City Eyes Blog

Exploration Catch-Up first post:
First off, an abandoned hotel.


Second, we hit a schoolhouse in the area. Built in 1922, it has been shut down since somewhere around 1960.

This hallway is actually in the basement. Originally, it was made of poured concrete and could withstand the blast of an atomic bomb.

Some of the cool paintings we found in the building:


For some reason, a single chair and desk were all that was left in this room. The floor was drooping pretty badly, so I didn’t spend too much time tromping around up there. There was a hole in the ground that led to a classroom below:

There were a lot of weird goth things painted around the building:

One last photo before we left the school - Jordan taking a shot in the stairwell:

Here comes a big set. It was an absolutely electric night. People of all types, of course, but the mood was euphoric.

Keep in mind the lighting while viewing these photos. I had the ISO cranked up to 3200 or 6400 and the temperature of the light changed so often I’d have a batch of blue photos followed by a batch of yellow photos. Either way, I’m happy with the results. Most of my photos were taken with my 50mm 1.8 prime lens, the rest were with an 18-50 and 70-200 2.8 if you’re interested in technical details.

Almost immediately after getting off of the train, we were bombarded by various people selling all sorts of Obama merchandise. From shirts, to mugs, to hats, to posters, to freaking paper fans. No idea who would be interested in a paper fan in 50 degree F weather, but whatever. This particular guy was standing on a street corner selling Obama/Biden posters.

As we got closer to the fairgrounds, signs started popping up.


We were corralled into lines - sent through various checkpoints along the way to make the wait seem less. It was surprisingly streamline considering that every person entering the event was forced to open all bags and remove all metal objects before making their way through an array of metal detectors.


We made our way in, finally. It seemed almost staged. The entrance was on a raised area of the field overlooking the whole place. A sea of people stood before us, flags waving in the distance and hands raised. It was ridiculous.

The media was there, of course. This woman is apparently from CBS. The price of media passes were insane ($900+ per pass), so unfortunately only the bigwigs had access to the cordoned off areas.

Suddenly, an incredibly early win was announced. The crowd erupted in celebration. It was deafening. I actually forgot to start taking photos I was so swept up in it. Finally, I got my act together.

People were taking photos like mad, of course.




I moved over to the other side of the fence (the non-ticketed area) people were just as excited over there ,but this kid just looked tired.

The crowds were crazy on the way out, but oddly controlled. We all walked happily out there with literally no problems. People were happy, shouting Obama, dancing, playing music, waving flags. All down usually packed-with-cars Chicago streets.

More at my Flickr page: Obama Set at Flickr

Here’s a few more. I’ve been busy at the paper with all of the floods going on in the area, but in my downtime I managed to stop by my old favorite to take a few shots.
In the rain, the church takes on a whole new mood. Water floods in from the ceiling and collects on the floor of the once great church. The brickwork is exposed where the water hits, dirt washed away. Water runs down the limestone pillars. It was absolutely beautiful.


I climbed up into the church bell tower in order to get a shot from above. I knew that I probably wouldn’t be in the area next time it was raining so hard so I figured I’d capture the moment.

Cold water hitting warm glass caused my lens to fog up a bit. I took advantage of this situation and shot a few more before I left.

Finally, the result of exploring a very wet abandoned church: