(no subject)

I'm nervous about my trip. I'm leaving this evening for Chicago and I'm anxious that I won't have packed everything I need and/or want. But I'm working on it!

On an unrelated note, here's a picture of me riding an 1890s buffalo sculpture that was made for the Colombian Exposition in Chicago!


Buffalo Ridin'

Copyright Stormdog 2012

Road Trip Time!

This evening, I'm leaving for my girlfriend danaeris' place in Evanston. Friday morning, I leave at 5:00 for a just-me-and-my-lonesome, old-theatre-and-roadside-kitsch roadtrip through Illinois! On the first day, I'm seeing:

Statues of the explorers Marquette and Joliet, a giant Frankenstein, and the world's biggest cigar store Indian in the south Chicago burbs. The Rialto Square Theatre, the first ever Dairy Queen, and a statue commemorating the dead in an ammo plant explosion in Joliet. A space-age themed drive-in restaurant with a giant astronaut in Wilmington. A memorial to a mine disaster in Diamond. A telephone museum in Gridley, and the "Friendship Shoe Fence" nearby. Then the Normal Theatre in Normal, several theatres in Champaign, and the Hippie Memorial in Arcola. There are a few other things in there too if time permits.

After that, I move further south through Effingham, St. Elmo, Vandalia, and points south, eventually reaching Metropolis, the official home of Superman and the grave of the Birdman of Alcatraz. I'll end the second day in Paducah, Kentucky at the home of a gracious couple who are letting me surf their couch.

Depending on how I feel and how the first half of the trip went, I'll either return the way I came, or take a trip west to Chester and Kaskaskia, then north through Springfield, seeing the home of the creator of Popeye, the Liberty Bell of the West, and the grave of Mother Jones, as well as a bunch more theatres.

Wish me and my car well?

(no subject)

I need more experience at dealing with light at different times of day when photographing architecture, both interiors and exteriors.
I had a plan to take a trip to Duluth/Superior this Summer, but my dad is having surgery prior to that trip and I may end up not going. If I'm home, I think I might spend that time doing some local photography. Get up early, shoot some pictures of local theatres and churches and things like that. Spend some time concentrating on getting to know light at different times of day instead of spending all day driving from point-to-point and hoping for the best. It might be a valuable investment, and would keep me in town if I need to help out around the house.

In the picture below, for example, they seem gray to me. I can tweak that a bit in Photoshop, adding warming filters, or saturating the color. But I think if I had light coming in through windows and the missing roof that was less bright and harsh, the color in the building itself would come through a lot better. But I don't know. I need to do more of this kind of photography in a more systematic way and see how to get pictures I like even more.



Copyright Stormdog 2012


Copyright Stormdog 2012

(no subject)

There is a grain elevator museum in Atlanta, Illinois! I'm really sad that it won't be open when I'm in the area. One of these days I'd dearly love to see it. I'm really interested in how grain elevators work and their history. It's open Sundays through August. It's probably too much to hope for given how eclectic my interests are, but does anybody want to take a day trip with me and give me five or ten bucks for gas?

http://www.haweselevator.org/