Old factory

Old factory

This is my first image posted from shooting in RAW. I have to say that it’s extremely cool as far as the controls you have over exposure and white balance and a ton of other options. I’ve just been using the CS2 raw plugin and I’m really liking it. On another note I got a new lens and should post something from it in the next couple of days. It’s a Nikon 50mm 1.8 and I haven’t really had time to play just yet.

Cloud gate

Cloud gate

Pulling out another shot from my trip to Chicago. This is of an art object called Cloud Gate. It is a giant bean shaped object made from highly polished steel plates. You can’t see the seams at all where the plates meet except for when you go underneath where they left the seams on purpose. It was pretty neat. Brandon has a cool shot of it here. There was a orchestra playing in front of it entertaining what looked like a high brow dinner party.

Board here

Board here

Hey…I need some opinions. What are your feelings about the rollover section on the main image? I liked it at first, now I’m not sure. I keep wavering back and forth. Please chime in with your opinion! :) Thanks.

Pier

Pier

Ok, back to Chicago scenery. Hopefully I can pick up my camera and shoot something new in the next couple of days. I have been fairly lazy as far as shooting because I took so many shots during my trip to Chicago. Nothing extrodinary about this one, but it just sticks out to me for some strange reason above the other shots I have prepared.

Navy Pier

Navy Pier

Continuing with shots from my trip to Chicago. This is a combination of two shots down the right side of the Navy Pier in Chicago. The shots together end up unbalanced, but I wanted to show you some more of Chicago, plus you can see to the far right the lighthouse from a previous shot. This is the same section of walkway, although several hundred feet to the right, that I shot the lighthouse so you get an idea as to how far away from it I was.

The Navy Pier is an interesting place. It’s a section of land that jutts out into lake Michigan and down the right side of it (as you are facing lake Michigan) there are shops and restaurants and many boats docked. Along the top is a large carousel, mini golf and other attractions.

It’s particularly neat when you get out to the farthest point and you are looking out into the lake. It’s a great place to just take a seat and watch the birds and water and take it all in. Very peaceful and soothing. Every now and then they’ll have a band playing Jazz or some type of music out near the end as well. It’s one of my favorite places to visit in Chicago.

Fast subway

Fast subway

The subway in Chicago is superfast! :) We’ve become pro’s at getting around Chicago during our several trips there. Using the buses and subway you can get around pretty well.

Some facts about the transit system: CTA has approximately 2,000 buses that operate over 152 routes and 2,273 route miles. Buses provide about 1 million passenger trips a day and serve more than 12,000 posted bus stops. CTA’s 1,190 rapid transit cars operate over seven routes and 222 miles of track. CTA trains provide about 500,000 customer trips each day and serve 144 stations.

There was a little bit of a scare while we were in Chicago this last time. One of the Metra trains, which are kinda like the subway but faster with less stops, derailed and a couple of people died. We weren’t on any of the Metra trains this time, but the last time we were there we had jumped on one of them.

UPDATE: Thanks to all who voted for me on Photofriday. I got a noteworthy for the Blur competition. Thanks again!