Winter Beaches

Photographs made at Tower Road Beach (Winnetka, IL) and Fort Sheridan Beach (Highland Park, IL) on 12/2/25. The first shot is for my website collection, 52 Assignments-Exposure.

Sony A7Cii | 50mm | ISO 100 and Leitz Wetzlar 50mm F2 Summicron (adapted)

Spewing Steam 1

Spewing Steam 2

No Takers

 

Histogram

Not Quite But A Happy Accident

Century Park

Vernon Hills, IL

Last minute effort to shoot the Northern Lights with photo buddy Steve P.  Not quite successful but also not a wasted effort.  The previous night would have been spectacular.  On the second photo. Steve was fooling around with his flashlight while we were trying to capture the Northern Lights.  The bright colors against the night sky caught my attention.

Photographed with a Sony A7IV camera and 14mm F2.8 Series II lens.

All Photographed 11/12/25

  

Not Quite

Happy Accident

Expired Film Test

On 10/25/25, I took a drive up to Illinois Beach State Park in Zion, IL in order to shoot some landscape photos using a fairly new to me Leica CL film camera and Leica 50mm F2 Summicron lens.  I was fairly confident using these two pieces of gear.  What I was not confident about was how the 25-30 year old expired color film would perform.  I did convert some to black & white as it was more conducive to the subject matter.

In the end, I was reasonably pleased; but you be the judge.

 

Needles

52 Frames - Week 40 - Texture

EC: Sidelight

Saw the light hitting the pine needles out my window, so grabbed the camera & went outside to capture the texture and sidelight.  Another IRL happenstance.

Sony A7Cii @ f5.6 | 1/125 | 185mm | ISO 100

Tamron E 28-200mm F2.8-5.6 A071

Photographed 10/1/25

Neural Network

52Frames - Week 10 - Black And White (Alternate)

Scottsdale, AZ

With a bright mid-afternoon light, the contrast in the branches of this early spring budding tree reminded me of what brain connections might look like.

Apple iPhone 15 Pro @ f2.8 | 1/600 | 9mm (107mm equiv) | ISO 25

Photographed 3/4/25

Delayed Departure?

Lincolnshire, IL

Saw this guy hanging out in our dense trees today in a light snow shower and wondered why he/she was still hanging around.  Photographed quickly through a screen and window.

Sony A7IV @ f5.6 | 1/125 | 300mm equiv | ISO 5000

Tamron E 28-200mm F2.8-5.6 A071

Photographed 1/11/25

Pull Up A Chair

Buffalo Camp Game Drive

Kapama Game Reserve, South Africa

Hanging out at a neighborhood tree for breakfast.

Sony A7IV @ f7.1 | 1/640 | 63mm | ISO 250

Tamron E 50-400mm F4.5-6.3 A067

Photographed 9/15/24

Sunrise, Sunset - African-style

Game drives coincided with sunrise and sunset.  In addition to experiencing wild animals in their own environment, with the backdrop of the African landscape, these times were also mesmerizing.

Sunrise

Sony A7IV @ f6.3 | 1/800 | 204mm | ISO 250

Tamron E 50-400mm F4.5-6.3 A067

Photographed 9/19/24

Sunset

Sony A7IV @ f9 | 1/500 | 113mm | ISO 250

Tamron E 50-400mm F4.5-6.3 A067

Photographed 9/17/24

Across The Plain

Simbambili Game Drive

Sabi Sands Game Reserve, South Africa

A serene scene on an early misty morning game drive.

Sony A7IV @ f6.3 | 1/500 | 400mm | ISO 8000

Tamron E 50-400mm F4.5-6.3 A067

Photographed 9/19/24

Tracking

Simbambili Game Drive

Sabi Sands Game Reserve, South Africa

Early on a misty morning game drive, our Tracker saw some tracks he wanted to investigate further.



Sony A7IV @ f6.3 | 1/50 | 186mm | ISO 400

Tamron E 50-400mm F4.5-6.3 A067

Photographed 9/18/24

The Spewing Tree

Decay

Downed tree in Ryerson Woods.

