Uploads from Viewminder, tagged viewminder, with geodata

I Love Turtles

nobody@flickr.com (Viewminder) — Mon, 20 May 2013 12:01:15 -0700

Viewminder posted a photo:

Yesterday It seems that the Red Eared Sliders hatched on the little lake by my house.

We found this little guy sittin' there.

Probably 20 to 25 of his brothers and sisters made it out of the nest that day.

Not too many of them make it... because they make great snacks for the bass, the bullfrogs, the birds and the snapping turtles that live in the lake.

I like to catch them when they're that little...

take them home and fatten them up...

let them get just a little bit bigger and set them free in the lake again.

The kids love it too because anything 'miniature' is just cute.

I like to think of him as 'another turtle saved.'

Because I love turtles.

A Television Interview with Viewminder as a Kid

Today We Begin a Journey

nobody@flickr.com (Viewminder) — Wed, 15 May 2013 07:53:00 -0700

Viewminder posted a photo:

Last July 14th my daughter and I decided to see how many of Chicago's finest used bookstores we could hit in a day.

To 'weird it up' just a little bit I decided to go barefoot and see how many of the stores would kick me out.

None of them did.

It was a really fun day.

Always one with an appetite for adventure I found a rare two volume set of the complete expedition journals of Lewis and Clark.

They were quite expensive but I could not resist and perhaps it was my being barefoot while I negotiated the price with the proprietor that led us to come to terms favorable to moi and led to me becoming the owner of these amazing volumes.

I knew that because the books were special that I had to come up with some rather unique way of reading them.

I couldn't just read them like any other book.

I felt like I had to read them in a way that 'put me there' so to speak.

After long and thoughtful consideration and an iron willed discipline to resist cracking them open I came up with a plan.

I noticed that the journey of discovery that Lewis and Clark would undergo started on May 14th 1804.

It came to me right then and there.

I would wait until May 14th 2013 to begin reading The Journals of The Expedition of Lewis and Clark.

Exactly two hundred and nine years later to the day.

And I would read the journals as they were written.

One entry each day... that day's entry... on that day.

I would be able, I supposed, to ponder the journey and the significance of the words journaled in a deeper and more meaningful way.

I would be a member of that expedition over the more than two years that they took to travel more than eight thousand miles.

Today my friends marks the first day of that adventure.

The first entry was rather short...

it begins...

'Monday May 14th 1804

All the preparations being completed, we left our encampment. This spot is at the mouth of the Wood River, a small stream which empties itself into the Mississippi, opposite to the entrance of the Missouri. It is situated in latitude 38'55'19" 6/10 north and longitude from Greenwich 89'57'45". On both sides of the Mississippi the land for two or three miles is rich and level, but gradually swells into a high pleasant country, with less timber on the western than on the eastern side, but all susceptible of cultivation. The point which separates the two rivers on the north, extends for fifteen or twenty miles, the greater part of which is an open level plain, in which the people of the neighborhood cultivate what little grain they raise. Not being able to set sail before four o'clock P.M., we did not make more than four miles, and encamped on the first island opposite a small creek called Cold Water.'

~

I've waited since July 14th 2012 to read this entry.

Ten months to the day.

And here on the day that the expedition set off I'm led to wonder just what Lewis and Clark were thinking starting such an epic journey at 4 P.M.?

I mean... what... a couple of hours of drifting in the current and you gotta find an island and set up camp for the night.

I dunno dudes... I may have just waited until May 15th to shove off.

But that's just me.

And I wasn't there.

But in a way I guess I'm going to be.

Discussing this with my oldest daughter in the car this afternoon we both thought it would be interesting to keep a journal of our own as we participated on the journey ahead.

A new project was born.

This is my first entry in the 'Journal of Viewminder: Expedition Member on the Lewis and Clark Expedition'...

'May 14th

Man... it rained like crazy all day. Almost all day actually. Everything was soaked and Lewis and Clark kept discussing whether or not we should actually leave today.

By four in the afternoon me and most of the crew were all ready to just call it a day and leave the next morning... but nooooo... Lewis was all like 'I said we were gonna be leaving today and we're leaving today.

Which was really dumb because we got like all of four miles until we had to stop for the night and set up camp on some swampy mosquito infested island in the middle of the river.

I figured maybe I could sneak back and spend the evening in the bars at St. Louis and somehow maybe walk back by the morning... if I got lucky I might be sleeping in a more comfortable bed if you know what I mean.

'Cept Lewis had us camp on an island and I didn't feel like swimmin' across that river.

We didn't see anything cool anyways and I think it was a stupid idea to leave today.

I can't wait to see some Indians.'

