Chicago, IL
January 2021

Wrigleyville in Snow by Paul Sager, on Flickr
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50984312496_ae8c56f413_h.jpg

This collection of images all come from an EOS 1v, the EF 35mm f/1.4L USM and fresh and expired rolls of film.

Snow Day Jan 2021
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51012520036_9bfc800890_h.jpg

The 35L is a popular prime lens for photojournalism, street photography and weddings. The focal length does not distort as much as other wider offerings. The large aperture is good for dim light, and the low distortion is good for group portraits.

Wrigleyville in winter
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50993494138_b0fa35d97c_h.jpg

The scanned JPEGs were processed further in Adobe Lightroom 6. Specific details are available from the Flickr host pages via the URL links that are the title of each image.

Wrigleyville Dogs
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50994305787_9ae2dfc62b_h.jpg

"Sweet-Swinging" Billy Williams played 18 seasons in the MLB with a career .290 batting average and 426 home runs. Williams was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1987. His uniform number 26 is retired by the Cubs.

Billy Williams in winter
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50993493838_e40d7d4076_h.jpg

The Agora cast-iron figures are 9 ft tall and weigh approximately 1,800 lb each.

Chicago in Snow
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51012520671_d4814f7602_h.jpg

This is the most detailed video of the last lap crash last night at Daytona during the X-Finity race. After the first video of the crash they replay it from almost from a head on view. If you use the pause button and start button quick you can watch this crash almost frame by frame. Horrible looking! Amazing that this driver walked away from this crash. I still can't see where the engine went. This driver should thank Our Lord that He was his co-pilot during this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeUh0J5SccI

I am going start this commentary like a bad novel.

It was a dark and dreary day! I was in Jasper, Alberta, Canada, and got early in the morning to make a beautiful photo of the Canadian Rockies. What I found was rain and fog, not ideal for landscape photography. So thinking "out of the box" I found these row boats at a resort on a mountain lake. I put a long lens on my camera for forces perspective., giving me a rather abstract composition.

I like to tell people that bad weather does NOT lend itself to bad photography. I do hope that you agree.

After a fantastic breakfast, Gail and I took an easy hike on the Arrayanes Trail in Llao Llao Municipal Park which is about 1 km. from the resort.

From the website: https://second.wiki/wiki/parque_municipal_llao_llao
The Llao Llao municipal park is located in the Bariloche department , in the Río Negro province , in the northwestern region of Argentine Patagonia . The protection of the natural area aims to preserve the landscape and the genetic diversity of the region.

The park extends over an area of 1226 hectares and has been characterized environmentally as "patagónico Andean forest" around the position 41 ° 03'S 71 ° 30'W .

It was created in 1989 by municipal ordinance No. 304 in order to strictly preserve a specific area included in the large area of the Nahuel Huapi National Park . It borders the Moreno lakes and Nahuel Huapi lake and is one of the most frequented walks in the area.

The flora of the park is especially significant. Among the larger specimens are the coihues ( Nothofagus dombeyi ), which sometimes stand out from concentrations of coligüe cane ( Chusquea culeou ), the lengas ( Nothofagus pumilio ), the larches ( Fitzroya cupressoides ), the cypress trees of the mountain range ( Austrocedrus chilensis ) and smaller specimens of ñires ( Nothofagus antarctica ). In a lower plane appear bushes such as the neneo ( Mulinum spinosum ), the michay ( Berberis darwinii ), the corcalén ( Azara lanceolata ), the chilco ( Fuchsia magellanica ) and the pañil (Buddleja globosa ), among others.
Ferns, vines, and other smaller species complement the larger species. The forest is particularly notable for the presence of fungi, among them the llao-llao ( Cyttaria darwinii ), from which the place takes its name.

The fauna of the Llao Llao park is equivalent to that recorded in the Nahuel Huapi park, although the proximity to areas with constant human presence means that many species are difficult to observe. Such is the case of the endangered huillín ( Lontra provocax ) and huemul ( Hippocamelus bisulcus ), the latter declared a provincial natural monument. The presence of the elusive huiña, or red cat ( Leopardus guigna ) has also been recorded . The finding of rodents is more frequent, especially of the Cricetidae family .

