Millennium Park

I walked through Millennium Park on the road, though stretching the concept a bit. I had done a regular shoot in the morning in Naperville, and I was on the way to another shoot. The stretching comes in because the "other shoot" was on a personal fun trip, which will be the subject of some days coming up in this blog.

Meantime, here are two of the staples of the park, the fountain with the photos and the beautiful shape often called "The Bean," actually named "Cloud Gate." In this image it looks less like a bean than it looks like a silver egg in an evergreen nest.

Flora

Some views of the interesting plant life at Crabtree Nature Center. One of them looks for all the world like a cactus, though it is not one.

Wildlife More Than Welcome

Loved the 'YIELD' sign which spelled out the relationship between the wildlife and the human guests at Crabtree Nature Center. It really specified and underlined the commitment to the wildlife and made the location a special place to relax and enjoy nature.

Crabtree Nature Center

Crabtree Nature Center, near Palatine and Barrington Roads in Cook County, was along a route from one photo shoot to another last week. A stop, a gentle walk, some sunshine and some relaxation . . . along with some nice images. The Center is very friendly to wildlife, as the bird hotel seen here will attest. Early in fall, some of the colors were gently turning, as we see here.

SUNDAY POSTER

Fall closeups

Always fun to look more closely at smaller details while out shooting landscapes. Here a single fallen leaf looks powerful though a bit lost on the ground, while a feather marks the path of a bird. The feather reminds me a lot of a dear friend.

Kenyon Farm Preserve

Right near South Elgin High School is a small but pretty forest preserve called Kenyon Farm Forest Preserve. Right down the street from the school, the preserve is adjacent to the active Kenyon Farm.

Early in the area, I stopped for a photo walk and was impressed by the incoming formation of geese, on the way to a landing on the pond nearby. It was a large group, all in sync.