the post-vacation blues

I think this photo would be much better if someone else had taken it for me.
Originally uploaded by katherine of chicago

I'll allow this blogged-from-Flickr post, because I thought it'd be okay to do that while I was on my trip. Well, I could have used the internet fairly cheaply during my 4 days/3 nights at the hostel in New York, but I was too distracted by actually seeing the city to sit at a computer. My one time online on the trip--Sunday the 7th, at a Flickr friend's in Ann Arbor--turned up photos of this ilk (not directed at me, obviously) and I just didn't want to deal with that while on vacation. But, those are the things I don't write about here, at least not yet. So I went an entire week without being online...amazing.

Anyway...fantastic trip despite my injured ankle and the weather (about 85-90 degrees and humid in all 3 cities I visited). I took almost 3000 photos and surely many must have prompted a "what is she photographing that for?" response like this one might have (it's K-Mart in Herald Square). Now I'm back to the malaise of my real life, oh joy, My kitchen table is covered with dirty clothes, alternative weeklies, and souvenirs. More soon, but I should go outside now that there's actually bearable weather again.

Independence

I don't mean anything in particular by this image, it's just an intriguing scene I saw on the sidewalk around Lawrence and Broadway in June. I had a great idea for where to see fireworks last night (nowhere near downtown Chicago) but didn't definitively make plans with anyone else, and ran late because of an extremely stressful family situation, and it was colder than I'd like, and I couldn't risk going to the place alone while I'm still not at 100% physically (or whatever percentage I was at before the accident).

I did my volunteer shift at the Architecture Foundation today because I won't be here for my regular shift Monday, I'm about to leave to visit three cities and see lots of abandoned buildings, old signs, ballparks, public transit, etc. I may blog-from-Flickr a few times while I'm gone, I hope. I had longer photo pieces I wanted to put up today, but--I'm not kidding--I don't know how to rotate photos here. I have to upload from the original file, and if they're sideways, I have no idea what to do. I don't want to just copy URLs from Flickr, the idea for this blog was to supplement my Flickr photos. Quite an embarrassing admission for the so-called best local blog, but there you go.

I hope you had a wonderful 4th. Fireworks are all over the place outside as I type, and there's a huge loud party downstairs I guess I wasn't invited to. I didn't know of any social events today, kind of bad considering the 100s of people I sort of know in real life and online now. But I wouldn't have had time for any anyway; I need to leave for Greyhound in a half-hour.

something better

There appears to be a theme here.









And it's my new obsession: reflective self-portraits in CTA bus shelters with ads that seem particularly ironic if you see my splint and/or cane in the photo. Legs, bicycling, hope...

If those are too depressing, how about this?



Photos taken Sunday June 29-Thursday July 3 in various neighborhoods. (None posted to Flickr yet!) Ads are for: iPod, Bikes Belong campaign (note the "lovely legs"--uh, I actually think it's kind of weird to encourage bike riding among women in the city by reminding them that guys will stare at their legs), "The Cleaner" TV show, U.S. Cellular? I think. And the happy car is in front of the Jewel around Roosevelt and State.

beautiful things...

beautiful things
Originally uploaded by katherine of chicago

...are on their way here. The pressure (from myself, not others) to restart this blog is on, and I've got good ideas. I'm still dealing with a sprained ankle and planning a complicated multi-city trip that's just a few days away...and starting to panic as I think about all the stuff to do. Thanks to everyone who's said nice things--mostly on Flickr, didn't get much of a reaction anywhere else I've blabbed the "Best of" across the Internet...nor have any of my pre-blog/Flickr friends, except for one I told, said anything to me. I didn't want to call everyone up and say, "Hey, did you see the Reader?" but perhaps I'll have to, before I've grabbed up all the extra copies. And one of the "Best of" posters from the outside of a Reader box, I'll confess (hey, the box was already out of papers). This is my "most favorited" photo on Flickr now, by the way, a sign from a mostly abandoned stretch of downtown Gary, IN. But I'm going to try to reserve blogged-from-Flickr after this for blogging from the road (which I certainly hope I can do on the aforementioned trip).

Enough about me. In the past few days I've also added many new people to the blogroll/links, mostly in the "Architecture, etc." "Chicago bloggers" and "Built environment" sections--YOU might be listed now!

it's an honor just to be nom...WHAT?

I’m the “Best Local Blog” (tie) according to the Chicago Reader!
Originally uploaded by katherine of chicago

I posted a brief entry today and when checking the comments of the previous one, noticed this little blog was picked (in a tie with Hack--congrats, Dmitry!), as "Best Local Blog" by the Chicago Reader! By the editors--I'm way too obscure to win the readers' poll. Well, now the pressure's on to turn this back into a real blog, when nearly all my online energy has gone to my main (Katherine of Chicago) Flickr page. I'll have another new post ASAP, about my accident. What have I MEANT to write photo-essays about?

My stupid accident. Photographing every CTA station early in 2008. (These are my photos tagged CTA.) How I walked all 8 miles of Madison Street on the anniversary of the 1968 riots there. My visits to Detroit, Milwaukee, St. Louis, and Hammond. How I saw Wrigley Field for the first time after many years here, and the White Sox for the first time since moving here. And that high school whose demolition I photographed every week for 4 months, and whose former students contacted me. And a beautiful former theater I happened to get in one day. And...oh, so much pressure, I will try to post at least a couple of these stories before my mega-trip to the East Coast in July.

