I’ve published a few photos here from the various Forgotten Chicago boat trips down industrial river areas, including a few shots of the lift bridges that connect the sides of the river when they’re lowered but are kept raised most of the time so boats large and small can travel unimpeded. I marveled at how complicated the construction of those bridges was, and how it felt like it took both so much and so little to keep them working. From a distance, these girders form a nice, neat structure, but up close, they look like they’re heading every which way in an effort to support the bridge.

August 29, 2010. Nikon D90 (DX sensor), 70–300mm Nikon zoom lens at 70mm (35mm equivalent: 105mm), f/10, 1/200, ISO 640.

It almost sounds like the name of some third-rate animation studio character. This yellow-rumped warbler, which is in a position to prove that once again ornithologists were naming birds with colors that just weren’t where they claimed, senses there’s reason to be cautious as it scans the nearby sky.

April 18, 2020. Cropped from a larger image. Nikon D7100 (DX sensor), Tamron 100–400mm lens at 400mm (35mm equivalent: 600mm), f/6.7, 1/1,500, ISO 400.

A kestrel couple had spent some time sitting on adjacent branches sunning on a chilly March day. I snapped a few pictures — they weren’t doing much but are always beautiful birds to capture — and, a short time later, the female that had been on the right branch there flew off. Her mate didn’t follow, but a moment later. the male took a nice big stretch on his branch. It was a cute look at a bird just being himself in the moment.

March 20, 2021. Cropped from a larger image. Nikon D7100 (DX sensor), Tamron 100–400mm lens at 400mm (35mm equivalent: 600mm), f/9.5, 1/350, ISO 560.

This summer I visited the Boston area for a celebration of life, but stretched my visit out for a week to enjoy a city I love. I had a fantastic time every day and every night. The town in which I rented a room celebrated its Town Day on Saturday, mostly lots of sidewalk sales. But it ended with a really nice fireworks display in the early evening. I got there early, and while the picnic tables and benches were all already occupied, there were lots of big boulders along the lake front. I chose one to sit on, and a little while later, the area in front of me filled in with a group of young kids. Silhouetted nicely in the western light, excitement and expectations high for the show, they were having a great time, and that’s why I love this photo.

September 20, 2025. OnePlus 12 cell phone, 6.06mm focal length (35mm equivalent: 23mm), f/1.35, 1/100, ISO 1,250.

How can “girls” resist? This ad had been in that spot on that building since the 1950s, according to news reports when it was taken down in the Summer of 2018; it survived the company that put it there by about a decade. (Which, if that report is accurate, means that someone would answer that phone number as late as 2008!) It was one of those quirky remnants of Old Chicago that was always fun to see as you roamed the city. Those reports say a neighborhood association has the sign in storage.

February 22, 2015. Google Nexus 5 cell phone, 3.97mm focal length (35mm equivalent: 26mm), f/2.4, 1/2,200, ISO 130.

Here’s another closeup macro shot that takes just the thinnest edge of focus to give us a gorgeous painterly feel. The photographs I take at the beginning of each season often give me many of my favorites, and this is in that category, as much as I’d love this regardless of when I took it.

May 29, 2017. Nikon D7100 (DX sensor), 105mm Nikon macro lens (35mm equivalent: 155mm), f/4.2, 1/4,000, ISO 100.

Here’s another photo that would have stopped me in my tracks if I’d been making any, but I saw it while I was sitting relatively comfortably in my easy chair; all I had to do was grab my cell phone and take a bunch of photos from different angles. It was a hot, humid day, and it didn’t take long for my glass of ice water to bead up with condensation. This full-color photo plays with light and form really nicely; all of those droplets are on the outside of the glass and face out, but few of them look that way — most of them look like they’re facing into the glass, a neat optical illusion. I have a few favorites from that moment, but this one’s the star of the show, and a reminder: Don’t miss what’s right in front of you.

July 30, 2025. OnePlus 12 cell phone, 2.6mm focal length (35mm equivalent: 23mm), f/2.6, 1/333, ISO 64.

I’m sure this ride is a thrill every heartbeat, but it really looked underwhelming every time I glanced at it, and this was a perfect moment to illustrate why.

August 26, 2025. Nikon Coolpix P1000 (1/2.3-inch sensor), focal length 19mm (35mm equivalent: 105mm), f/8, 1/2,500, ISO 800.

