[ VIDEO ] Shot this video last Thursday of the Great Hall of Union Station looking down onto the floor of the station from an entrance area upstairs. Shot with a wide-angle Olloclip lens.

An instagram story I shared during the past winter. I'm thinking it's to time to share an updated shot of the statue of Bob Newhart protraying his character from his self-title classic 1970s sitcom.

A classic car I shot near downtown Chicago during the course of the past week!

Well I should see if this work of street art remains in the South Loop. Meanwhile as we endured hot temps during the past couple of weekends at least we can see where we came from. A very cold and snowy past winter in 2018...

The bad news is that in using this snapchat filter I wasn't anywhere near Evanston which is where the purple line runs through even though it does do express on what's formerly called the north side main line of the Chicago L. I snapped this shot at Belmont waiting for a train sometime in May.

Sometime in May snapped these two shots on Snapchat and posted them on Instagram. It made the news here in Chicago that some scaffolding on a building in downtown Chicago fell off and forced the closure of the intersection around Michigan/Randolph. It was scary for many however work was being down to do something about the scaffolding and soon it would be back to normal downtown. First shot I took with a wide-angle Olloclip lens The second shot was taken with a telephoto Olloclip lens you get more of a close-up of the scaffolding that was hanging off this building. If you want to know I was in the Prudential building about to head into the Randolph Street Metra station when I noticed people were pointing this scene out. And of course I noticed the news trucks also! 

This is from my Instagram story on Monday which was a very hot day. I decided being out and about to just sit in an air conditioned great hall at Union Station where I saw a line of Amtrak passengers getting ready to board their train. I really wanted to go with them which is the caption that you saw in this pic. The announced train that was boarding was my favorite train, Southwest Chief . It brings to mind how often I have hung around Union Station. Especially during the period of time that I went to community college in downtown Chicago. I often came here to people watch or eat lunch or occasionally look at the magazines at the convenience stores in the station. This place has changed so much in the ensuing 20 years. Where the passengers wait to board their trains has changes. Also where the passengers pick up their tickets - at least for those who are not computer savvy to print their own tickets at home - has changed. To board a bus to go into downtown Chicago has cha...

  I was a late convert to snapchat I always thought it was a tool of the lascivious type. Now that I see this localized filter representing one of Chicago's L routes I've been sold. Unfortunately most of these filters have been used for videos, but this is one of the few that's a photograph. I forget when I snapped this, however, I was waiting for a train at Belmont on the north side going further north.

Shared this collage of pics at 63rd/Halsted on the day of the Grand Opening of Whole Foods Market Englewood. Unfortunately on this day I didn't exactly make it for the official grand opening and never made it inside just as it was about to rain heavily once I arrived. There was a line of customers going into the store which caused me to change my mind as far as shopping in this store on that day. On the other hand it was great to see the excitement and the activity on this day. Things have slowed down since then but a Whole Foods Market in Englewood is a sign that this often beleaguered community on Chicago's south side is on its way back.

This shot was taken sometime in February after the heavy snowfall. A shot on Adams Street of the skyscraper canyon on LaSalle Street. I used an olloclip fisheye lens.

Back in June 2013, I posted this collage of shots from my quick stop to this intersection on Sixth Ward blog . This is basically the heart of Englewood which during much different and better times was a commercial area full of retail that could rival downtown Chicago. Thanks to the shopping mall and other economic effects such as "white flight" the commercial area declined to the point of what you see here. Those storefronts are mostly gone and has been replaced by a community college. Imagine what happened in this area just about 3 years later. Perhaps the commerce will begin to return to this area sooner than many of us will imagine. Think Whole Foods Market opened a store here , a Starbucks and a Chipotle. Unfortunately another building has gone down thanks to fire but that just means another place worth building upon in the future here. Can't wait to show you a similar scene from here back in September 2016. That image was also something posted - though after...

One of my instagram stories walking along Navy Pier sometime in February. Found this sculpture that represents Bob Newhart from his classic 1970s sitcom The Bob Newhart Show where he plays a therapist. Forgot to note there is a sign with a QR code where you can hear Bob's voice. The show itself is set in Chicago with the intro showing scenes of Newhart walking around downtown Chicago. Here's an example. [ VIDEO ]

Posted these collage of pics which I had shared last Wednesday and on a post over at Sixth Ward blog. Three pics - two of bank signs and one of a former grocery store now dollar store. This is to re-enact pics taken back on New Years Eve 2007 . I also shared this on ig which is the post embedded below. A post shared by The Sixth Ward (@thesixthward) on Mar 16, 2018 at 12:51pm PDT

I also plan to post these to Sixth Ward blog at some point in the future. There are some opportunities along this main thorofare on the south side between at least King Drive and State Street. In 2009 there was a infrastructure project where the city had to dig out some sewer lines. 75th was shut down and reopened to great hoopla and was declared a "Black Wall Street". Although it seems that has died down since then I see this area as a center for dining & night life. Feel free to click on the pics for a larger resolution. This pic is a professional building for sale. Earlier in the year there I posted about a listing for this building. Perhaps a place for doctors, lawyers, or business people. Granted I noted that this is a street great for dining & night life however bear in mind this is a street that has a number of retail establishments also.

I finally had an opportunity to somewhat reenact photos taken on New Year's Eve 2007 on 87th Street. Unlike back in 2007 when these shots were taken on a simple point and shoot digital camera, these photos were taken on my iPhone with an olloclip lens. Click on all pics for larger resolution. Across the street is a Family Dollar store. If you can see the grand opening sign near the front entrance don't let that fool you, this particular store has been open since sometime in 2007. A local community organization wrote in their newsletters that year that they wanted a grocery store at this location. Even 10 years later no grocer has stepped forward to turn this back into a grocery store. Before 2007, this space was home to a locally owned Food Basket store.  Moving along on 87th Street, here is a branch of Illinois Service Federal . Earlier in 2007 it was the site of a fatal bank robbery which made the local news. A teller was killed by gunfire during that ...

Abbott Park in Chicago on Friday during the heavy snowstorm that took place.

[ VIDEO ] Shot this video from along 95th Street between Michigan Ave. & State Street. You will see the CTA terminal at 95th/State. Very heavy snow on this day and this was an all day snowfall! Shot this video on my iPhone with an Olloclip fisheye lens.

Snapped this shot in the lobby of the Studio Movie Grill theater at 210 W. 87th Street on Chicago's south side. The theater itself has been around since 1997 and was recently acquired by Studio Movie Grill in 2014. Before 2017 at least the theater never had a kitchen nor an actual bar thanks to the fact that it's a dine-in movie theater. No longer do south side residents have to go far for the amenities that you can get here. Click here for more background .

Lake Michigan with ice on top during the cold spell in January 2018. And I like the filter and adjustments made to the lighting and color.