yyt

i have to go into chicago two days straight for grad idol, and trying to make the best of it, i attempt to make a snap that i have been seeing from the train for the past month - a homeless encampment where the bed is nicely sheltered and the belongings are far enough away that from the street no one will suspect that someone is there. on saturday there is a downpour. sunday is the first day of summer savings time and thus still dark when i pass by. having to be once again in chicago for the final instalment of grad idol, where it will only take a morning - you’ll be out quickly - fibre only took two hours - famous last words - and having to meet the skin and blister her boyfriend and my niece - that evening, i plan an afternoon straight line walk of modest length - along either belmont or irving park - from the blue line to the red line or brown line. here were two streets that hadn’t been cleaned up by the city, with small businesses - there are homeless encampments under the kennedy expressway at belmont - which for some reason it is tolerated whereas at north avenue and division street the area has been fenced off - seems that beemers and the homeless don’t mix. then a quick stroll in the near north until it is time to meet up. took joãozão for its portability and lack of pretension.

the two hour meeting lasts four, then am trapped being social and lo and behold i am in that awkward time where there is too little to make a real outing but too much to simply walk up to meet. never hold out much finding anything to photograph along michigan avenue am not winogrand nor any incarnation of the nyc street photographer. what is along the street has been so regulated that no chance of surprise is allowed. even the back streets in the area due to real estate values, are boring. an old dive bar the size of a bedsit in a single room occupancy hotel is now a restaurant in a days inn. the hotel my sister is staying in was a best western now it is a boutique hotel with the typical bad industrial music that has become the musak of these places.

but something did come of the walk, it was the day that teases midwesterners into thinking that spring is here. 25C people were trying to eat out on the pavement pretending they are in paris tables and chairs were brought out but not arranged as the bars weren’t quite sure.

back in chicago yet again on a sunday - the best day as there is no one around this time i do photograph the encampment that i see from the train, i am early enough to see someone arise from another make-shift home, pull down his space and greet the day. it seems that the period of missteps is over. now if only the my chemistry would come.