My Chicago neighborhoods website.

[jordanb]

I've been putting a website together for some time now that organizes all of the photographs I've taken of Chicago by neighborhood. It's still a work in progress, and my eventual goal is to get photographs in every neighborhood.

But at any rate, I recently got all of my existing photos on it now, so I thought I'd go ahead and start making announcements.

Some people here already know about it because I let the cat out of the bag talking about North Center but this is the official announcement.

Here's the link:

http://neighborhoods.chicago.il.us

 

[The Irish One]

That looks really nice! I'm in the process of doing a similar project. Do you ask to take a picture when people are right in your face? For instance, the subway shots. I'm always a little nervous of doing close ups of people without giving them warning, kills the natural moment but I don't want a fight. Sometimes I'll hide the camera or hold it real casual and snap away.

 

[BKM]

You're inspiring me, jordan. Probably not San Francisco, which is already well-covered by excellent sites like San Francisco Cityscape, but maybe the more obscure suburban towns that do have some nice elements.

 

[jordanb]

Irish -- notice that's a FAQ question. And it's probably the only question in there that I've been asked more than once. Here's what I wrote there:

Don't people mind having their pictures taken (especially on the CTA)?

If they do, they don't say anything. I've only had two instances where someone has gotten angry over my taking of their picture, in both circumstances, it was with my digicam so I offered to delete it but they let me keep it. I've developed a theory that most people don't really mind having their picture taken. If they do, it's because they think I'm taking it for some nefarious reason. When I explain my purpose, they relent.

 

[Chet]

Wowza jordanb. VERY, very, cool.

 

[ablarc]

jordanb,

That is a wonderful project. What a resource that will be when completed! It's second only to actually being there for those of us who can only occasionally get to Chicago. You take terrific pictures of a great city. Can't wait to see them all.

 

[JNA]

excellent work!
nicely organized.

 

[The Irish One]

Irish -- notice that's a FAQ question

Doh, I actually went to your FAQ to see what cameras you use, in my giddy state I forgot to check other q's. Nice site!

 

[mendelman]

very nice pics and great beginning of the website!

I uploaded some Pilsen pics in the Gallery, if you want to use them feel free to do so.

If you need any assistance or company on your next photographing expedition, PM me.

 

[Bangorian]

Excellent site - can't wait for it to be filled out a little more!

So where did you host the site? I'm assuming you need lots of bandwidth, given the number of pictures you are and will be hosting.

I have been kicking around a similar idea for Portland, ME (the best little city that gets NO mention ever), but couldn't find a place offering enough bandwidth for free / cheap. I'm way poor, so it'd have to be, as they say, REAL cheap.

 

[donk]

Nice pictures.

Slightly OT, but useful info for those interested. (Camera tech/geek stuff)

As a person interested in photography I'll make the following suggestion to you and anyone else who shoots lots of landscapes/buildings and has an FD mount camera.

Try to find a 17mm canon lens. It is awesome for taking pictures of buildings and landscapes as it is an ultra low distortion wide angle lens. The best thing about it is that it allows you to stand really close to a building, and get the entire building in one shot. Here is a description of the lens.

I also use an AE1 also for the majority of the pictures I take.

 

[jordanb]

donk -- Looks awesome! Do you have any idea where I'd go about getting ahold of one? FD lenses are hard to come by nowdays.

 

[donk]

I've been looking on ebay for other FD lenses. You may also want to try

one just sold for $362. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2976974435&category=30033

Considering it was a $1500 lens 20 years ago that is sad.

Next time I'm at my parents I'll scan some images taken with this lens.

 

[Richmond Jake]

Very nice site. My compliments.

 

[biscuit]

Very impressive Jordan. A great way to show the nature of a city and it's neighborhoods.

 

[jordanb]

Well, it's understandable considering that you can't buy a camera anymore that uses it, and it's fortunate for those of us willing to use legacy equipment that we get a price we can afford.

That is still a little steep for me right now, but I'll certanly put it in my budget to pick one up this summer.

 

[H]

great site and pics! I am very impressed with both your work and chicago. I really need to take a visit there, I think I was only 7 or 8 last time I went. :-S

 

[donk]

OT

Well, it's understandable considering that you can't buy a camera anymore that uses it, and it's fortunate for those of us willing to use legacy equipment that we get a price we can afford.

Guess I'll just keep having to wait longer for the hasselblad stuff to come down in price to add to the collection of stuff for "my" other camera.

There are adapters available now to allow for FD lenses to fit EOS bodies. Can't seem to find any reviews on them though.

Now to figure out if I want to invest in a digital SLR and lenses or bike stuff.

If you have any questions on the lens or other fun canon lenses(I have a really cool macro lens) PM me.

 

[the north omaha star]

jordanb,

great job on the pictures. As a matter of fact, in the Edgewater neighborhood, you had took some pictures of some infill housing on Berwyn Ave. about a half-block from the Berwyn L Station that's about 14-15 years old. Anyway, that's my uncle's old house. He was in a partnership that built those townhomes, and he was the first resident. What a coincidence!!! I'll have to tell him.

Terrance

 

[Quail64]

Great pictures. Is the Lincoln Park section going to focus just on the park itself?

 

[michaelskis]

That is impressive. I wish that the Portage could do something like that, but we would need distinctive neighborhoods first.

 

[Cardinal]

Great site! How did you manage to take photos of Lakeview and not get any rainbow flags?

If you are interested in having some company on any future photo expeditions, especially along the northwest Metra line or to the near south, let me know.

 

[jordanb]

Woah. I browse cyburbia with the threadspotting on the front page instead of the forum, and it's been broken by the upgrade, so I thought the forums were down.

donk -- Thanks, I found another site after you posted that that was selling one for $350, so that seems like about the going price. I'll PM you when I get some money to buy something. ;-)

the north omaha star -- Cool, small world.

Quail64 -- No. I actually have a set of Lincoln Park pictures that I'm going to take down to central camera now to get developed. Those were just pictures I had from bike rides down the lakeshore trail. The meat of the park itself is actually in Old Town on that map anyway.

MaineMan -- I got a linode to do the hosting. I'ts 2GB of storage (including OS overhead, which for my install is about 250MB) and 25GB/mo transfer for $20. But it requires extensive knowledge of Linux (you have to administer your own server, basically). I'm considering upgrading to the $30/mo package, which is 3GB of storage and 38GB/mo transfer, but I shouldn't need it for a while. The server is basically a vanilla gallery install with some apache magic to make my front page show up instead of gallery's. PM me if you want more details.

Cardinal -- That's only Halsted street. But I should probably take pictures of that eventually. I don't live far from Lakeview so I've never scheduled a trip there. All of the pictures were just taken during my daily routine, so they're all concentrated in the places I often go. Same with Uptown. Not sure about the north or near south, I've pretty much hit up the whole north lakeshore. I've been meaning to go down to Chinatown, but I think that'll be best as a tripod deal at night. I also intend to catch a metra electric down to Pullman and maybe get Pullman, Roseland, and West Pullman in one trip. If you'd be up for that let me know.

mendelman -- I'll check them out, but I'm really thinking I'd like to avoid using other people's pictures, primarily because I see this site partially as a chronicle of my own explorations. I'll let you know where I'm thinking about going if you want to come along though. I'm off work tomorrow, so I plan on hitting West Town and Ukranian Village.