I go there several times a year. My trips always revolve around the opera season, but… they also always include photography. Chicago is great for photography!

As one who lives in a city that really, really needs another bridge for crossing our beautiful Ouachita River, I”m envious of the 18 movable bridges that facilitate traffic flow across the Chicago River–and that’s in the Loop alone. But one–the one that used to carry freight trains on Carroll Avenue–is now fixed in the open position. Once all manufacturing ceased in the downtown area, it was no longer needed.

The base at the Loop end of the bridge, with its accretion of foliage and graffiti and its deteriorating operator shack, has become a bit of an attraction. So one Saturday in 2023, I and my Chicago photog friends walked to it, and that’s how Color Me Jazz came into being. It’s in a show called “My Favorite Art” at the MVA Gallery in Bethlehem, Pa. and will be there until August 16.

Marina Towers is a Chicago icon, so named because it is right on the Chicago River and features a marina with boat slips for residents. The Towers looks like a couple of corncobs standing on end because of their scalloped exterior. Every apartment has a little balcony and on this day in 2022, one balcony drew my eye!

Correction: This is River City, not Marina Towers. The two buildings were both designed by Bertrand Goldberg, which might account for their resemblance! A Chicago photog friend of mine caught the error. Thanks, Lauri!

Presenting Colors is in a show called “Resistance” at the Rhode Island Center for Photographic Arts in Providence, RI, that ends August 15. I am sad and angry that today LGBTQ+ people face possible discrimination and are fearful. I will always be an ally.