Chicago...night, light, and colors

 

It was quiet here again in the blog during the last week. I just returned from GRAPH EXPO, the annual trade show of the graphic industry at the McCormick Place in Chicago. I had plans to post some images during this week but due to a “pilot error” the cable that connects the camera with my notebook was not in my photo bag and so I wasn’t able to upload any photos… :-?

Our company stayed at the Hyatt Hotel next to the McCormick Center and it paid back to ask for a high floor during my check-in. There isn’t much time for any private life during a trade show but I did not waste the late night and early morning hours because of the great view to the Chicago skyline from my room...

Unlike in many airplanes the hotel window was relatively clean and by holding the lens very close to the glass the reflections were almost eliminated. Early Sunday morning the fog from Lake Michigan was creeping into the city. Hours before the Green Bay Packers beat the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field the first light of the day was reflected in the glass of the stadium. The Ferris wheel on Navy Pier stuck out of the fog in the background during the blue hour…, what a great way to start the first day of the trade show…

Clouds poured in on Monday and the top of Sears Tower on the left was hidden. The city’s light was reflected from above and made for a spectacular night scene.

Wednesday morning the first rays of the sun touched the skyline and revealed the colors and pronounced the lines of Chicago’s wonderful architecture.

Evening at the big river

 

Joan, Cooper, and I spent some time down at the Mississippi at Mud Lake Park this evening. Some thunderstorm cells and clouds moved out of our area to the east, into Wisconsin and Illinois, and made for some nice subjects to photograph. We heard the calls of the Sandhill Cranes, saw pelicans and eagles, and got finally a great view to the young Great Horned Owl. This time the owlet didn’t retrieve back into the nest and we were able to make some good clicks. Time well spent!

Vintage cars, great subject for having some fun...

 

Are you tired of seeing wildlife photos? Well, I'll never be but I still like to work other subjects in my photography ones in a while. Yesterday I crossed the bridge over the Mississippi into Illinois. During the summer every Thursday the owners and drivers of cars, built before 1972, meet in East Dubuque and enjoy to display their cars and socialize with each other.

I have a strong technical background and may understand most of the technical talk I heard yesterday but the reason I'm drawn into an event like this is the sheer beauty of some of the old cars on display. I enjoy watching people that have passion for the things they do and that was definitely the case yesterday evening.

Nobody complained about the bare blue sky and sun, except for the photographer. ;-) Our vision can differentiate, according to a Stanford study, up to 15 stops of light in one glance but most digital cameras are only able to handle a five-stop-range. My friend Dave Updegraff has a Nikon D4 and this great camera is able to handle six f-stops. Well, no matter what digital camera you hold in your hands, it  doesn't solve the light challenge we were facing yesterday evening. How can we handle it and bring some images home that look halfway decent? I looked for the cars that were parked on the westside of Main Street in the shade of the buildings and just tried to keep the sky out of the frame for my detail shots. The third image is an HDR, made from five different exposures that were merged in NIK HDR Efex Pro. Two different ways to go but even if I'm not a big fan of HDR processing, (mostly useless in wildlife photography), I do not exclude it from my tool box and see it as a valid tool for light situations that are hard to overcome.

As I said, I do stuff like this only occasionally, ones in a while, but my photography friend Brian over in Germany has a "led sled" that would be allowed to park in an event like yesterday without any doubt. In addition he is a very talented photographer who has some great car images in his blog. Check it out HERE!