Sony A7IV @ f6.3 | 1/250 | 110mm | ISO 500

Tamron E 50-400mm F4.5-6.3 A067

Photographed 2/16/24

Neural Networks

Primary and alternate shots for 52 Assignments - BW50 - Branch Out

Neural Network 1

52 Assignments BW50 - Branch Out

Independence Grove

Libertyville, IL

Sony A7 IV @ f4 1/2000 20mm  ISO 100

Sony FE 20-70mm F4 G

Photographed 12/19/23

Neural Network 2

52 Assignments BW50 - Branch Out (Alternate)

Reed-Turner Woodland

Long Grove, IL

Technically cannot use this shot for the assignment since it is not of a single tree, hence an alternate.


Apple iPhone 15 Pro @ f1.9  1/640  2.69mm (30mm equiv)  ISO 25

Photographed 12/14/23

Hanging On

52Frames - Week 51 - Unfinished

EC: Roll of 12 (used #7)

It's mid-December and this tree has not yet finished shedding its leaves for the season.

Sony A7 IV @ f8 1/800 23mm ISO 100

Sony FE 20-70mm F4 G

Photographed 12/19/23

Hidden In Plain Sight

52Frames - Week 25 - Leading Lines

"Pops, look at all these lines from the tree!"

I knew what my leading lines photo was going to be when my observant 4 year old grandson pointed out these surface roots which I've seen hundreds of times.

Sony A7 IV @ f16 1/125 20mm ISO 3200

Sony FE 20-70mm F4 G

Photographed 6/20/23

Kinked

DPR Trail

Lincolnshire, IL

I've walked or cycled by this tree at least 100 times, but today, with camera in hand, noticed the weird kink in the growth of this tree trunk. Wonder what caused this?

Ricoh GRIIIx @ f4 1/800 40mm equiv ISO 640

Photographed 11/14/22

String Cheese Incident

2022_CLondon52w41:  ARTIST SPOTLIGHT:  Musician of Your Choice

From the C.London website:  "Music is so divisive, and trying to elicit inspiration from music that doesn’t jell with you would not necessarily be constructive. So, for this artist spotlight, I’m letting you choose any musician that you want to focus on. Be sure to share with us who it is!"

My older son introduced me to String Cheese Incident and we went to see them at Red Rocks Amphitheater on July 23, 2010.  These images are reminiscent of songs in the set list from both the 7/23/10 & 7/24/10 shows.  SCI has been a favorite band ever since.

"Restless Wind"

Spectre + Apple iPhone 12 Pro @ f2.0  3"  6mm (52mm equiv)  ISO 25

Photographed 10/8/22

"Blackberry Blossom" (Alternate)

Ricoh GRIIIx @ f6.3 1/200 40mm equiv ISO 125 Macro

Photographed 10/7/22

Visual Notes - Nature

Additions to the Visual Notes collection observed from nature during a September 2022 trip to Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia & Herzegovina.

"Ripples"

Visual Notes 26A

Plitvice Lakes, Croatia

Sony A7C @ f9 1/125 109mm  ISO 640

Tamron E 28-200mm F2.8-5.6 A071

Photographed 9/21/22

"Life Within"

Visual Notes 26B

Zagreb, Croatia

Close-up of a sycamore tree trunk in an urban square.

Ricoh GRIIIx @ f5.6  1/125  40mm equiv  ISO 125

Photographed 9/25/22

Explore

2022_Clondon52w14: Color Schemes

From the C.London website: “Referring back to the introduction to color theory, this week you should pick one color scheme and utilize it in your image. As a reminder, some basic schemes include: complementary, analogous, and monochrome. If you want to get a bit more advanced, use this helpful tool via Adobe to explore some other schemes such as compound, triad, or split complementary.”

It was easy to use the complementary color scheme created by water and sand when along the Kaanapali beachfront on Maui, Hawaii for this week's challenge.

Sony A7C @ f5.6 1/750 181mm ISO 100

Tamron E 28-200mm F2.8-5.6 A071

Photographed 4/2/22

Winter Berries

Visual Notes 12

[a page out of the @aarondigruccio playbook]

Lincolnshire, IL

Not my usual style for the Visual Notes series.  In this image, rather than emphasis on horizontal, vertical or diagonal pattern, I chose to emphasize the third dimension, depth.

Ricoh GRIIIx @ f2.8 1/1000 40mm equiv ISO 200

Photographed 1/16/22