Uploads from kern.justin, tagged colonelmccormick

The Colonel's Office

nobody@flickr.com (kern.justin) — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 08:18:29 -0800

View Large on Black at www.thewindypixel.com!

I got a top-to-bottom tour of the Trib Tower last month, capturing a bunch of images for this blog along the way. Robert McCormick, a Colonel in the First World War, was Chicago's newspaper baron and the heir to the Chicago Tribune. He inherited the paper from his maternal grandfather, Joseph Medill, a once Chicago mayor and the founder of the Chicago Tribune. The Colonel's office was on the 24th floor and has a fabulous view of the Wrigley building and the Chicago river (the subject of a future post).

The Colonel's desk is long gone, but the office is still palatial and beautiful. The floors are real pegged hardwood and the fireplace is huge. It must have been an intimidating place for a lowly acolyte to visit. Case in point, here is a quotation pulled from the Wikipedia entry on the Colonel, by Henry Regnery (a publisher who knew McCormick):

The Colonel received us [Regnery and Chamberlin] in his rather feudal office, high above Michigan Avenue at the top of his Gothic tower. He was a tall, erect, distinguished-looking man, who, with his white hair, blue eyes, ruddy complexion, white mustache, and in his manner and dress, conveyed the impression that he might have come from the English landed aristocracy. He was perfectly cordial, but gave us clearly to understand that our rather similar views on such matters as foreign policy and the administration in Washington were no basis for familiarity. -Source

Just to the left the window on the left of the frame there is a false wall that leads to a secret passage and a staircase out of the office, presumably so that the Colonel could escape should his enemies come calling. Whether it was ever used is a question to which I can't seem to find an answer. Click on the photograph below to go to my Flickr page and click "All Sizes" then "Original" above the photo to see the full-resolution version and read the quotation that McCormick had engraved into the stone above the fireplace.

Pure Gotham.

nobody@flickr.com (kern.justin) — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 12:15:16 -0800

kern.justin posted a photo:

View Large on Black at www.thewindypixel.com!

20 Questions
As I mentioned in a previous post - I did an interview with Barry over at Free Photo Resources - 20 questions designed to give his readers a bit more information about tWp. If you don't get enough of me on my soap box on these pages - head over to FPR and read the interview. Barry said it will be up at about 13:00 UK - sometime around 06:00 Central.

New way to do prints? - give me your feedback
One of the things I've been mulling over recently is how to handle print orders for tWp. I am always humbled when people decide they want a print of my work - and I make pretty much every photograph you see on tWp available for purchase through Imagekind. This set up keeps prices really low and maintenance simple, but I'm not totally convinced it's the best quality or worth the monthly fee for the few prints that I sell. I wonder if you readers would be more/less interested if I made printing a custom operation directly between you and me - I'd provide custom canvas, metal or photo prints to order. Tell me what you guys think, as I'll always make these photographs for the web, I want to make sure those who are interested in prints are getting the best value.

Pure Gotham, dark and bat-riddled
One of the most popular features of this little website is our Gotham set. As I've explained before, when you venture out into Chicago, you may unwittingly step into the dark city. I was taking some photographs up in the flying buttresses of the Tribune Tower when I caught a glimpse of the Willis Tower framed by these incredible bat gargoyles. Maybe it is because I haven't been getting much sleep lately, working to get things finished, but beautiful though the masonry is - those bats are creepy!

A long sunset in the Emerald City

nobody@flickr.com (kern.justin) — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 10:01:30 -0800

kern.justin posted a photo:

View Large on Black at www.thewindypixel.com!

I wrote in late November about the last photograph I took in Mesa Verde - in a post called "A luminous goodbye." I also mentioned in that post that I was headed to Stanford to interview for a job. How prescient that title was, as I accepted that job and I'll be leaving the city of Chicago come the summertime. The intervening six months will surely bring many new Chicago photographs to the blog, as will the months afterwards - but eventually my contributions to this blog will take a turn for the Californian. I hope you will all still follow me.

In the depths of winter the sun's declination effect makes for *very* long sunrises and sunsets. This is to say that the sun's arc above the horizon is so low that it takes a much longer time for that precious "golden" hour to end - compare this to the summer where the sun sets at a nearly perpendicular angle to the horizon. I scurried about the 25th floor and the floors above to take as many photographs as I could as the sun completed its long descent. I think with today's news, a sunset image is appropriate.

Here is a view of Chicago of which I have *never* seen a photograph. Once upon a time, the 25th floor of the Tribune Tower was an observation deck, open to the public. Nowadays you need to know someone who knows someone to get here. I felt extremely privileged to get a chance to do some photography from this vantage point, and I hope I did it justice. The pavilion is out amongst the flying buttresses of the great tower and affords a sweeping view from the very heart of the mag mile. Although the Gothic stonework was higher than I could extend my tripod, I managed to hang my camera out over the edge and snap a few images. The city really deserves more places like this that everybody can visit - there is something really breathtaking about seeing the place from a new angle, especially with sunset streaming in from the west side and the river in its winter coat of ice. This one is going straight into the Gotham set as well.

I also have to say thanks to those of you who sent me your questions about cameras, HDR, etc to @thewindypixel. I think I answered those that I got. Mark, who has been contacting me as he has started to dabble a bit in HDR, asked in the comments section to yesterday's post what differences exist between the D5000 and the D90. I mentioned yesterday that the D90 affords you much greater control over the camera that does the D5000. I'll elaborate on just a few of the physical differences that I think eventually become important as you expand as a photographer. First I will say that I know a handful of people who have the D5000 and it is a sweet camera - it does just about everything you'd want for a Lilliputian price. This list is in no particular order, once you're done reading it, you'll realize that these differences aren't make-or-break for a beginner - the key is to get a camera that fits your needs/budget/skill and to get out there and take pictures - you make the photograph, the lens transmits the light and the camera is just a hunk of crap that records it.

1. The D90 includes an autofocus motor, making this camera compatible with older lenses. As the lens is the most important part of the equation - imagine the dismay on a user's face who just purchased a D5000 and wants to use their hand-me-down $2800 Nikon 28mm f/1.4 only to find out - you can't focus!!! Okay this is the number one reason - but the rest aren't in order :P.
2. D90 is more durable - we all should be careful with our toys, but you just never know. This translates into a higher guaranteed shutter count, i.e. not only is the body of the camera tougher - it's guts are tougher too. This also means that the camera uses the larger Nikon batteries which provide you with more shots per charge. Unfortunately, with both the D90 and D5000, Nikon has moved away from CF cards to the smaller SD card.
3. The viewfinder of the D90 is bigger, brighter and covers ~95% of the frame instead of a paltry ~75%. This is a big deal when you are composing.
4. The D90 can support a remote cable release and a battery grip - this is really key for HDR - keep your finger off the camera and your camera on a tripod for good HDR. Yes, the D5000 comes with a remote control release and I am *EXTREMELY* jealous of this as equivalent solutions for the D90, D300, D700, D3 etc cost hundreds of dollars. Then again, the D90 will allow you to plug in a wire release that is equally useful and also accepts things like interval timers, etc.
5. The pop-up flash on the D90 will allow you to wirelessly control Nikon flashes - this may not sound like a big deal, but people pay $200 per flash to do this wirelessly if they don't have it built in. Canon owners can only dream. UPDATE: I was wrong about this - the new Canon 7D will do wireless control - I am ignorant of its features, compatibility, etc. My mistake - thanks to Donald for pointing this out in the comments section.