©2009 Chicago Tribune/Alex GarciaThe Coast Guard cutter Mackinaw arrives at Navy Pier and delivers a thousand Christmas trees for the needy. As they start to uncover the trees to unload them, I’m reminded that this is probably the closest I will get to making an Iwo Jima flag-planting photo in my career….
I wonder how many people remember Navy Pier when it was a straightforward pier populated by fishermen and flopping fish. Now, things are…carnivalesque. With the AeroBalloon, a helium balloon with a 350-foot view, Navy Pier has an exclamation point in the sky (albeit temporary). I was there when they were putting final touches on the ride and getting their inspections done. As I chatted with workers in the shade of the balloon, I saw the opportunity of a photo. My camera was in aperture-priority, so I knew it would expose for the huge white circle in the frame, creating silhouettes of the workers. In this way, working with my camera is like travelling with a friend. You know how he will react in any given situation. Had I fussed with my controls, the photo would have been lost. So I pointed my camera upwards as they all began to walk away. Predictably, the meter darkened the figures and the symmetry of their backs helped float the picture…:-)
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