Thanks so much to Whet Moser at the Reader for the honor, and to any new readers, please check out the "favorite/best" posts to get an idea of what this blog is supposed to be.

Remnant of the not-too-distant past

Marshall Field's only!
Originally uploaded by katherine of chicago

While this blog is still on semi-hiatus, I should at least blog-from-Flickr some unusual finds, especially ones that I was, uh, amazed got no response there (and I put this in a ton of groups, too!).

I was doing some northwest side photography; I'd been taking the Pulaski bus a lot and for a while this spring it was detoured on Belmont all the way to Cicero. This is actually Diversey just west of Pulaski, though, across from the huge furniture store/warehouse I've never been inside but always wondered about. Along with everything else Marshall Field's, the name on it was changed to Macy's in 2006.

So I was amazed to see an active sign still reading Field's (that's different from the State St. store still having Field's plates on it--this is an actual sign telling you what business it is!). It's not a beautiful photo, but I still felt sad it faded into obscurity...like Field's itself?

I'm somewhere

Simmons & Clark, downtown Detroit
Originally uploaded by katherine of chicago

Sorry I haven't maintained even the bare-minimum of blogged-from-Flickr recently. I believe my last post referred to an unspecified exciting trip I was going on (Detroit), that was exciting, and did change things for me, though maybe not all in a good way. Anyhow, since then I've taken a too-short trip to Milwaukee and too-short trip to St. Louis (which I'm on the last day of now, I had a big bicycling/photo day planned but it's raining). I have many photos to put on Flickr before the next trip.

I've noticed that a few people do click from here to Flickr, whether it's the links list, or clicking on the actual photos I blog, I don't know. But this photo is well worth clicking on to see how a person (an excellent sign photographer on Flickr) actually saw me as I took this photo, then ran into it later on Flickr, and now we're contacts!

Going far, far away!

Seen on South Wabash
Originally uploaded by katherine of chicago

For less than two days. I'll be back Friday. I very much needed to get out of town right now, in fact it seems essential for my mental health (though I haven't felt depressed in over a week, I should point out), farther away than Northwest Indiana, much as I've enjoyed that. If this trip is as exciting as my anticipation has built up for it (that grammar is tortuous, I'm sure), perhaps I'll divide everything into "before" and "after" this trip. I should be back with tons of photos (uh, on Flickr) Friday, for now enjoy this shot that has nothing to do with anything, but is quite pretty, no matter how often it's been photographed (um, read the comments on it).

Great Chicago places, spaces (and books)

So, uh, what are you doing this weekend? (free tours!)
Originally uploaded by katherine of chicago

I THINK I've kept photos of myself off this blog (except for the profile); I figure there's enough shots of me elsewhere on the Internet. But since this shot's more about the dress and the books than me, I'll allow it. Reaching a new degree of laziness here, I'll just post the caption that's on the actual Flickr photo:

This'll be my 3rd year of going to the Loop early Sat. and Sun. to go on Great Chicago Places & Spaces tours. You can go on two free tours per day. Many are exclusive for this weekend. I've been on tours about threatened buildings, the CTA, new construction, city planning, historic districts...There are a lot of amazing speakers, and chances to see building interiors you usually wouldn't get to. Besides Chicago architecture and history (ethnic groups, railroads, bridges, cemeteries, parks, universities, industry...), there are tours focusing on art, food, fashion, and movies. You might not get into all the ones you wanted (I never get the Pullman tours!), but there's a lot to choose from. (There were some with advance online registration, but I always miss out on that.)
www.greatchicagoplaces.us

Anyway...I'll be at the event headquarters (Chicago Architecture Foundation, 224 S. Michigan) both days, seeing what I can get into. I'd love to meet new Flickr people [or from other places I'm on the Internet] or hang out with those I already know. But I probably won't be wearing this whimsical dress I recently got for $1.10 in the Village Discount thrift store in Hammond.

I don't know if this photo makes sense, but I wanted something other than a scan of the booklet to promote this, and any excuse to show off collections of books...This is nearly all my Chicago nonfiction (3 stacks). I was dismayed to realize I've only actually read 14 of these 110 books--but a lot of them are photo books and travel guides, stuff you don't necessarily read cover-to-cover (though I hope to someday!).

Sports, again?

Homerun! We must all take photos!
Originally uploaded by katherine of chicago

I went to two Cubs games, my first ever, last month. And now I've had my first trip to U.S. Cellular Field in 16 or 17 years, since back when it was the "new Comiskey," and I was visiting with a school group from Iowa, and they hadn't added the roof to the upper deck so it seemed terrifyingly steep...Sox beat the Twins, 6-2.

Anyway, as I always say, more about this later. I just wanted to get that personal post off the top of the page since people don't usually want to comment on personal posts anyway. This is my favorite shot from the day, a rare photo of the elusive Ponytails and Pink Cameras League in action. (I was wearing a pink sweater and raincoat when I took this, and my hair was in a ponytail, but I didn't take this with a pink camera--I actually own one, I've just never gone out to shoot with it.)