Weekly Shooting Excursion XVI: Bridgeport

My sixteenth ‘keep me sane during the pandemic’ photo shoot can’t really be called a summer shoot. It occurred in early September, still summer by the calendar, but fall was starting to make its presence known. This was also after the school year and full-time teaching duties resumed for me, and keeping myself busy was no longer an issue (after a summer filled with stress wondering if my classes would actually run, it was kind of a relief to be busy with work). After two weeks in front of the computer, countless emails, lesson planning and videoconferences, however, it felt really good to step away from all that and enjoy a few hours shooting on a sunny, quite warm but not too hot summer/fall cusp day.

I chose Bridgeport, a neighborhood on Chicago’s near south side. I had shot in a different area of Bridgeport a few weeks earlier, and have shot there a couple times in the past, and knew it would be an interesting area for me to shoot in. 

The central area of Bridgeport, where I shot on this outing, is a pleasant area with an almost, but not quite hipsterish/artsy feeling. Many artists live in the neighborhood, and there has been a strong artist’s presence in the area for decades. There are a couple prominent art centers in big old warehouse buildings in the area, and a sprinkling of galleries in storefronts. Even with all the artists in the neighborhood, however, it has never quite shaken its working class roots, or its unfortunate race issues. Chicago’s history is fraught with unpleasant race issues, and Bridgeport is an area which comes up often when discussing them. The location of the I-94 expressway, for example, along the east edge of Bridgeport is largely believed to be a purposeful attempt at creating a barrier between the neighborhood and Bronzeville, a historic area long known as a center of African-American culture in the city, which lies just to the east of the expressway.

While maybe lessened in recent years, and while it now is considered one of the most ethnically diverse areas of the city, unpleasant race issues remain in Bridgeport.

None of that was evident while I was shooting there, however. There were people in the cafes and restaurants that dot 31st. St., kids playing in playgrounds, and it felt relaxing wandering through the neighborhood shooting photos. Here’s my favorites from this shoot.

 

Weekly Shooting Excursion XI: Archer Avenue, Bridgeport

For my 11th summer shooting excursion, I shot on and around Archer Ave. in the south side Chicago Bridgeport neighborhood. Bridgeport is an interesting neighborhood with an interesting (although not always nice) history. I’ll save that for a later post; I returned to the central area of Bridgeport for a shoot in early September (the one I’m posting today was in late July), and will touch on history when I get around to posting about that shoot. The Archer Ave. area feels different from the rest of the neighborhood anyway, so I’ll focus on the Archer area now.

Bridgeport these days is one of the most ethnically diverse areas of the city. Nearly 40% of the population in Bridgeport is Asian, and Chinatown sits immediately to the northeast of where I was shooting. Archer Ave. is one of the infamous diagonal streets in Chicago, and for much of it’s length, is paralleled by the I-55 expressway as it runs out to the southwest suburbs from the city center. It’s an arterial street, and I’d bet that most Chicagoans’ only experience with Archer comes from using it as an alternate route when I-55 is a gridlocked nightmare.

Where it runs through Bridgeport, Archer is pretty grubby and run down looking in places, but the area doesn’t feel grubby. Bridgeport for years has had a kind of simmering under the surface, almost gentrifying, almost hipsterish feeling, but not quite. The people who were out in the streets when I was shooting were mainly a mixture of young adults and middle aged Asians, and the area felt, if not quite vibrant, stable and calm (traffic aside). I walked along Archer for maybe a mile and a half, popping down side streets when things looked interesting. The cloud cover was steadily increasing while I was shooting, and on my way back home, some strong storms blew through. Here are my favorite shots.

Mosaic made from three separate shots with a 4-lens Nishika camera.