Hollywood Sign

Sign, sign everywhere a sign. This one says that travel will start once again soon.

Summer on the horizon

I actually don't know what this Troll sees from a hill overlooking I-88 in Lisle but based on the calendar and the recent temperatures, I'm sure he sees summer coming right around the corner. Hopefully, it will be a summer of safety and health for the Davern family, with another grandchild here soon. It would be great to see more of our other 2 grandkids that we have not been able to see much of since the COVID lockdown, as well.

Pre Covid Summer Party

Will we ever gather like this again? 2018 summer party in downtown Naperville.

Summertime Chicago

Here is a wish that we all get out and about in summertime Chicago soon. From a walk around in 2018.

Butterfly Love

The most amazing thing about this biology is that these Great Morman's from Asia mate for about 5 hours. Wow. Shot at the Houston Cockrell Butterfly Garden back in 2018. They only live as butterflies for about a month.

Rice Paper Butterfly

During a trip to Houston in 2018 I got to visit the Cockrell Butterfly garden between meetings and saw this beautiful Rice Paper Butterfly from Asia. I know it called a Rice Paper Butterfly because that is what the sign said right by this beauty and I was smart enough to take a picture of the sign so I would remember. Anyway, a beautiful and very large butterfly. You have to visit a Butterfly garden when you get a chance. They are very friendly and the environment is very calming. Probably need social distancing inside but don't pass up a chance to go to one of these wonderful places.

Six Feet Apart Please

Didn't you see the signs on the beach? You can go down to the ocean. Beaches are open. But you have to be 6 feet apart.

That's better.

Good Morning, Good Morning, Good

A June sunrise on the Chicago Lakefront in June 2008. Too lazy to get up and do it again. I will soon. Shot with my first digital camera, the Nikon D200. Cell phone camera are better today. Good morning Chicago. Did you get the Beatles reference in the title?

The Last Dance---In Dayton

In preseason 1995 the Chicago Bulls made an appearance at the University of Dayton arena. The transplanted Davern family (sans Stephie as she was only 4 at the time) living in Centerville Ohio, made an appearance with seats behind the bench, to watch the game. Jordan in his first season back from retirement, scored 13 points as the Bulls whipped the Indiana Pacers 114-105 in exhibition play. Now, we know from watching the Last Dance on ESPN, Jordan is coming off of a summer of playing basketball in the "Jordan Dome" built for him to practice in while filming the movie, Space Jam. I didn't remember that I had these pictures but found them last week while trying to clean up my old pictures. So cool to remember. I don't know what was going on with Jono in that shot but everyone else is celebrating. I am thinking he is shocked by all the noise in the stadium.

Field of ???

Noxious weed or life-giving plant? The lowly dandelion is trying to make a comeback. It was a prized delicacy brought back to the mother country from the Americas and used in salads with lots of healthy attributes. Who doesn't remember being a kid and bringing a handful of the bright yellow buds to their mother? The yellow bud, stem and root are highly nutritious and may be effective in keeping the body ready to fight off infections. Who knew? Then, in our race to turn our lawns into a perfect green patch of desert (for bees and other pollinating insects), we strove to rid ourselves of those wonderful plants. The picture above and insert are from a patch of undeveloped grass near our home that goes yellow every year and then throws its seeds all over the place. I wish now that I shot the area when it was all in yellow. Oh well, next year. I still spent an annoying hour or two these past few weeks pulling dandelions out of my lawn. Such a strange conflict. Healthy. Supposedly tasty. Helps pollinating insects which are very much under threat. Yet, I don't want dandelions in my lawn. So they get pulled. If the rain doesn't beat this field down, there are going to be a lot of blowing seeds this year!!!