~

I had to figure out why they left so late so I started to look into it.

It was raining that day and maybe that had something to do with it.

Starting off on such an adventure at four in the afternoon though...

there's gotta be a story behind that.

My daughter suggested we post our journal on Tumblr and maybe she's on to something.

I'm really looking forward to this whole adventure unfolding and I think it'll be a lot of fun for all of us.

Looking out the window I thought to myself 'this was how it was on the day that they left and I'm going along with them.'

How cool is that?

I've waited a long time for this day...

to open Volume One right where the epic roadtrip without roads began and here I am.

I'm excited.

I'm going on an adventure.

If my daughter gets the Tumblr site going tonight...

maybe we'll take you with us.

Bon Voyage!

Next Year

Rotten Finco Drops the Bomb

nobody@flickr.com (Viewminder) — Mon, 13 May 2013 17:00:02 -0700

Viewminder posted a photo:

Rotten Finco and the Convicts tore it up at the Live Wire Lounge on Friday night.

That night tore me up a little too.

You know those nights where you're still out when the sun comes up?

That shit'll whack me for a week.

I hope you had a wicked weekend and you letcher freak outta the box good.

It was nice out.

I can feel the good times to come.

Summer's gonna be good to us.

Friday-Love Chitown Style

nobody@flickr.com (Viewminder) — Fri, 10 May 2013 15:37:45 -0700

Viewminder posted a photo:

Good gahd it's finally Friday!

Are you feelin' the Friday-Love?

What a freakin' week.

I'm telling you.

Life is some crazy shit.

I can't wait to let my freak outta the box this weekend.

Lookout Chicago!

Friday-Love!

Dead Souls

Chris Bernhardt ~ BMR4

nobody@flickr.com (Viewminder) — Mon, 06 May 2013 17:13:51 -0700

Viewminder posted a photo:

I got a chance to check out BMR4 and shoot Chris Bernhardt up close at Andy's Jazz Club in Chicago on Saturday night.

They sounded pretty sweet and Chris was makin' that acoustic bass sing up there.

I don't know what it is about the LED lights that they use at Andy's but they always do the strangest things to my shots.

I could never use flash but man those lights are a challenge!

I've been beaten by those lights half a dozen times.

Thanks for the great show Chris!

I hope all of you had a fantastic weekend gettin' your freak on in Springtime Chitown!

You can check out BMR4 HERE and if you ever get a chance you should check these guys out live!

C2E2 Close Up ~ The Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo

nobody@flickr.com (Viewminder) — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 10:19:30 -0700

Viewminder posted a photo:

It's an amazing show...

filled with artistry of all kinds...

the artists...

the people who made their own costumes...

the beautiful prints and posters.

The girls and I rocked C2E2 this weekend.

'We WILL be going to this next year right dad?'

Friday-Love! ~ Kevin Weinstein Edition

nobody@flickr.com (Viewminder) — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 19:23:45 -0700

Viewminder posted a photo:

Oh yeah.

Can you feel it?

Can you feel the Friday-Love?

I went to the Chicago Photographic Society's meeting last night at Calumet Camera on Goose Island and listened to photographer Kevin Weinstein talk about his adventures and misadventures in wedding photography.

I popped Kevin while he was talking about the difficulty of taking people's pictures without having them pose.

I like to think that I helped him to illustrate his point.

Gahd it's Friday.

I don't know about you but I'm definitely feelin' the Friday-Love!

I got some killer plans this weekend.

I'm gonna go to C2E2 with the girls and take some cool pictures.

You know I've always hadda thing for Princess Leia.

Then I'm gonna have some 'big people time.'

Hopefully with a hot girl dressed up like Slave Leia.

I hope you got some great plans this weekend.

It's springtime.

It's time to feel the love!

Friday-Love!

Scars on 45 covers Friday I'm In Love

Springtime Chicago ~ Puttin' on the Fingerless Gloves

nobody@flickr.com (Viewminder) — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 20:00:24 -0700

Viewminder posted a photo:

Yeah.

We've done it.

We've survived another brutal Chicago winter.

It's feelin' like springtime.

There's a lotta love in the city right now.

It's always like 'we made it.... we did this together.'

Brotherly love.

Soon as the weather warms up we'll all get back to shootin' each other again.

Enjoy the love while it lasts.

You Can Never Hold Back Spring

I Been Itchin'

nobody@flickr.com (Viewminder) — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 04:40:40 -0700

Viewminder posted a photo:

You know I've had the itch to get out and shoot some closeup.

To interact with the street and feel the vibe... suck up the mojo.

There's only one way to scratch that itch.

Hit the street.

