Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge – Gates

This week, Cee is looking for Fences and Gates for her Black & White Photo Challenge. We came across an interesting set of gates leading to the Fabyan Villa Museum along the Fox River in Batavia. Colonel and Nelle Fabyan’s 300 acre country estate was called Riverbank and included a working lighthouse, a windmill and a private zoo as well as gardens, a swimming pool and tennis courts. They hired Frank Lloyd Wright to enlarge and re-model the existing farmhouse in 1907 and the Villa then became their home until 1939. The museum is open to the public on Wednesdays and Sundays from 1pm – 4pm.

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge – Up and Down

This week, Cee is looking for outdoor ways to move up and down for her Black & White Photo Challenge. Here are a few of the more unconventional methods including maintenance platforms hanging from Marina Towers in downtown Chicago, a maintenance lift at the mall in Mount Prospect, the Ferris Wheel at Navy Pier in Chicago and grandson bungee jumping at the Renaissance Faire.

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge – Steps

I’m a bit slow off the mark with Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge this week so I’m taking steps to remedy that right now.

Here are some steps at the State Capitol Building in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

And some steps inside the Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice Plant Conservation Science Center at the Chicago Botanic Garden. For more on Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge go to Steps: Indoors or Outdoors.

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge – The Path Taken

This week, Cee has given us plenty of scope for the Black & White Photo Challenge with the topic Ground: Sand, Dirt, Grass and Paths. I was particularly drawn to the last on the list so here are a few paths that I have taken. The first two, more formal paths, can be found at the Chicago Botanic Garden.

 

The paths at Arches National Park in Utah were a little less structured.

And the ones at Alta in Utah were downright rugged!

For more on Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge go to Ground: sand, dirt, grass, paths

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge – Through a Window

This week, Cee is asking us to look through a window for her Black & White Photo Challenge. The following pictures were taken on our recent visit to Milwaukee, the first two at the Milwuakee Art Museum.

Windows seemed to be the prevailing theme on this trip as evidenced by these two images captured at The Domes in Mitchell Park.

For more on Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge go to Through a Window

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge

Cee’s topic of choice for the Black & White Photo Challenge this week is Store Fronts & Building Signs. Opting to focus on the store front aspect of the challenge, and going through the photo files, I realized that more often than not, when I’ve stopped to take a picture of the exterior of a commercial building it’s usually been either a pub or a restaurant, neither of which technically meets the ‘store‘ criteria. However, I did come across one or two stores that I thought might be of interest the first of which is Tiffany’s in Oak Brook shopping mall.

From the opulent to the soon-to-be defunct; the end of an era. I had to stop at our local Toys R Us store to capture an image before it closes and is eventually torn down.  For more than forty years we’ve been buying things for our kids, grandkids, great-grandkids and, alright, maybe even for ourselves at this once great toy store. I’m sad to see it go after all this time.

It might have been the flowers that first caught my eye at this store in Bartlett but even in black and white the building has a pleasing, small town, country look about it.

The store sign below has a little bit of history attached to it although the store itself is in a comparatively new shopping mall in Glenview. The ‘Hangar One’ part of it is a nod to the Glenview Naval Air Station that once occupied this spot from 1923 to 1995.

Going back a little further in history, many of the commercial buildings in Marion have names and dates incorporated in their architecture.  I thought this store in the town square translated well into monochrome.

For more on Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge go to Store Front and Building Signs

Cee’s Black and White Photo Challenge – Shadows

Shadows abound in this woodland setting at the Monk Botanical Gardens in Wausau, Wisconsin. It makes rather a creepy kingdom for the kids to climb and play in as they slay a dragon, rescue a princess or fight off enemy intruders.

For more on Cee’s Black and White Photo Challenge go to Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Shadows

Cee’s Black and White Photo Challenge – Wheels

This week, Cee has us on the move with wheels for her Black & White Photo Challenge. Here are a few wheels that we’ve seen during our travels, starting with a tractor at Willow Springs Garden in Wausau, Wisconsin.

Wheels on a canon at the Fort on Mackinac Island, Michigan.

Wooden wheels on display at the Wade House historic site in Greenbush, Wisconsin.

The water wheel at Graue Mill in Oak Brook, Illinois.

A couple of vintage wheels at Bluesmobile Cruise Night in Mount Prospect, Illinois.

And finally some snappy wheels for the bride and groom to make a quick getaway from their reception in Indianapolis, Indiana.

For more on Cee’s Black and White Photo Challenge go to Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Wheels

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge – Signs

This week, Cee has us looking for signs for her Black & White Photo Challenge.  Plenty of signs in the photo files but this first image, taken on Sunday, is the most recent.  Neidhammer’s in Indianapolis was the venue for our grandson’s wedding celebrations (more on that in a future post.)

Chicago museums provided two images for this challenge; the first at the Adler Planetarium and the second at the Chicago History Museum.

Plenty of signs along the main street on Mackinac Island in Michigan.

A sign with an important message at the American Lung Association Walk at Hamburger University in Oak Brook, Illinois.

For more on Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge go to Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Signs

 

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge – Hands & Feet

This week Cee has us looking at hands & feet for her Black & White Photo Challenge.  They are not usually something I focus on specifically so there weren’t too images available in the photo files and I had to make the most of what I had.

Without the signature red & yellow coloring it might be difficult to tell that these feet belong to Ronald McDonald, who put in an appearance at the American Lung Association Lung Force Walk in Oak Brook, Illinois.

A polar bear and one of the keepers comparing hands/feet at Brookfield Zoo.

A close-up of one of the American Indian dancers at the 63rd Annual Chicago Powwow in Busse Woods, Elk Grove Village, Illinois.

For more on Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge go to Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Hands, Feet, or Paws