Framedlight

After a very wet early morning it had started to dry out a little in Avebury, but the sun did not come out and the sky remained ominously cloudy. When I arrived the car park was empty but as time drew on more and more people came to walk around the stones and take in some of the atmosphere. I took photos at first using the Holga lens on my digital camera but then switching to a 'normal' view. I converted all of the pictures to monotone.

In early March I went on a visit to Stonehenge arranged by the RPS. We were on an early morning (6.30) trip which English Heritage put on to allow direct access to the stones. Needless to say it was absolutely tipping down with rain.  There were some non photographers on the trip and it was difficult to get shots without people in the frame so I decided to go with the flow and include them in a more positive manner. Then to try and get something a little different I used a Holga lens. The trip had finished by 9.30 so I had some breakfast and then drove up to Silbury Hill and Avebury to continue along the same lines. The rain stopped and the people came out. However Avebury seemed a lot more atmospheric than Stonehenge. Here are the pictures from Stonehenge and Silbury Hill, Avebury to follow.

Still in Uptown, we had lunch in the 'Little Vietnam' area of Argyle. Argyle is such a cosmopolitan place, I spotted a synagogue as well while we were there. Lunch was delicious, taken sitting on plastic chairs inside the café. After a little wander there was nothing to do but get the 'L' back to Mike's place and have a walk by the lake before the airport and home. Hoping to get to Chicago again someday.

The sixth day in Chicago was the day of our departure. However, the flight was fairly late and so we managed to squeeze a couple of things in before we flew off. We made a visit to the Uptown area, a suburb of Chicago which sprung into being when a terminal of the railway was built there in 1900. The name is from the Uptown Store the commercial centre for the community. Uptown was a summer tourist destination for Chicago residents, and as such, in the 1920's a number of theatres were built and the Essanay Studios was used by stars such as Charlie Chaplin for film production. By the 1950's the railway had moved further out and with it the commuters and new housing developments. The fortunes of Uptown reversed and waves of immigrants moved in. One of the areas of Uptown, Argyle, became 'Little Vietnam' and it was there we went for our lunch. In the 2000's Uptown started to revive and housing prices have since risen. There are still some rather seedy areas. In t...