time to leave.  I got on the train leaving Venice only to realize that I didn't have the poster.  There was no way I would make it back to the hotel with my luggage in tow.  So, I stashed my backpack on the train and took off running, flew into the hotel and then back to the train at a dead run.  I jumped onto that train as it was pulling out of the station - images of my luggage arriving in Rome without me provided a whole bunch of extra adrenaline.

I still have that poster.  I also found that the painting must have been a favorite of Margritte's as well.  It turns out he did several variations of the painting - tweaking the light or the courtyard scene.  So, this shot is my Rene Margritte shot.

morning sky

lake view

I've always liked these 3 trees that stand next to the lake.  Still working on how to best capture them

pigeons better watch out

oh those pigeons better watch out.  This was not today but was shot this month down near Montrose beach.

lake effect

oh it was cold and windy this morning