Fall rained right on by this year

Rather unfortunately, it has rained so much this fall that many of the beautiful leaves were dropped from the trees rather prematurely this year, not leaving much in the way of opportunities for great fall photography!
I did manage to catch a few nice shots today on my way to ride my horse and thought I would share these with you!
Enjoy the fall weather while we still can, Jack Frost will be nipping at our noses soon enough!

Language in the Streets - Human Emotion Part 2

In my last post I alluded to a second set of pictures from my meetup.com photo session regarding Human Emotion. At long last, here they are. The group wandered from our starting point at the Marshall Field's clock to Buckingham Fountain and the finish line of the Chicago Marathon. I knew that the marathon was running that day, but I had no idea what a chaotic and crowded scene it was going to be!
I'm not much for big crowds. Not only am I pretty claustrophobic, but I tend to feel really disoriented and lost - I'm so short, I can't see much but sky or sidewalk when I'm trapped in a big crowd like that, and it makes me feel somewhat panicky. I just couldn't handle being smushed into the throng of people right at the finish line. Instead, I backed out of there, midway to the fountain, and hit human emotion paydirt, so to speak.
Just a hundred yards from the finish line was where many of the competitors were meeting up with family and friends and I was able to see emotions running the entire gamut from elation, tears, to grimaces of pain. Having absconded with any type of comepetitive physical sport throughout my life, I really didn't have a true understanding of how much the human psyche can push, beyond all physical limits and pain, to strive to accomplish the goal of "finishing" something as momentous as a marathon. I hold these athletes in the highest regard - I am just amazed at the drive and determination shown by so many. It was also so heartwarming to see the encouragement and support given by their friends and family as they breathlessly announced "I did it."
Originally, I was going to post comments for most of these pictures, and then I realized - they really don't need it - each tells it's own story without needing any words from me.
Enjoy! Feel free to post comments at the bottom of the blog, let me know what you think!

Language in the Streets - Human Emotion Part 1.5

I have to call this Human Emotion 1.5 because I am re-posting a couple of the pics that I converted from color in the original post to black and white. I had three other people in the span of 24 hours that really encouraged me to change them to black and white - I'm not sure about it, honestly.
I liked the pop of the yellow vest in the crazy bridge lady picture, and the colors in the blanket of the sleeping homeless man...but by special request, here they are in black and white for comparison.
What do you think? Leave a comment!

Language in the Streets - Human Emotion Part 1

As most of my Facebook followers & friends already know, I got a new camera body recently. What better way to break it in than a photographic expedition in downtown Chicago amidst the Chicago Marathon! This idea came from a recent endeavor I joined called www.meetups.com - you can find specific interest groups and attend all types of meetings, seminars, educational outings, etc.
I joined a group called "The Art of Seeing" and saw on the calendar that there was an outing scheduled for today - and decided to go for it and check it out (with my Jeff there to watch over me and guide me, of course). This outing was called Language in the Streets - Human Emotion.
There were so many opportunities for experimentation here. We met under the clock at Marshall Fields (I refuse to refer to it as Macy's) and walked onward from there.
There were five of us in attendance, and even though our numbers were low, it was a challenge to keep our group together as we traveled through the crowds. Thank goodness I had Jeff with me - he's tall enough to see above the crowds and keep track of everyone! Christoph, the organizer & facilitator, is a soft-spoken gentleman with a world of experience and knowledge. He was very patient and offered many insights along the way and I am looking forward to more opportunities to shoot along side him and learn from him.
I have decided to break this into two different posts - this one is focusing on the true language of the streets of Chicago. The other will have the Human Emotion from the Chicago Marathon. This was actually a little more difficult photo assignment than I am used to - it is not easy photographing "on the sly" waiting for the perfect combination of timing and expression. Most times, right when you're about to press that shutter release, someone walks in front of you! I quickly learned to scout around the crowds and wait for the right image to present itself to me.
Below is my favorite picture of the entire day. Jeff and I were walking to Union Station, and at the base of the bridge that goes over the Chicago river, was this homeless woman begging for change. We walked past, and I saw the uniquness of her face and realized I really wanted to capture her expression. I made Jeff stop on the bridge and wait so I could turn around and take this image....and right after she started yelling something at us so we hustled it over the bridge!

Here are a few more of my favorites from the day that I feel show the language of the streets in Chicago. What do you think? Post a comment & let me know!