Month: October 2023

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Beach – Untitled #24

This is a picture taken on June 2, 2008. I shot 53 pictures that day two of which are in our Esty Shop, AbbasImages.

The day began west of my hometown where you can get a bit more description at the post, Beach – Untitled #25. After taking a few pictures there I drove about 20 miles where I shot this image as it was nearing sunset.

This is Hudson Lake, or as it appeared all those years ago. I’m standing on a dock near a tiny beach and enjoying the sights, sounds and serenity of this lovely area. After the passing of time, I still remember well the peace that accompanied my time there. I hope that feeling passes on to you as you consider this picture.

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Abstract – Untitled #23

abstract image of reflection on water

It’s February 2009. I am walking on the south side of the East Riverwalk in Chicago, making my way to the Chicago Lakefront Trail to a destination north and east, along Lake Michigan, from my present location. Did you get all that? I suppose you have to have been there.

Looking to my immediate left, at the Chicago River, I see this colorful, imaginative reflection in the water of the river. This is an image that has evoked so much interesting speculation as to what it actually is. What do you think? I’ve already given away the fact that it is a reflection. In fact, it is the reflection of the Riverview Condominiums that stand on the north side of the river.

As a note, something that is so interesting to me about these colors is that the vast majority of the buildings, at that time in 2009, along the Riverwalk, cast greys or blacks or silvers from the types of building materials used for their constructions. But the Riverview Condominiums, with their unique color and trim schemes, give a rather unique southwestern theme with their oranges and greens.

Another, personal note, is how easily one can get lost in the patterns of the reflection.

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Flowers – Untitled #19

This is a picture of a variety of Mountain Hydrangea, taken with a macro lens for detail. We took a trip to the Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois on the 16th of July 2023. During our time there I took about 60 pictures. This picture, in particular, is a beautiful representation of the images on display that day.

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Flowers – Untitled #18

In July of 2023 we were driving to visit some friends for a few days. During the trip it had been raining and it was time to pull into a rest stop along the interstate. As is so often the case, we found the grounds well-kept and several gardens and planters on the grounds.

I took 25 pictures of various flowers at that rest stop and we chose this picture of a daisy, still wet from the rain, to put into our Etsy Shop, “AbbasImages.”

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Chicago – Untitled #17

This is a picture of “Cloud Gate” also known as the “Bean.” It is located in Millennium Park in downtown Chicago.

At the time this picture was taken, in April of 2009, I was working for a commuter railroad that brought passengers into Chicago from northwest Indiana. Because of the nature of my job, I had a great deal of free time between assignments and I was able to take photographs during some of that time. On this particular morning, after my train arrived in Chicago and a change of clothes out of my uniform, I took my camera to Millennium Park, which was very near our terminal, and specifically to the Bean.

I couldn’t even venture a guess as to how many times a picture of the Bean, or including the Bean, have been taken. What is so striking about this picture is that it is void of people. That is, there are no tourists, locals, sightseers, no one, which, for someone who has been to the Bean so many times, like me, is a rare oddity that is beyond noteworthy.

Another note about this picture. You may notice the fog, a cold front, that is moving in from the west, beginning to envelop the buildings just west of the Bean.

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Landscape – Untitled #15

Every time we would drive to see family, we would pass this barn. We have passed it dozens and dozens of times over the years, nestled, just off the highway, in that corn field each summer.

It presents an interesting contrast, not only in color, texture, and form, but as the crops are planted, grow, are harvested, and then disappear for the winter, the barn remained constant, never changing, almost sentinel-like.

This picture was taken in June of 2017. Within 4 years, age and the elements had their way and one of the sides gave way. The barn is still there, leaning as if to fall yet more, in time . . . but still remains though broken.

Update, January, 2024. We were sad to see that the barn had been removed. While it is no longer physically there, the sweet memories of seeing it, knowing we were minutes away from family, will linger forever.

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Water – Untitled #12

It had been a very snowy couple of weeks prior to this visit to Creek Ridge County Park, south of Michigan City, Indiana, on February 6th, 2009. Some of the pictures I took of the 67 taken that day showed snow on top of the stumps of trees over a foot high. But it’s February and the rays of the sun are shining more and more directly, rather than angled, thereby bringing “more warmth” and therefore a gradual thawing during the sunny days.

This day was no exception and, in this picture, we can see the abstract reflection of the sun, shown in the highlighted white bands, being pulled over the rocks by the force of the water. Still, while the air temperatures were still frigid, the warmth of the sun began the thawing of the snows giving way to the crystal-clear waters in the streams. Spring was not far away.

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Beach – Untitled #11

An October 5th, 2008 colorful sunset over Lake Michigan, taken from within the Indiana Dunes National Lake Shore.

Of the 27 pictures taken that trip, both this and Beach – Untitled #45 were chosen for our Etsy Shop, “AbbasImages.”

Having grown up in this area, it was interesting to see, as the year and seasons progressed, how the sun set further and further toward the south. I have taken pictures where the sun is setting right behind the Chicago skyline which, though not visible in this picture, would have been visible from this vantage point. But, since it is getting late in the year, the sun, as it does every year, at this latitude, sets further and further south until, around the winter solstice, it begins its setting further and further northward . . . and on and on.

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Abstract – Portal

This is, so far, the only picture we have given a title. You have the freedom to use your imagination to see if you feel if it’s apropos or give it your own title. But, in any case, here is the story behind the picture.

I retired from a passenger railroad that took people from Northwest Indiana into Chicago for work or pleasure. For years I had a lengthy layover in Chicago to explore and take pictures; hundreds over the years. I this particular picture I had been exploring an area, while very, very near our terminal station in Chicago, I simply had never taken the time to venture into.

This image is from an area called the New Eastside, specifically, Lakeshore East Park, bordered roughly by the Chicago River to the north, Lake Michigan to the east and Randolph Street to the South. It lies just north of Millennium Park. The picture is part of a concrete, circular staircase that rises from the corner of East South Water Street and North Park Drive up to a street that connects North Columbus Drive and East Wacker Drive. This staircase is tucked away in the northwest corner of the park. Unless you are definitely looking for it or stumble upon it, as I did, it’s fairly nondescript, certainly out of the way, and easy to miss.

But on that day, I found it. It is round and big enough that a tree was growing in the middle of it (or was, anyway, in 2013, ten years ago as of this writing). It was a sunny day, that August 29, 2012 when I took the picture and, because of the angle of the sun, the parabola that you see was the sun shining through the round top at the upper street level projected on the side wall of the concrete staircase.

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Trees – Untitled #8

This is a companion picture to Landscape – Untitled #1, both of which were taken October 9, 2011. They are in the setting of the sunrise at Coffee Creek Watershed Preserve near Chesterton, Indiana.

There is parking off of Indiana Highway 49 on the east side of Coffee Creek. From there, immediately to the west there is a hill. On the top of the hill is a tree and a bench. In this picture, I’ve captured the moment when the rising sun just breaks over the top of the hill. It really was a beautiful, serene sunrise that day. I’m so glad I was able to get these colorful, radiant effects of the sun that morning. We hope you enjoy it and they speak to you in a unique way.