Last Tuesday, I got up at 4:30 in the morning to head to the airport for a 6:30 flight to Boston. We landed at Logan a little before 9:00 a.m., where I then went from plane to bus to water taxi to the Boston financial district. By 10:30, I was walking the Freedom Trail, madly scurrying around trying to find some good fall foliage shots and failing miserably. Ah, well. It was still a glorious autumn day in New England and I enjoyed the exercise and time away from phones, doorbells, and computer screens.
My wanderings included three burial yards, the Boston Common and Gardens, a quick stop at the Old North Church and, of course, a fabulously delicious lobster roll with a glass of Sam Adams ale at a local pub. By 5:00, I was on my way back to Logan, ready to head back to Chicago via LaGuardia Airport in New York.
The weather had other plans, though. Instead of being back in my own bed Tuesday night, I ended up spending a couple of frantic hours trying to get out of New York before the airline decided the only way I was getting home was on a next-day flight. They put me up at a surprisingly lavish hotel where the only rooms available were junior suites. A late-night room service feast (also on the airline’s dime) and a great night in a very comfy bed made for an unexpectedly indulgent treat. The icing on the cake was a great photo op with a huge monarch butterfly near the entrance to the departure gates at LaGuardia on Wednesday morning.
In the mere 36 hours I was gone, the autumn color in my neck of the woods had started popping, turning my 20-minute drive home from O’Hare into a three-hour tour of some of my favorite haunts to catch a bit of the spectacle with my camera.
Friday morning saw me up and out of the house before 10:00 a.m., in the car this time and headed for Iowa City, where one of my dearest friends was giving a reading of his newly published novel. Still trying to catch some fall foliage, I mapped out a route to Iowa City using only back roads and country lanes. I still wasn't very lucky with the foliage, but I did get several great shots of tumble-down barns and other farm scenes. What is normally a four-hour drive took me eight and half hours, but it was worth every minute.
At one point, I was crawling around on my hands and knees by the side of the highway, trying to capture the view skyward from the base of a field of corn. I didn't realize that I was proudly waving my fanny around for all the world to see until three 18-wheelers in a row went down the roadway behind me, all honking and hooting as they sped by. I picked up more than a few brambles and some scratched skin scrabbling around in roadside weeds to get the best light and angles, but I got the shots I wanted and made it through the drive more or less intact.
The reading went extremely well, as did the book signing after. I even set up my tripod and played official photographer for my friend. We went to a party after, where the host happened to mention within my hearing that he had a bunch of fruit crates he was planning to put on Craigslist. I’ve been looking for a better and more artistic way to display my prints at the shows, and the crates fit the bill perfectly. I happily bartered a large print of one of my photos for three crates. What a lucky find!
For the second time in a week, I stayed at a truly fantastic place, a local bed and breakfast called the Brown Street Inn. I can’t praise the place enough. Every detail is superb. The owners, Mark and Robert, really take pride in making their guests feel at home and seeing to their every need. And the home-cooked breakfast of stuffed blueberry French toast, sausages, and fresh fruit was out of this world.
I spent the rest of Saturday driving around Iowa City's environs with my friend, enjoying a fantastic pork tenderloin sandwich in the Mennonite town of Kalona and poking around a couple of antique shops. My visit culminated with a trip to another cemetery and a little time spent photographing the famous Black Angel grave monument. By 5:00 p.m., I was headed back home. I crossed the I-80 bridge over the Mississippi just as the sun set over the water. No place to stop, but the view was spectacular. Loath to miss any opportunity to snag that perfect photo, I drove along with one hand on the wheel, the other holding my camera facing out the open passenger window and blindly clicking the shutter as fast as I could.
It's Sunday evening now as I type this, and I've spent the entire day processing all the photos I’ve taken this week – over 800 in all -- carefully choosing the few that will make the cut for my online shop and my photo printers.
It was a good photography week, but exhausting. This was my last free weekend until mid-December. Then comes Christmas, followed by a two-week trip to Europe. I can’t believe 2011 is nearly over already!
I’m still hoping for another chance at the fall color, so I’m going to try to spend a day at Starved Rock State Park in Western Illinois later this week. It’s about 90 minutes each way from my house, a perfect day trip. There are several waterfalls in the area, so even if I don’t get the leaves, I should be able to get the falls. The weather forecast is thunderstorms on Wednesday; I think I'll go then. Cloudy days are so much better for photographing waterfalls. I just hope I don't get caught in a downpour or struck by lightning in the process!
