Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Christmas in the Square

Header Challenge: Christmas in the Square

December 12, 2012


Lew provided this week's theme for the Headbangers.  This was tricky for me, and I'm eager to see how my pals did.  Generally speaking, I like the idea of a town square, but don't have a real-life reference that matches what I have imagined from stories I've read. Please see the posts submitted by my friends Fishing Guy, Katney, Imac, Sandy and Lew.
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Last year, two friends took my wife and me downtown to see a play and check out the Christkindlmarket at Daley Plaza, which is the closest Chicago has to a proper town square.  From the back seat of their minivan, I set the camera on my lap and snapped up this silhouette "street photographer style" as we drove through the decorated streets.
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Clockwise from the upper left: Puppet theater on a bicycle (which I found to be strange and annoying), the famous Picasso sculpture, a clock at Macy's (it used to be Marshall Field's), and the Eternal Flame war memorial flanked by pigeon sentries.
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The plaza at the Daley center was jam packed with masses of visitors and densely constructed shops selling food and knick-knacks German artisans.  But somehow, they made room for a large, life-size manger scene.  Why is there a Cuitlaxochitl in front of the lambs?  Don't eat that.

This header was carefully selected, not for any artistic merit per se, but because of the trolley's seductive blank side panel, which I shamelessly exploited for flagrant self promotion.
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The shops on Main Street in Galena had live Christmas displays in their windows.  I like the idea, especially if their people have fun with it.
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9 comments:

imac said...

Nice Christmasy Header and Post my friend.

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

Craver: Fun post with a lot of Christmas images.

Carletta said...

Sweet little elfs in that last shot!
I'm happy to live where there are still little towns with townsquares. I have many memories growing up that are centered 'downtown'.
Love your trolley edit! :)

Katney said...

No town square here either, which is why I went outside the square with mine. Good choices.

George said...

I really like your header, but all of your photos are great for this theme.

happyone said...

Great job on the theme. Lovely photos.

lime said...

i am intrigued by the puppet theater on a bike. the header is fun, i like the facial expressions.

Jackie said...

OK...you know that I googled the "c" word. Clever guy...always teaching, and I'm always learning.
Flagrant self promotion photo noted and applauded. Great job, my friend!

Lew said...

I like the header! You have captured a lot of life in the "square". And certianly there is variety in a big city!