I was all over the city on Saturday.

It was one of those days where it all went in it's own direction.

I felt like I was carried on the breeze by some unknown momentum.

I just went with it.

And that itch in due course became satisfactorily scratched.

It makes me think of the words of a guy named Rufus Thomas...

Itch and Scratch Funk Ferret Edit

My Friend Matthew ~ Knockin' a Few Back at Reggies

nobody@flickr.com (Viewminder) — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 05:36:03 -0700

Viewminder posted a photo:

I make a lotta friends wherever I go.

It's pretty cool.

This is my buddy Matthew.

He's alright.

He's got a couple of kids in the US Army in Afghanistan.

Tough guys... Rangers he said...

he's not too worried about them.

He figures they can take care of themselves.

That's the southside for you.

I had a good time knockin' some back with you Matthew.

We will do it again.

Rock on my friend.

Viewminder's Coffee Song

Jim James at Chicago's Vic Theater ~ A New Life

nobody@flickr.com (Viewminder) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 16:12:24 -0700

Viewminder posted a photo:

I am the world's luckiest guy.

We've all gone through some shit...

and every one of us has at some point dreamed of a 'new life.'

I've had that dream come true.

I hope all of your dreams came true this weekend.

Life's an amazing thing.

You never know where it's gonna take you.

I had no idea that I'd be shooting Jim James from the front row Saturday night.

Because I had no idea that Terri Hemmert would be giving me two tickets to his concert at the Vic Theater.

Which helped me get into the Vic with two of my cameras.

I'm in love with this new life.

I could feel the love.

We're all on the same journey.

A New Life ~ Live at the Vic Theater

Terri Hemmert ~ WXRT Chicago

nobody@flickr.com (Viewminder) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 11:37:51 -0700

Viewminder posted a photo:

I was hanging out with Chicago radio legend Terri Hemmert for Record Appreciation Day at Reggie's.

She's been doing 'Breakfast with the Beatles' for thirty years on WXRT.

Terri set me up with a couple of tickets for the Jim James pre-show at the Vic Theater on Saturday night.

It was a great day and it was a lotta fun shooting Record Appreciation Day with everyone at Reggie's.

I was feelin' the love you know?

I hope you were feelin' the love this weekend too!

Joliet Correctional Center Firing Range ~ Urbex with Viewminder & Crew

nobody@flickr.com (Viewminder) — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 01:09:37 -0700

Viewminder posted a photo:

The first place we got to explore on our urbex outing on Sunday was the Joliet Correctional Center Firing Range.

It's an abandoned range where the guards from the Joliet Prison used to practice shooting from a tower much like the guard towers that they occupy at the prison.

There was a shipping container there and we got inside it where we found this human-like 'target.'

It's dressed in an orange jumpsuit that the prisoners wear and it's riddled with bullet holes.

It struck me as kind of eerie.

I've spent a couple of days at the Joliet Correctional Center in one of those jumpsuits and I've seen firsthand how the guards depersonalize the inmates.

Maybe they have to.

'Depersonalizing' the inmates is I guess understandable...

but 'personalizing' the target is kinda creepy to me.

Certainly they have to be proficient in shooting inmates should the need arise.

And the range offered them similar conditions as they worked in.

Seeing that jumpsuit riddled with holes hit me a little.

'The Execution Chair' ~ Joliet Prison Rock Crushing Building

nobody@flickr.com (Viewminder) — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 04:56:47 -0700

Viewminder posted a photo:

The crew and I decided to do a little urban exploration today in Joliet Illinois.

There's an old prison there and we wanted to see if we could get in.

It was some beautiful weather and we had all the gear ready to go.

We got to the prison grounds and pulled up the satellite imagery on the old iPad.

Those satellite images are really helpful in navigating around large abandoned places.

They show a lot of stuff that's not on any map.

It's wild to think that we're using spaceships to go around pokin' in places we're probably not supposed to go.

The first place we hit was the Joliet Correctional Center's abandoned shooting range.

Then we found our way in to the old rock crushing building.

This chair was there and it spooked the girls.

'Those bullet holes would be right where your heart was if you were sitting in that chair' one of them said.

'How could several of those bullets not go through that chair' she pointed out... 'they must have been slowed down by someone's body.'

I looked closer and several of the bullets didn't go through the metal back of the chair after all.

I shot this picture and moved on climbing an old rusty set of stairs to the second floor.

That's when we were startled to find out that we weren't alone there.

It was quite an exciting exit!

I hope you had an exciting weekend.

I'll be sharing more of our weekend with you soon including another video on youtube.

Rock the rest of your weekend like you mean it!

