CTA to make "drastic" cuts on February 7th

Picture this: it's the middle of winter, the economy is struggling, the housing market remains fragile, and unemployment in Chicago is above 10%.  I know what will help: let's cut service to the CTA!  Yes, let's make it harder for people to move around and find new jobs, keep the one's they have, or stimulate the economy by actually going places!  If you think that's a brilliant idea, you'll be happy to know that the CTA is planning to "curtail 119 bus routes and service on 7 rail lines" on February 7th, according to the NBC Chicago and the CTA.

Apparently this stems from a combination of decreased tax revenue, and failed negotiations between the CTA and it's unionized employees, who are refusing to make concessions on a pay increase for this year.  CTA Tattler says the average CTA employee makes $74,000 a year, so I'm having a hard time feeling much sympathy here (and I'm normally pretty sympathetic towards unions).  The bottom line is, this is bad for everyone: it's bad for ridership, it's bad for the CTA and it's bad for its employees, many of whom will be out of a job soon.

Photo Details: Nikon D50 with 24mm lens, 1/60th sec at f3.5, ISO800.  I pulled this one out of my archives-- it's from December 2005.

Clark Furniture - Everything Must Go

I live a few blocks away from this store, at Clark and Ridge, and have wanted to get a good photograph of its exterior for a while.  It's going out of business, so now seemed like the time.  Shooting this at sunset was an intentional choice.  The city really comes alive for me at this time of day, with the warm tones and sharp angles of light.  In this shot I particular like how the darkened street creates three distinct zones: the street, the storefront, and the sky.

Nikon D50 with 24mm lens, 1/200sec exposure at f8.

Uptown Bank Building

Easily one of my favorite buildings in Uptown, if not the entire city, the Uptown Bank Building (currently the home of Bridgeview Bank) was completed in 1924.

You can see it from a different angle here.

Nikon D50 with 24mm nikkor set at f2.8. (I really wanted the streetlight to be out of focus, but only mildly succeeded).

Watch.

An advertisement for Comcast, demanding that we watch... something.  I don't remember what.  Or perhaps they're watching us.

I'll admit to a little photoshopping on this one.  In the original photograph the word "Comcast" was partially visible in the lower left corner.  I cloned that out for compositional reasons.

Nikon D50 with 24mm lens.

Sheridan falling

This is the Sheridan red line platform, as seen from inside a moving train.  I like how the clouds and the reflections give this scene a sense of motion.  This was skewed on purpose, not because the train was falling off the tracks.

If you click on the photo you can see a larger version over at flickr, and I've also posted an alternate version here.

A is for Argyle

It will probably take me a while to get going on this project, but this photo marks the beginning of a new series.  I'll explain later.

Nikon D50 with 24mm lens, 1/25 second exposure hand held at f10.

Third Base Line

A baseball diamond in Eckhart Park, in Chicago's Noble Square area.  I was tempted to run the bases, but I was running out of twilight, and there was this liquor store on Chicago Ave that I wanted to photograph.

expressway, dusk

This shot is a perfect example of how flickr mystifies me sometimes, but mystifies me in a good and interesting and instructive way.  I was really... pardon the pun... on the fence with this photo.  The narrow depth of field is nice, but it was a little too dark, I thought, and I didn't expect it to get much of a reaction.  I was wrong, of course.

Nikon D50 with 24mm lens set at f2.8.  I boosted the saturation via the RAW processing, in order to make those car and streetlights really pop.

untitled

I thought about titling this one "urban dystopia" but held back.  I try to avoid being too over the top with my titles, and plus, that water tower in the reflection is a little too nice looking to really be dystopian.  Still, I like this one.  Who needs a title?

the commute

I'm trying to make more of an effort to take the EL lately.  This photo is from the Foster Ave. EL stop in Evanston, on my way home from work.  A better photo, perhaps, would have included some people to give the scene some life, but this side of the platform is usually pretty desolate.  It's also falling apart.

At the suggestion of someone on flickr, I also posted an alternate version of this shot.

Nikon D50 with a 24mm lens, f2.8.

red line sunset

A CTA red line train, heading north, as seen from the Granville station platform near sunset.  The grid pattern is from the sun shining through the metal dividers that separate the two sides of the platform in various spots.

These were quick shots, as the train came to the station and pulled away, without much advance thought.  I used a nikkor 24mm 2.8 prime lens on a Nikon D50 for both.

poptastic!

After avoiding the pop-up flash on my camera for the last two years, I've been finding some good uses for it lately, as fill flash.  This is one such example.  I turned down the flash by about 3 stops for this shot... just enough to illuminate the blossoms in the foreground, but not enough to alter the exposure of the sky.

I suggest viewing the larger version at flickr.

Nikon D50 with 24mm lens.