Chicago Flair, by Andre

Recess

2011-12-29T17:25:00.001-06:00

I used to run down these stairs, or maybe adjacent ones, out to recess. This is at my old elementary school in St. Louis.

God's Own Cheese Tray

2011-12-26T18:53:00.001-06:00

Would look something like this. Crafted with love by my awesome brother-in-law on Christmas.

Late Afternoon Bar Light

2011-12-25T09:24:00.003-06:00

This was at The Stable in St. Louis. It's in the former buggy house for the old Lemp brewery, which was one of the biggest in the country before Prohibition brought it down. Yelp reviews were really mixed for the food, but our pizza was awesome, on fresh-made from scratch dough. The wide range of beer and spirits they make there are really impressive too.

Feed The Need

2011-12-23T17:44:00.001-06:00

Feeding the need at the Funks Grove rest area, halfway to St. Louis.

Wellington Avenue Pumping

2011-12-11T19:56:00.002-06:00

A lightly colorized iPhone shot from a run on a relatively mild day yesterday. The lens flare on the right is actually from the optics, not a faux vintage filter. Not that I'm above such things.

Above the Clouds

2011-11-24T14:53:00.001-06:00

Coming up from a cloudy Chicago morning, I got to see a sunrise no one else did below.

Perfect 10

2011-11-16T19:51:00.003-06:00

Claire ran her first 10K this past Saturday, and I originally though I had to miss it to take my math teacher certification test. As it turned out, it was in the afternoon, so I got to come out and root for her on a beautiful morning at Navy Pier.

Productive Saturday

2011-11-05T14:03:00.002-05:00

In contrast with the past few weekends, not that they were wasted. Which is not to say that I wasn't. Ahem. The view from my desk as Claire makes her list for the day.

Happy Friday

2011-11-04T11:14:00.005-05:00

No Critical Mass, but here's a big ol' butt. One of my faves from Grand Rapids Art Prize I've been meaning to show.

Happy Monday

2011-10-31T21:06:00.002-05:00

I didn't hear that once today. But I heard many a "Happy Friday!" as usual, at Critical Mass last week. Here we're approaching the Board of Trade, where the Occupy Chicago folk were still making their presence known. I think it was probably no accident that the Mass went that way. Still, and especially right before Halloween, there was much frivolity and general merriment.

Here's another one, a pretty cool shot of my lady as the Mass had thinned a bit in a desolate underpass somewhere around Ashland and Cortland I think:

Look Up

2011-10-26T18:11:00.000-05:00

Trees in Palmer Square Park last night, when it looked pretty autumnal, but was weirdly like 65 degrees. I took some video too, and messed with it a bit to make it a little more other-worldly:

I'm Lichen It

2011-10-24T19:35:00.003-05:00

More from this past weekend at Devil's Lake. Our climbing guide told us some fun fact about how slowly lichen grows and how long it lives, but the details escape me now. It was slow, and long. Like a silver dollar size is 50 years old or something, but that's probably not quite it.

Autumnal

2011-10-23T19:49:00.002-05:00

Love that word, and the stuff it describes.

More from Gerald R.

2011-10-21T18:37:00.000-05:00

At Art Prize in Grand Rapids. This is a really cool event. They describe it as such:

ArtPrize® is a radically open competition. Open to any artist in the world who can find space. Open to anybody in Grand Rapids, Michigan who wants to create a venue. Open to a vote from anyone who attends.

Take a Good Look

2011-10-18T18:16:00.000-05:00

Holy crap it's been crazy since getting back from Burning Man. Marathon training, the event itself, assessing and applying to teacher training programs, and parties. Logistically involved, but truly awesome parties.

Anyway, here's some nonsense from a thing called Art Prize in Grand Rapids, MI from a few weeks back. Been meaning to show some of the fun stuff I snapped there, so here you go, with more to come.

Running Dawn

2011-10-05T20:18:00.003-05:00

A couple snaps on the iPhone from recent runs started before dawn, heavily edited. Holy crap the marathon is this Sunday!

Order Here

2011-10-04T12:26:00.002-05:00

You'll thank me. At Joong Boo Market.

