Chicago: Shedd Aquarium, Art Institute and my birthday!

I'm back home now, after a bit of a whirlwind trip around the country.  My last few days in Chicago were lovely, just like my first couple. chicago cultural center in b&w David and Carrie are excellent hosts and always keep me well-entertained and well-fed.  I didn't take a single photo at any of the restaurants we went to.  I'm a very serious eater and it's hard for me to wait and even harder for me to remember to photo before I dive in.  Instead, I have for you the Shedd Aquarium: turtle at the shedd aquarium, chicago snake at the shedd aquarium, chicago I must also add that it is really extraordinarily difficult to make good photographs at an aquarium.  First, it's always quite dim.  Second, the glass and the water do the most horrible things to autofocus and angles.  In the photo below, this incredibly creepy giant spider crab looks like it's on television or something.  No, it's just the refraction and things making it look strange.  Very difficult to pull off good photography in an aquarium. spider crab at the shedd aquarium, in black and white seahorses at the shedd aquarium The next day, my sorta birthday, we made it to the Art Institute.  We went on a "highlights" tour with one of the volunteer docents who spent fifteen minutes on each painting.  Suffice to say, it was more of a "highlight" tour.  In any case, it's a huge museum with a ton of great stuff and an amazing number of very famous originals: monet at the art institute art installation at the art institute various pieces of art at the art institute in chicago modern wing of the art institute in chicago Seriously, David and Carrie are the worst subjects.  "Go stand in front of those Chagall windows," I said.  "Okay, look at each other." They give me maybe .5 seconds to get my shot and then start walking back to me.  Thanks guys!! chagall windows at the art institute But seriously, thank you so much David and Carrie for always making my trips to Chicago so fantastic.  I hope very much that you get to go where you want for residency (Baltimore! Baltimore! Baltimore!).  And thank you David for my expensive and luxurious birthday dinner.  Yes folks, I'm now 27, the "hot age" and I look forward to everything this year of my life has to offer!

Garfield Park Conservatory

Well I'm in Chicago now.  Part of this birthday trip deal was supposed to be me suffering due to inclement weather.  So far we've had snow, freezing rain, thunderstorm and, this morning, hail.  But temperatures haven't dropped below 20, something I am very happy about and something David laments.  In either case, on Saturday we went to Garfield Park Conservatory, which is a lovely conservatory out on the green line.  I took photos, as usual. some kind of desert plant little girl by a pond with yellow flowers This shot is "freelensed" - I took the lens off the camera body and tilted it to achieve a different plane of focus (not parallel to the camera body).  I had varying degrees of success with the technique - here's a better one. weird nubby plants at the conservatory - freelensing And here's David.  Like I said, it's been snowing, and snowfall creates the most beautiful light for portraits.  Like the one on the left.  His expression is crap (David is notoriously difficult to photograph), but I love the light. diptych of david david taking pictures in black and white diptych with mosaic three plants at the conservatory As someone that's never been to Chicago in the winter before, I was struck with the surreal scene of 20 or so pigeons huddled under the heat lamp on the El platform.  Everybody mostly let them be and they let me get really, really close (this is like a 50mm) without seeming to care at all.  Fascinating. pigeons on the el platform pigeons under the toaster reflections on the train Finally, at least 50% of any trip with David consists of eating, talking or thinking about food.  Here he is blow-torching our lamb dinner from Saturday night.  Yes, it was totally delicious. rack of lamb being toasted More adventures to come, I hope.

Gatorland!

I end up traveling for work quite a bit (on the weekdays, guys, don't worry!) and often find myself with big chunks of time to explore my surrounds.  Orlando was no exception and this time I had a car!  So I headed out, at the suggestion of my lovely aunt and uncle, to the place they call Gatorland. alligators in black and white I was going to put interesting facts about alligators in this spot, but I've just realized that I learned absolutely nothing at Gatorland.  Not sure if that is entirely my fault, but it is what it is.  More pictures, then! alligators in detail This is a gator feeding area! alligator in black and white There really were just tons and tons of gators all over the place - really close, too - but they had some other animals you could scope out.  The birds were remarkably plentiful. bird with eggs in a nest and python giant tortoise at gatorland hot dogs in a cup (For feeding the alligators, I realized long after I took this photo.) black and white diptych of fern and bird Seriously, how cute are these owls! owls at gatorland Finally, plants.  I took a little walk through their "real swamp" - very proud that it isn't cultivated, they are.  It was swampy.  The second photo is taro, of bubble tea fame. very green plants in the swamp taro in the swamp And that's what I did with my afternoon yesterday.  In Chicago at David's house now.  Hopefully I will bring you images from the windy city next!