Day 33 (Friday, July 14)

© The Associated Press

Today I worked on pretty amazing story. There is a building, the last one remaining of 28 that were built in the 1960s, that is going to be turn down by the Chicago Housing Authority. This is a public housing building, where low-income, poor people have called home for many years. The woman reflected on the clock has lived at the building for 40 years and she's now forced to go look somewhere else because developers are finally ready to tear down the last building and start a multi-million dollar apartment complex. Pretty much a way for the city to get rid of the old and poor and bring new and rich. The woman has a few weeks before she's thrown out. It's time for her to move, but where is she going to go? She is poor. Time's running out.

Today was a pretty long day. I let off the journal w/ the photo of the woman because that's the most important photo I have taken this summer. I have many other images that are going to go w/ the packaging of this story. But I will display those later once the story project is complete.

The first assignment of the day was to go and walk around downtown looking for a few ways to illustrate a story. United Airlines has decided to stay in Chicago and not relocate to Seattle. They will be headquartered at this building:

© The Associated Press

I was walking around town and came across Harry Caray's restaurant. He was the voice of the Cubs for a long time. I didn't stop in, but I will some day soon.

© The Associated Press

Holy Cow!... Those are the words Mr. Caray will always remember by.

© The Associated Press

A building on West Wacker Drive had a cool way to show off its address. And since I love the number 3, it was perfect to shoot.

© The Associated Press

I also walked around downtown looking for a way to illustrate the story about Tribune, the news corporation that is not doing so well as far as business is concerned. The Chicago Tribune is looking to lay off 120 people. Wow!

The Tribune Tower is seen in the middle of the photo above. I made it dark because these are dark days for the company. I made the photo a little more interesting by popping some flash into a couple who walked by. I was trying to be creative.

My shift ended and I was done for the week. And just like Wednesday when I headed out to the Club America game, I wanted to get some pro sports photography practice. I tagged along to the Chicago vs. Houston WNBA game tonight w/ staff photographer Jeff Roberson. He taught me all his little tricks he has for making good basketball photos.

At the end of the game I had the above photo. I am happy about it because I got a real nice moment. But I was not so thrilled because of the lighting composition. I shot that photo w/ a Rebel camera. Not the best sports photography camera. Shooting basketball requires using different types of lenses very quickly. So I used my two cameras to try to cover all angles. Having the Rebel on the wide-angle lens allowed me to get the above photo.

I enjoyed going to the basketball game w/ Jeff. I learned a lot from him. And it was fun walking on above the arena on the building's catwalk as he showed me how he sets up his remote lights during basketball games.

Hey, wasn't I afraid of heights?

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