Sam the Shoemaker

I am still looking for paired street shots but this one is different. I saw the lower shot in my catalog and the shoe repair equipment brought me back to my childhood. We used to live in an apartment above my grandfather's shoe store and I would play with those metal shoe forms and vises which my grandfather had in his shoe shop. For my whole childhood until the early 1970's Grandpa Sam had the shop on the 5500 block of Ashland Avenue and actually he had that store from before the Great Depression. Everyone in the neighborhood knew him as Sam the Shoeman. He had a smile for everyone. He would look at a shoe and tisk-tisk as he shook his head if you let the heals go down too low. But he would fix them anyway. Great man. We all miss him. 

Playing In Beijing; Dancing in NYC

Ok, these are not the best street shots but I liked the color in both, enhanced by a little color pop to get the dancer in NYC to dance and the band in Beijing to play on. I like the side eye I am getting from the banjo player in the bottom shot. Classic.

Red Street Streaks

Drag the shutter (keep it open). Put the camera on a tripod or something stable. Point towards cars, especially when they go away from you to get the red tail lights and you get some red street streaks. Hard to say, but easy to do with a couple of tries on the shutter. The top shot is from earlier this year with a 25 second exposure and a large aperture (large number on the f-stop, f22 in this case, small hole to let light through to the sensor) to darken the environment.  That is especially needed, even at night, when it is loaded with light from all the neon above a cross walk on the Las Vegas Strip. The bottom shot, from near Chinatown in San Francisco back in 2009. In that case, the shutter was only held open for 0.6 tenths of a second at f14 at ISO 400. I think I put the camera on a garbage can or some other street box to keep it stable. I could have kept it open longer with a lower ISO and a higher f-stop but I didn't have a tripod with me. That would have brought in some more red streaks. Still, it worked pretty good with the faster shot. I wonder if you can do it with cell phone cameras on a tripod. You would need to hold the cell phone on a tripod and use the "professional" mode. I am not sure but worth trying at some point.

Street Music in Beijing; Street Music in New York City

I didn't realize I had so many street music shots in my portfolio. This might have to be set up as a separate genre in my photography! Here are two scenes that I came across in my travels. The first in Beijing where residents gather every Sunday, I was told, to play instruments in a random orchestra. The second, are street photographers in New York City. You never know what you will see as you travel around with camera in hand (well, nowadays, everyone has a camera).

The Drum Cafe in New York; the Drum Shop at Bonnaroo

It is quite fun looking through my catalog for matching shots. Just by chance I came across these two shots that I didn't remember taking. Way back in 2009 I took a shot while wandering around NYC of a drum meet up group at a street block party and a year later in 2010 while at Bonnaroo with Stephanie and her friends, I came across a similar scene inside a shop apparently selling drums to the festival goers. While neither shot is very good, together they tell a story.

The Street Players Play On...when that was allowed

Dominos in Puerto Rico and Mahjong in Beijing. The street players play on.

A Titan, A Cousin and some humor?

Models are everywhere. You just have to look for them. Thanks to cousin Anthony for the second shot. I have never received many comments on the Titan shot. I love that shot but people don't see the humor in it, I guess. The sad, worn-down Titan and the supermodels? Come on. That's a winner. 

Down The Pier, Down The Street

Santa Monica, the end of Route 66 on top. Old San Juan, a city of color and life, on the bottom.

Two Players Part Two

The street shots continue with two more streetplayers. One in Puerto Rico and one in Holland, Michigan. Maybe they can play a duet?

Two Street Players

Back to the street with some old fashioned street photography. Two street players entertain the tourists, one in San Juan and one in Tucson. Two different instruments a world apart--yet the song is the same.

Dancing In the Streets

Dancing in the streets in Chicago (above) and in New York City (below) in red and black when those things were allowed. 

A little moody view for your first day of May

My mood is a little dark and stormy today for some reason. Don't know why. So, tried a little compositing. I am not very good at it so this is a beginners first attempt. Walk carefully. This is a composite of shots from various pictures taken in California if you can believe it. Some San Diego and La Jolla, some San Fransisco.