My Daughter Got Her 'Drug Experience'

nobody@flickr.com (Viewminder) — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 08:43:40 -0700

Viewminder posted a photo:

Last weekend I took my daughter to a warehouse party.

After we left she told me that she had a good time but that she really wanted to see more people 'on drugs.'

She's fourteen and she's got a fascination for drugs and the people who use them.

I guess it's kind of a healthy fascination... she doesn't want to mess around with drugs... she's just curious about what they do to people.

Four days later she would find out the hard way...

She took a drug at school and she ended up in the hospital.

Warehouse Party

nobody@flickr.com (Viewminder) — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 20:14:26 -0700

Viewminder posted a photo:

I took the Viewminderettes out to a little warehouse party on Saturday night.

It was their first one.

As far as 'raves' go it was pretty mellow and the crowd was more adult.

There was a lot of drinking and I didn't see any drugs.

I don't know how I raised three girls who really seem to be studious little conservatives.

They're not big on rule breaking.

Kids always seem to have to rebel against their parents.

I told them that when I was a kid we played 'dingdongditch' and rang people's doorbells and ran away.

They were enchanted by the idea but they wouldn't do it on their own.

I had to take them to the next block one night and show them how to do it.

I never once thought as a parent that I'd be teaching my kids how to play 'ring and run.'

They had a great time at the party...

sang some songs on the karoake set up and explored the whole warehouse.

After we left they said it was pretty cool but the oldest one said 'I wanna go to a party where I can see people on drugs.'

I didn't exactly know how to deal with that one.

I've seen plenty of that action myself.

In college me and a buddy took some LSD and jumped out of an airplane.

That hadda be one of the most religious experiences of my life...

and certainly one of the best skydives ever.

I felt like I was one with everything...

absolutely in tune with the aircraft and all of it's sounds and vibrations...

calm and fluid...

at ten thousand feet when we opened the door of the airplane and got out onto the step I remember that I could see the earth 'breathing.'

It was beautiful and so amazingly vivid in every way.

My senses were absolutely razor sharp and I breathed in deep the fresh air two miles up right after I'd let go of the airplane with my buddy.

It was the most amazing freefall and it seemed to go on forever...

I could feel the air get denser and more humid as we fell towards the ground at a hundred and twenty miles per hour.

We were having so much fun we kind of lost track of time and altitude and we pulled our ripcords a little low.

I pulled at about eleven hundred feet and I watched my buddy go on screaming towards the ground.

After the 'opening shock' of the parachute deployment I lost sight of him.

I never saw his parachute open.

I thought he impacted and I was bummed out as I glided back to the airport with barely enough altitude to make it back.

Trippin' balls I didn't know what to do.

How in the world could I talk to the cops and the authorities in this condition I wondered.

None of that was gonna bring my friend back from the dead.

What I needed to do was to think.

So I sat down and I smoked a fatty.

I thought about what a good buddy that he was and how it sucked that he'd just bounced.

'What a dumb idea... take a bunch of hits of acid and go skydiving' I thought.

I figured I'd let myself ease into a better mental state and then I'd call the cops.

Sitting on the couch forty five minutes later trippin' just the same I was surprised to see my buddy walking through the bean field with his parachute bunched up over his shoulder.

First I thought I was seein' a ghost.

He looked pale but otherwise uninjured.

'What happened to you dude' I asked... pretty excited that he was alive.

'I must have pulled below eight hundred feet... my canopy opened and I had only seconds to line up a spot to land... and I was over a cemetery... so I came whooshing in between the tombstones' he said.

'There was a woman there... she was stealing the artificial flowers off of the graves or something and she freaked out and thought I was an angel sent from God and she pleaded that I forgive her and she kept saying that she'd never do anything like that again.'

My buddy was in no condition to deal with this and he balled up his parachute and started the mile and a half long walk back to the airport.

We laughed about that one a bunch of times but we never did that again.

It was only organics from then on.

We were jumping in the winter and we decided to take some magic mushrooms and put them into a big jug of hot chocolate...

the kind of jug where you press a button and pour some into a cup.

Like one of those old Coleman ones you took camping or on a picnic.

We were up doing a skydive and an airplane landed... the pilot fueled it up and he had to wait a few minutes for us to land to pay for the gas.

We'd left the door to the office unlocked apparently.

So he helped himself to some hot chocolate and when we walked in after our jump we saw the little foam cup in his hand.

Which put us into a little predicament.

My friend and I took it outside... while the soon to be tripping pilot waited for us... and we tried to figure out what we had to do... it wasn't our fault the dude pulled a cup of hot chocolate laced with hallucinogenic psilocybin mushrooms without asking if he could... but he did and it was kind of an awkward situation.

