This weekend, I’m up in Naperville to cover the state soccer tournament. The team I’m here for, Peoria Christian, won last night and will play for the championship in a couple hours from now. Since I had the entire day to kill, I drove into downtown Chicago and wandered around with my digital camera, a 35 mm lens and a Holga for most of the day. I didn’t have any specific plans so I kind of drifted around looking for things that caught my eye. I even shot a few photos at a Richard Daley press conference (third photo) when I crossed paths with his entourage in Daley Plaza. My inspiration for the day came from one of my favorite blogs: Shooting from the Hip, by Chicago Tribune staffer Scott Strazzante. Like the blog’s author, I tried to make photos on the fly in a free-flowing manner.
Travel
Multiple exposures from Europe
Holga in the heartland
Here’s the latest installment in my occasional toy camera musings. These are a few frames I took while I was home in Indiana between my internships in Austin and Peoria, Ill. I haven’t had a chance to shoot any film yet in Peoria, but with the harvest season approaching, I’ll have to make an effort to do so.
Texas through a plastic lens
During my summer internship in Austin, I carried a loaded Holga with me in my car to most of my assignments. Whenever I saw something weird or interesting, I shot a few frames with the plastic camera. I also used it whenever I had the urge to take touristy photos while I was in Texas. Today I picked up the last roll from my trip after having it processed here in Peoria. I know the Holga is thought of as a trendy hipster camera, but I like to use it to get back to basics. You can’t chimp on a Holga, and you have to understand exposures to use the thing. It’s the photographic equivalent of recording an album on a 4-track.
The Alamo (again)
I went to the Alamo on Saturday for the second time during my summer in Texas. This time I went with a couple of the newsroom interns who wanted to see the sights in San Antonio. Unlike my previous trip, I didn’t shoot many frames this time. Despite this, I did capture an interesting moment between a few re-enactors who were playing 1830’s era Mexican soldiers behind the Alamo. (As a side note, check out their huge hats.)