I went out to take some pictures and get some air after a light snowfall, and was struck by how the snow stayed away from the edge of the lakeshore. It’s just a neat compositional moment, lining up with the Hancock Tower downtown.

February 16, 2008. Canon PowerShot SD850 IS, focal length 5.8 (35mm equivalent: 35mm), f/8, 1/320, ISO 80.

I run into a lot of serious bird followers at the nature park, and I have actually heard some of them use the phrase “junk birds.” The ones they don’t care about because you see them all the time, you understand. I think this is a very fine shot of a “junk” bird doing what it does best, and I’m glad robins make our days a little more colorful and musical.

August 25, 2012. Nikon D90 (DX sensor), 70–300mm Nikon zoom lens at 300mm (35mm equivalent: 450mm), f/8, 1/500, ISO 400.

Here’s a nice complement to yesterday’s photo, and once again, the larger you can view this, the better. I’m really happy with how this skyline shot — taken as one of the Forgotten Chicago tours returned to the harbor — came out, especially because it was hot and muggy, so I was shooting through high humidity, and the sun was well into the west, so not a bit of sunlight was hitting this scene. It was a tricky photographic situation and I took a bunch of photos at different settings figuring one would come out. I was still pretty new to DSLR photography when I took this first trip, as I’ve mentioned before, and getting a good shot of the skyline under these conditions taught me a bit about exposure.

August 29, 2010. Nikon D90 (DX sensor), 70–300mm Nikon zoom lens at 70mm (105mm equivalent: 210mm), f/7.1, 1/4,000, ISO 640.

Whatever my take on Chicago, I will always agree that it glitters nicely at night. This is the New Eastside [sic] to South Loop skyline and it’s got a good look. As I move forward with relocation plans, I’m glad to see photos like this in my collection.

November 3, 2018. Samsung Galaxy S8+ cell phone, focal length 4.25mm (35mm equivalent: 26mm), f/1.7, 1/13, ISO 200.

If you’re a beer drinker, you may know the brand Goose Island, one of the early local brewpubs that made it big when it was acquired by whatever multinational conglomerate also owns Budweiser, not that I’m implying anything about the quality of Goose Island. (I still like a couple of its beers.)

This is Goose Island, the namesake and location of the original brewpub. Until recently, it was, as you can see, a mostly industrial area, though lighter industry than the Calumet River. The north-south street is Halsted, the east-west street is Division, and way over on the left a little above Division, you can see the old Morton Salt plant, which is now the Salt Shed concert venue and entertainment complex. This is slated for intense gentrification and luxury development over the next decade. I keep taking pictures of industrial areas that become luxury developments somehow.

January 19, 2020. iPhone XS Max cell phone, 6mm focal length (35mm equivalent: 60mm), f/2.5, 1/1,065, ISO 16.

I have posted photos from some of the Forgotten Chicago tours of the industrial Calumet River area of the lift bridges that, when the track is down, span the river, but are kept well above the height that freighters need to maintain clearance and keep the river traffic moving.

It’s hard to reduce the scale of those bridges, which are immense, to a little photo on a little blog. On my last of those trips, I was happy to see this view of one of the wheels that actually moves all of that metal. Even these wheels — essentially the pulleys that move much of the mechanism — are staggeringly large. They have counterparts atop the structures and at some point, I’ll post one of those, which will lose the sense of scale we see here but show how it all fits together.

July 21, 2013. Nikon D7100 (DX sensor), Nikon 70–300mm lens at 70mm (35mm equivalent: 105mm), f/4.5, 1/8,000, ISO 1,250.

I don’t know, but it feels like this might have been created, or at least posted, by the same folks who did the illustration of Betty Boop on the laundromat wall that I posted some time ago. This was just off Chicago’s commercial Magnificent Mile strip, on a wall of a grimy area on E. Grand Ave., and was one of two things that made that area just a little better, the other being an upscale donut shop.

The image seems — this is a best guess but I’m comfortable with it – to be a portrait of a local musician and producer. The city of Chicago painted over it a couple of months later, just slapped a muddy brown rectangle of dark brown over it, because Chicago hates too many nice things.

May 24, 2016. Google Nexus 6P cell phone, focal length 4.67 (35mm equivalent: 26mm), f/2, 1/220, ISO 60.