Photo of the Week: Seatcicle

"Seatcicle" © Andy Marfia 2014 All Rights Reserved. Nikon D7100 w/ 16-85mmmm lens, 1/250sec at f6.3, ISO200.

This week's photo was taken while waiting for a Purple Line train in Evanston.  This is the Foster Avenue platform-- in my opinion, one of the worst maintained in the entire CTA system.  Despite having a relatively new concrete floor, the ceiling has been leaking for at least 10 years, producing small waterfalls during heavy rain, and sometimes leading to ice sculptures in the winter like the one pictured here.

Photo of the Week: Splatter Painting

"Splatter Painting" © Andy Marfia 2014 All Rights Reserved. Nikon D7100 w/ 16-85mm lens, 1/200sec at f5.6, ISO400.

This week's photo is an example of what can happen when CTA employees are given snow blowers.  That's the best guess I can make for what caused this snow pattern on a north bound red line train. 

Art is everywhere if you choose to see it.

This was also featured in the Gapers Block Rearview.

Photo of the Week: Go with the Flow

"Go with the Flow" © Andy Marfia 2013 All Rights Reserved. Nikon D7100 w/ Sigma 10-20mm lens, 1/250ec at f8, ISO200.

One of my favorite views in Chicago is featured this week, Lake Street looking east into Chicago's loop.  I spent about five minutes editing this photo, which is a refreshing change as I can sometimes take hours on a single photo.  Yes, the overexposure is intentional.  I wanted this one to be really, really contrasty.

This photo made it into flickr's explore and received about 2500 views yesterday.  It's always a little weird, and random, when that happens, but obviously very flattering.

Photo of the Week: Madison, Monroe, 2am

Sony RX100, 1/400sec at f1.8, ISO400. © Andy Marfia 2012 All Rights Reserved.

I took some creative liberty with the title of this week's photo-- this was actually shot at 4pm, but I like how the emptiness of the scene makes it feel much later in the day.  I've waited on some L platforms late at night, and it can be a lonely and sometimes creepy experience, especially underground.

This was processed using DXO FilmPack 3 (which I'm testing out this week and thus far really like).  I used a Kodak Elite 100 Cross Process filter.  I've never been a big filter and effects guy, but there's a time and place for everything and I think it works here.

Photo(s) of the week: CTA Abstracts

Canon S95 at 85mm, 1/80sec, f4.5, and ISO80. © Andy Marfia 2011 All Rights Reserved.


Canon S95 at 85mm, 1/100sec, f4.5, and ISO80. © Andy Marfia 2011 All Rights Reserved.

I'm putting these two photos together, though they were actually shot several weeks apart.  The first one, taken this week while I was waiting for the Red Line to leave Howard, likely represents the last sunset I will see for a while.  (At least during the work week-- on Sunday we move our clocks back an hour, plunging my 5pm commute into darkness).  The second photo shows a mix of reflections as my train passes the Granville station.  I'm pretty sure the man in this shot knew he was being photographed, even though the camera was pointed out the window-- human beings have a sixth sense for that-- but he didn't seem to mind.

Photo of the Week: Grass Train

Nikon D7000 w/ 16-85mm lens (at 42mm), 1/640sec at f5 and ISO80. © Andy Marfia 2011 All Rights Reserved.

I have a ton of photos to look through and (hopefully) post online this week, but before I do that, I wanted to call attention to this shot of an Orange Line train zipping along Ping Tom Park in Chicago's China town.  I don't think there's an exact "Andy Marfia style" at this point, but this comes pretty darn close.  A unique view of the city: abstract, but not fully abstract.  Slightly right brained.  One of my flickr friends commented that this is "more like a passing thought than an actual train."  I like that.

Photo of the Week: Sky Tentacles

Nikon D7000 w/ Sigma 10-20mm lens, 1/2500sec at f8, ISO400. © Andy Marfia 2011 All Rights Reserved.

This is the north end of the elevated Thorndale platform.  The CTA has recently added new security cameras to many of its stations, seen here dangling off an existing light fixture.  I don't particularly mind the added security while waiting for a train, though it has definitely upped the creepiness factor.

As you can probably guess, it wasn't long after taking this photo that we were engulfed in rain, a brief though heavy storm.  I have to admit, I'm not particularly a fan of the fall.  Given the choice between 50 degrees and 70 degrees, I will choose 70 degrees every single time.  But the change of seasons does create some interesting weather patterns, and as a photographer, I can't really complain about that.

Photo of the Week: Mirror Mirror

Nikon D7000 w/ 55-200mm lens (at 100mm), 1/60sec at f4.5, ISO400.  Copyright 2011 Andy Marfia, All Rights Reserved.

This week's photo was taken on the Sheridan Red Line platform.  The platform curves at this point, hence the need for these mirrors.  Apparently, the CTA has had these up for a long time-- one of my flickr contacts posted a photo of the same platform in 1975. (I believe his photo is of the opposite side of the platform)

This photograph is also featured as the photo of the day on Gapers Block.

Photo of the Week: May 21st 2011

I'm really looking forward to the "Ooops, Our Bad" ad campaign on May 22nd.

Jokes aside, isn't it wonderful how these "Christians" are using their hard earned money to advertise on the CTA that the world is ending?  How nice of them to inform us.  And since it's ending, I guess they don't have anything better to do with that money, like give it to charity or help the poor as Jesus actually directed in the Bible. 

Oh, sorry, I switched from humor to sarcasm there.

Photo Details: Nikon D7000 w/ 16-85mm lens, 1/1000sec at f4.2, ISO400.  This was taken on Street St. in Chicago's loop.

All photos © Andy Marfia 2011, All Rights Reserved.