OK Lets Wrap This Up

2011-09-25T18:22:00.004-05:00

Not that this is the last you'll hear about Burning Man from me. Far from it. Just getting out the last of my favorite photos from the main event this year. One of the best things about my time out there this year was my camp. Even at its peak of 20 or so people, there wasn't a bad apple in the bunch. We made a fabulous home out there on the blank slate, welcomed others into it, and shared our various bounties. And we partied like alphabetard seagoing big-top astronaut Catskills rockstars.

All that said, one of my favorite times that week was on the night The Man burned. I decided to go it alone, and took my sailboat trailer out into deep playa. I brought chairs, snacks, beer, water, coffee, camera, tripod, lenses, glow frisbee, boombox, warm clothes, and extra batteries for all my el-wire. The beauty of a bike trailer. That's where I got many of my best photos. I shot from just before sunset until dark. And then I put the camera away, and just soaked it in.

It was a little lonely, but also exhilarating. Not long after dark though a bike approached me, and I called out to announce my presence. It was another wandering soul, like me looking for a remote spot to watch The Man burn, away from the crowds. We sat and had some beers, some good conversation, tossed the frisbee, and eventually parted ways into the night. It was a kind of perfect evening.

Here was me, just after sunset:

And the last smattering of photos I'll show from this year:

The Man

2011-09-20T21:34:00.003-05:00

Dangit, I'm not finding the time yet to do a Burning Man 2011 wrap-up post. Here then, for now, are some of my favorite shots of The Man himself from this year. They are all from afar, where last year they were close up. Yet I feel like I was more plugged in than I was last year. Less fixated on the big, stereotypical icons of Burning Man, and more so on the beauty and wonder of the expanses of so-called "deep playa". Yet still admiring the grand spectacles in the distance.

Bike Portraits

2011-09-16T11:42:00.004-05:00

A couple posts back I showed a quick iPhone shot of my lady and I doing some serious relaxation at Schiller Park, which is a forest preserve on the NW side. Claire had the great idea to bike the ~7 miles there and have a little picnic. I brought some gear too, including my Lensbaby, and took the above shots of our bikes.

I also took a few portraits of Claire and I with a remote shutter. Most of them are silly. This one's pretty cute though:

Also, I have been meaning to do a big Burning Man wrap-up post. Things have been unsurprisingly crazy since I've been back. Will hopefully get around to it soon.

The Big One

2011-09-15T13:16:00.002-05:00

Looked like it was dropped in the middle of Lake Michigan, due east of me this morning. Duck and cover! Or do like I did, and just continue running.

Schiller Park

2011-09-10T14:42:00.001-05:00

Some very necessary QT with the lady.

We're Gonna Need a Bigger Boat

2011-09-07T18:38:00.002-05:00

More substance to come, but first I thought I'd just throw out one of my favorite shots. The big ship above (The Gypsy Queen) was trolling past my camp one day when I happened to have my camera on me, so I just jumped aboard. It went out a little ways into the playa where I snapped its tete-a-tete with a giant shark.

Also, some personal achievements in my marathon training. I did 16 miles out there, which was pretty glorious during sunrise, if a bit slow going. This route is going to look way cooler overlaid on the hi-res satellite image to come:

And then yesterday, after only about a day and a half of real recovery, I did 18 miles. I gotta think that I had a boost from my altitude acclimatization, because I ran it at my target training pace, despite the abuse I put my body through the previous week:

Bye Bye Chicago

2011-08-27T13:23:00.002-05:00

And the default world as a whole, soon. I'm in Reno now, on the playa tonight!

A lovely send off dinner last night with my darlin. Great BYOB Mexican place called Chilapan. A very similar shot to another I took dining al fresco recently.

MWGP

2011-08-25T18:53:00.001-05:00

I think the Monster Wheel Grand Prix should be on playa by now. Here's a shot my girlfriend took from behind the 'bars of one of the bikes while I helped with a dry run of setting up the track before loading the truck. Look for these guys at 3:00 & Esplanade at Burning Man, or in my pictures after the fact! BTW that's the inimitable Beebop passing in the background.

I leave in roughly 36 hours. Holy crap I'm excited.