Birds are widely represented. The park is the habitat of some aquatic birds such as the large macá ( Podiceps major ), the southern bandurria ( Theristicus melanopis ) and the white heron ( Ardea alba ) and other striking birds such as the ruby hummingbird ( Sephanoides sephaniodes ), the giant woodpecker ( Campephilus magellanicus ) and the Pythian Woodpecker ( Colaptes pitius ).
The presence of a good number of species of songbirds has been registered , among them the diucón ( Xolmis pyrope ), the common huet-huet ( Pteroptochos tarnii ), the chucao ( Scelorchilus rubecula) and the so-called "Patagonian" varieties of the comeebo ( Phrygilus patagonicus ), the thrush ( Curaeus curaeus ), the thrush ( Turdus falcklandii ), the picolezna ( Pygarrhichas albogularis ) and the swallow ( Tachycineta meyeni ), among others.

Within the protected area of ​​the park, specifically in Lake Escondido , a body of water that has not been affected by the introduction of exotic fish species, the presence of a freshwater jellyfish, Craspedacusta sp. The preservation of this species is the specific objective of the protected area.

The Arrayanes trail: https://www.barilochetrekking.com/en/sendero-mb1/
The East entrance is next to the Information Center Llao Llao on the Circuito Chico road, 1 km. after Puerto Pañuelo and entrance to Llao Llao Hotel.

After 10 minutes of easy walking you reach a forest of mainly Arrayanes. Continue along and reach the Moreno Lake shore with views of Lopez and Goye peaks and the Conejos (rabbits) island.

After roughly an hour of hiking the trail you reach the paved road again. From here another 100 meters. on the left is the Municipal Park Rangers home.

To get back to the starting point you can walk along the paved road or take the same trail back.

For more images of the resort, please see my previous post:
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-729088-1.html
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-729313-1.html#12935412
Mark

Chicago, IL
February 2021

Wrigleyville in Snow by Paul Sager, on Flickr
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50998514137_d77df67682_h.jpg

At the time of these images in February 2021, Chicago had experienced 12 straight days with more than a foot of snow on the ground, the city’s longest run with more than a foot of snow since the winter of 1978-1979. The winter average in Chicago a 5-inch depth of snow.

Wrigleyville in Snow
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50997696313_32312521f8_h.jpg

The "L" provides 24-hour service on the Red and Blue Lines and is one of only five rapid transit systems in the United States to do so.

CTA L Tracks
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50998512667_ad840c1d13_h.jpg

Chicago’s coldest temperature was recorded on Jan 20, 1985, at -27F. The city's record number of consecutive days below freezing is 43 days set between Dec 28, 1976 until Feb 8, 1977.

Wrigleyville in Snow
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50998513492_c12d72191d_h.jpg

Chicago’s longest string of subzero days is 10, logged more than a century ago in January 1912.

Wrigleyville in Snow
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50997696868_186fc078ba_h.jpg

This collection of images all come from an EOS 1v, the EF 24-105mm f/4L IS II USM and fresh rolls of Kodak Pro Image 100 or Kodak Gold 200 (shot at ISO 100). The scanned JPEGs were processed further in Adobe Lightroom 6. Specific details are available from the Flickr host pages via the URL links that are the title of each image.

Wrigleyville in Snow
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50998400501_10371cbf6b_h.jpg

When Great Egrets get their mating wardrobe on it is my favorite time of year. Here this Great Egret shows off it's green lore in front of it's eyes and develops a beautiful skirt. What self respecting Great Egret could resist.
Since their is no gray card with me, I take my manual settings from grass, grass reflect just about the same percentage as a gray card, 18%. Then I under expose from 2 to 4 stops depending on what I see through my mirrorless viewfinder.
Sony a9, Sony 600mm f4 @f4, iso 200, 1/1600 sec. Manual exposure, -3.5 stops, zone focus