'Dude... I fly better when I'm shrooming' my friend said.

'That's because you do it all the time and you know that you're tripping' I replied 'this guy'll kill himself.'

'But if we tell him he'll call the cops on us and we'll be the ones in trouble' he retorted.

In a little while he was gonna be trippin' big time... seein' flying dragons and pretty colors and shit...

and some people might not be able to fly an airplane like that.

If we didn't tell him we figured he'd get killed after he took off flying to gahd knows where and we'd have the superbad karma of that on our shoulders.

So we went back in there and told him...

'that hot chocolate you just drank... we put 'shrooms in there... hallucinogenic mushrooms... and in a little while you're going to be tripping... and you can't fly out of here like that... you'll crash man.'

He started to boil up and you could see the veins starting to pop in his head.

'You could hang out here in the hangar with us and we'll keep an eye on you' I offered.

'And I've got some killer weed' my friend said 'It'll mellow you out.'

'I can't fucking believe you guys' the pilot said 'Now I gotta get a hotel room and my wife's gonna be pissed.'

'Sorry man' I said.

Then my buddy told him 'you shouldn't go around drinking people's hot chocolate without asking anyways!'

I don't do stuff like that anymore.

That's college for you.

I guess I was in an 'experimental phase.'

Coming back around to my original point...

I don't know how to deal with my daughter's desire to go see people who've taken drugs.

I know she doesn't want to do drugs.

She just wants to see how they affect people.

Maybe it's time to start telling her some of these stories.

Curious little buggers those kids can be.

Exploring the Ruins of Manteno State Hospital

nobody@flickr.com (Viewminder) — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 05:54:30 -0700

Viewminder posted a photo:

The little Viewminder's dig exploring old abandoned buildings...

especially former psychiatric hospitals.

A little research led us to this place and we explored all afternoon the nooks and crannies of the Manteno State Hospital.

It was a mental health hospital once home to 8,000 patients.

Little remains and what does has fallen into a decrepit state.

If only the walls could talk.

The tales they could tell.

I shot this whole little exploration on a chest mounted GoPro Hero3 Black videocamera and posted it to youtube... you can check it out HERE

This is the room that we walked into at 3:16 on the video and you can see my flash firing... but this picture was taken without flash to capture the streams of light from the holes in the roof at 8:30 in the video... you can see just how dark it was and you can see how much light that the D700 'found' to create this image.

Urbexperience

nobody@flickr.com (Viewminder) — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 19:41:42 -0700

Viewminder posted a photo:

Today I took the girls out to do a little 'urban exploration.'

My oldest daughter's always seeing abandoned buildings that she wants to go and explore and she found this one on the interwebs and told me about it.

Who doesn't wanna check that stuff out?

Exploring old abandoned buildings is some dangerous action and I'm glad that I can be there to look out for the little explorers...

show them where the obvious danger lays...

and keep my eye on them as they wander the labyrinth of adventure that unfolds before our eyes as it comes out of the shadows.

As the curiosity grows so do the dangers.

Next time I told them it's boots and helmets, headlights and a demolition tool just in case.

Last night we went to a little warehouse party in Chicago.

It was their first.

It's not the kind of stuff most parents do with their kids and sometimes I take a little heat for it...

but I know they want to experience the world and nothing is going to stop them.

Being there to help keep their judgement good is something I really appreciate and exploring with them is something that I cherish.

It's almost like I get to 'grow up twice.'

Well...

I don't really think I completed that the first time around.

Another try won't hurt.

Seeing the world through the eyes of a child is a magical experience.

I hope you had as much fun with your weekend as we had with ours!

You can check out the video of this little urban exploration HERE

Curious About My Camera

nobody@flickr.com (Viewminder) — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 09:57:13 -0700

Viewminder posted a photo:

The little one was curious about my camera.

She was so bold as she approached.

I knew what she was after and I got down on my knees...

to bring myself down to her level.

She didn't have any words...

just a beautiful curiosity.

I hope you're having a beautiful weekend.

I hope you're feelin' the love.

The Weekend Rises

nobody@flickr.com (Viewminder) — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 19:30:56 -0700

Viewminder posted a photo:

I took a couple of days with the girls and headed to Wisconsin Dells for a little indoor waterpark action...

the last weekend was a banger alright...

Medieval Times on Friday... the Holi Festival on Saturday... Easter on Sunday and The Waterpark on Monday and Tuesday.

This weekend I'd like to hit the streets for a little chaos you know what I mean?

I hope you're feelin' the love this weekend and you got plans to tear up the town!

Friday-Love!

Friday