Zooming the Chicago Theater

Set up my tripod the other night and played around with zooming the Chicago marquee.  I liked #2 the best and ended up entering it in Chicagoland's Digital Photography's "Show Me a Sign" photo competition.  Voting is open for another week or two, but it's not looking good for me.  Regardless, I was pretty pleased with this shot. 

Zoo Lights

Fellow photo blog followers,

I introduce you to one of my top 5 favorite things in Chicago: Zoo Lights at Lincoln Park Zoo.  Absolutely amazing, I HIGHLY suggest visiting Chicago in December so you can witness this amazingness yourself.  Did I mention it was free?  I love this city.  I will continue to go every single year, marvel at the same light displays and take hundreds of photos.  Props to the hubby for putting up with me and my tripod stopping every two seconds to get just one more shot.

Go Do Good

Connecting Art to Action.

Today's reason I love Chicago -

It is truly amazing what one person with one idea can do. Kay Rosen is a midwest-based artist who is known for her paintings, drawings, prints, collages and installations on walls, billboards, and buildings. She had an idea for an art installation in the Chicago Loop. She wanted to find a way to connect her art to action.

In partnership with the Chicago Loop Alliance and the United Way of Metro Chicago, this installation turned in the Go Do Good campaign, a summer-long, city-wide movement with the goal of preparing Chicago's kids to succeed in school. In an effort to build a stronger community, Chicago was challenged to reach 100,000 good deeds this summer.

On State Street, you will find a large billboard on the side of building reading "Go Do Good." Banners with the same saying line the street lamps along State as well as the State & Lake L stop. There is even a block-like thermometer tracking where we are at to our goal of 100,000 good deeds. We are currently at 40,000, but I hope we will be able to reach our goal when all is said and done.

But most importantly, I would like to give props to Chicago for being so freaking awesome. What city do you know that actually encourages volunteering and little random acts of kindness. It really makes me proud to be living here.

Cheers to Chicago for encouraging its residents and tourists to do something good with their summer. Let's hope the good deeds and gestures - large and small - public and private - last once the summer is over.

Will you join in? It's easy. Learn more about Go Do Good here - http://godogoodchicago.com/

Learn more about the artist here - http://www.kayrosen.com/

State & Lake L Stop -

Thermometer -

Banners lining the streets -
Banners colorful reflections -

New technique I'm trying called zooming - pretty self explanatory - you zoom your lens in or out during exposure. This one's not too bad, but we will see if I can can improve any on this technique in future posts.

Have a great day everyone, and remember GO DO GOOD!