Day 4 in Forest Park
At the end of a busy day, a day of meetings, pictures, welcoming visitors to Studio 858 in the Loop, and then photo exhibitions in the Grand Center arts district, I pointed the nose of my humble Toyota towards Forest Park, ready to get some fresh images. My plan was to catch skaters at the Steinberg Rink, experiment with motion blur and win the Pulitzer Prize for photography, but it seemed my plans were stymied by a parking lot that was totally crammed with other people’s cars. I wound up finding a space on a nearby drive and hiking a short distance to the rink.
The lights of the nearby medical center glimmered on the waters of Jefferson Lake, yellow, red, blue and white, a bright patch in the surrounding darkness. The Rink is also bathed in light in the evenings, a plume of smoke rising above it from the bonfire in the fire pit. Skating seems to be a counter-clockwise sport, with young and old (mostly young) whirling round and round on the ice, laughing, calling to each other, catching themselves on the outside railing or falling onto the ice. A few teetered perilously and a smaller number twirled and pirouetted while the vast majority glided solidly and determinedly in a continuous loop.
In the Snowflake Café, the over 21s sipped beer and downed pizza, teens sat in the warmth watching the outside action and snowflake cut-outs danced on the ceiling. I got a few photos.
Over 21 only