red and green

Header Challenge: Red and Green

December 26, 2012

Tom selected red and green for this header challenge.   Check out my pals for their interpretations on the theme: Fishing Guy, Katney, Imac, Sandy and Lew.

This week's header shows a stretched version of a concept I was toying with last year.  The post was called Christmas lights, and in it, I explained how I drew that for the camera with a laser on a dark wall.

I love the way the light and focus draws us in to these berries.

From a neighbor's apple tree.  They thought I was strange.

From my own yard.  You know what? I think I'm strange, too.

From a craft display at Christkindl Market Downtown Chicago at Daley Plaza.

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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happy new year

Did I miss it? Yup. Chinese new year was on January 23. Silly me; I was thinking about other things. They call this is the year of the dragon. That sounds like a good excuse to post a dragon pic that I snapped downtown last month at an outdoor Christmas market. I'm wondering... what kind of mind decides that it is appropriate to carve wooden dragons for Christmas? Hmmm...

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Mrs. Craver and I did not take pictures of ourselves on our anniversary date this year, but here is one from our honeymoon in the Poconos. I wish I had the photographer's info. He was a guy wandering around with a camera and taking all kinds of pics. If you liked a print, you could buy it from him. We bought about a dozen of his prints.

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That Pennsylvania mountain snow was glorious! My wife and I love the snow. A good snow outside makes the fireplace warmer, and even ramps up the experience of a good mug of hot cocoa.

a Sunday afternoon stroll

Mrs. Craver and I double-dated last Sunday. This was all a gift from the other couple. After church, we dined at the Olive Garden in Bolingbrook. I ordered the Venetian Apricot Chicken. That tasted so amazing, it should be on your bucket list!

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Then we drove into downtown Chicago to see The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey at the Provision Theater. It was a feel-good event, for sure!

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Finally, we parked close to Daley Plaza and walked through the crowded, chilly streets for an outdoor display called Christkindlmarket. That's when I took out the camera and "went to town." (Yes, that pun was totally intended.)

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What's in this collage? Clockwise from top left:

1. the Picasso at Daley Plaza
2. the Channel 2 (CBS) newsroom
3. pigeons huddling around the Eternal Flame memorial
4. the wonderful Mrs. Craver next to the happiest man in the world
5. a peek at the Sears (Willis) Tower from the inside of the minivan
6. one of my favorite landmarks--the clock at Marshal Fields (Macy's)
7. an amusing, blue, light sculpture, and
8. some of the German crafts from Christkindl Market