Next up in my weekly shooting excursions was Hyde Park. This was my fourth weekly shooting trip, and by now, I was settling into the routine of weekly shooting, and was more comfortable with being out in public with people around. I’m very diligent with my mask wearing, being outside makes it easier to maintain social distancing, and being around others felt mostly fine. Maybe my comfort level was to blame, but for some reason, the photography gods did not bestow their blessings this day, and I not only was not finding much of interest to shoot, but I didn’t like most of what I actually did shoot. When reviewing my photos at home, I threw out probably 80% of them as not being worth working on. While maybe not the most productive trip photographically, I enjoyed walking through the neighborhood. Hyde Park is always a nice place to visit.
I don’t blame the area. I’ve always loved Hyde Park, it’s probably my favorite Chicago neighborhood. It may be the urban college town vibe. I lived in and around Ann Arbor, Michigan most of my adult life before relocating to Chicago, and have always liked the feel of a college town. When I moved to the city in the late 90’s, I looked at several apartments in Hyde Park before settling on one in a different neighborhood, but have visited the area many, many times over the years I’ve lived in Chicago.
Part of the reason I didn’t get a lot of good shots may have been the area where I shot. I avoided the University of Chicago campus, which is full of beautiful gray neo-Gothic architecture and also some great contemporary buildings, as I had shot there many times before. I also avoided the lakefront, even though there’s a park there that offers great views of downtown Chicago. I focused instead on the northern edge of the neighborhood, from roughly 51st St. (the official border with Kenwood, the neighborhood to the north) to 55th St. I ventured a couple blocks north into Kenwood as well.
When reviewing and post processing my photos later, I found that I didn’t like anything I was doing in color, and ended up processing all my Hyde Park photos as B&W.
Here are my favorites:
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