Congress Hotel

Congress Hotel, a photo by William 74 on Flickr.

A moody, sunset shot of the Congress Hotel in Chicago. Opened in 1893 for the World's Columbian Exposition, the Congress has undergone two major expansions through the years, the second one by Holabird and Roche in 1907. Originally designed as an annex for the Auditorium Theater across LaSalle Street, the hotel was connected to the theater for many years by a marble-lined tunnel called "Peacock Alley".

Both buildings still stand today.

Cloud Cover

Cloud Cover, a photo by William 74 on Flickr.

An Adams-esque view of some clouds. This is another one of those times where you just have to stop and shoot-I'd not seen clouds that dark outside of a thunderstorm. And there's no trickery going on here either, they were genuinely dark, just floating serenely among some much brighter, happier looking friends.

Anyway, if you see it, stop and look. You may not see it again, ever.

Farmers' Elevator & Supply Co.

Farmers' Elevator & Supply Co., a photo by William 74 on Flickr.

A couple of grain elevators in Morrison, Illinois, a town near the Iowa border and right along the Lincoln Highway.

Clouds

Clouds, a photo by William 74 on Flickr.

Doing my best Ansel Adams impression.

Ferris Wheel

Ferris Wheel, a photo by William 74 on Flickr.

A Ferris wheel at a local fun fair. This pretty much screams "lazy summertime" to me.

Also, the Ferris Wheel was invented in Chicago!

Jets

Jets, a photo by William 74 on Flickr.

The Black Diamond aerobatic team, flying in a nice formation. They use Eastern Bloc jets for their team-the four in the middle are Aero L-39 Albatros trainers from Czechoslovakia, and the two on the ends are MiG-17's. The Aero, in particular, is gaining popularity in the US as a privately owned jet warbird, as it's fairly inexpensive (relatively speaking, of course) and agile. The MiG's are two of 27 believed to be in private hands in the States-they are also quite maneuverable and well suited to aerobatics.

Warehouse

Warehouse, a photo by William 74 on Flickr.

Semi-abandoned warehouses. These are part of the Green River Ordnance Plant complex, a World War Two-era munitions factory. They've been used for a number of purposes since then, most recently as storage units, but they appear to be disused at the moment. A pair of railroad tracks still runs between the buildings, and one can still trace the rail's path to the former Illinois Central main line.

Workin' At The Car Wash Blues

Elgin Car Wash-Elgin, IL, a photo by William 74 on Flickr.

A non-neon Neon Friday entry. This classic old sign is in Elgin, Illinois. It looks a little beat up but it works pretty well.

Tree

Tree, a photo by William 74 on Flickr.

Hang around with a certain sort of photog long enough, and you hear about something called a Diana. The Diana camera is a cheap, plastic camera, with a plastic meniscus lens, a leaf shutter, and zone focusing via little icons on the lens barrel. They were originally made in Hong Kong in the sixties, and were usually imported as giveaways for raffles and opening bank accounts, that sort of thing. The are really distinct looking, black plastic with a turquoise top and a shiny lens barrel with DIANA writ large across the front.

Dianas take medium format 120 film, and their lenses have a peculiar, lo-fi effect that's usually called "dreamy" but is sometimes just called "fuzzy" or "not really sharp at all". Between the artifacts and stuff like vignettes and light leaks, Diana cameras have a unique fingerprint.

Anyway, the Diana camera became beloved for it's uniquely flawed prints, and eventually went back into production, in various formats and with different lenses available, just like a real camera. You can even get Diana lenses with adapters for your fancypants DSLR. Which is exactly what I did here, since I haven't got a darkroom and am tired of sending 120 film away and waiting two weeks.

TL;DR, I took this picture of a tree with a cheap plastic lens.

Cloudillac

Cloudillac, a photo by William 74 on Flickr.

Great sky day that afternoon.

Go West

Sunset, a photo by William 74 on Flickr.

Well, west-ish. This road doesn't go exactly west, and winds around a bit on it's way to DeKalb.

This would have been a cooler shot if I had a more interesting car, something like a Kaiser Manhattan or a Ford Model A.

TtV Tuesday!

Tuesday, time for ground glass! I enjoy shooting clouds-it's ever changing and best of all free, just go outside and have at it.

South Platform

Through the Viewfinder Tuesday! A real vintage railroad semaphore signal, given the fake vintage TTV treatment.

Painted On The Sky

Country Road, originally uploaded by William 74.

Yeah, I went there. But this isn't West Virginia-this particular country road is in Illinois and winds between fields and farms rather than over the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Evanston Express

Evanston Express, originally uploaded by William 74.

A pair of Chicago L trains. The Evanston Express was originally a "shoppers' special", a fast train to the Loop to serve Christmas shoppers from the suburbs. After the war, the Express was reinstated, making limited stops on the Howard line until reaching the Loop. These trains typically ran several times a day, although they lost the "Shoppers' Special" name in the mid fifties.

By the time these 6000-series cars were running the Express, it was running several times a day and was very popular with Evanston residents. The name stayed until 1993, when the various lines were renamed with colors, and the Evanston Express became the Purple Line Express.

Sunset

Sunset, originally uploaded by William 74.

Fun with silhouettes! I guess that's one nice thing about winter and spring-the trees are still bare and stand out really well against the sky. Particularly a sunset like this one.

Excellent cloud day too.