Who's in Chicago? Putting together a group...

[David R Munson]

I'm moving back to Chicago come March, and once there I'm interested in putting together a group to meet monthly to do photography. Anyone here interested?

[Ben Syverson]

Sounds fun—I'm up for it!

[Kirk Gittings]

I'll be back in Chicago next summer.

[Chuck Pere]

Well there already is a local large format group:
http://www.midwestlargeformat.com/

Or are you talking about meeting to review prints as opposed to going out to photograph?

[David R Munson]

I was aware of that group and intend to get involved, but wanted to get something going that was specifically Chicago-local. Personally, I'm going to be working as an assistant again and want to make sure I also spend plenty of time around other people doing photography on their own time. Besides, group things are fun!

[chris_4622]

Weather permitting I go out weekly on my 'singlespeed', with my 5x7 strapped on my back, with the tripod and dark-cloth on the rack. It's pretty unstructured but I do get out early.

[rcjtapio]

Well there already is a local large format group:
http://www.midwestlargeformat.com/

Or are you talking about meeting to review prints as opposed to going out to photograph?

I would say about half of our active group lives in Chicago or the suburbs. We shoot on the 3rd Saturday every month. It's interesting that we seem to be more active in the winter months than in the heat of the summer. Many of our outings end up being in the Chicago area....IE the December outing will be in Lockport, just SW of Chicago. Some examples of where we have explored: Hyde Park (including the architechure of the University of Chicago & Rockefeller Chapel & the Osaka Garden - site of the 1893 World's Fair); Pullman Historic District (including the inner & upper rooms of the Florence Hotel & old railroad shops); many of the lift bridges (Chicago has a huge collection of them); Evanston & the North Shore; Illinois State Beach; the Loop along the Chicago River; abandoned buildings in Gary, IN (only a short drive); the Joliet area (I&M Canal & lift bridges, old prisons); etc....so we shoot around Chicago a lot.

There are several active friends in Milwaukee and we have had several outings there as well...a couple hour drive. Another group is in Northern Indiana and the south part of Michigan. Outings along the Lake Michigan shoreline in IN & MI are popular and we end up over there once or twice a year. All these locations are a doable in one day.

A couple times of the year we will plan an overnight trip to the UP or central Illinois/Indiana/Iowa, but the majority of our outings are one day. We normally start early at sunrise (yes, getting up at some insane hour of the morning & hitting the road in the dark is required....traffic is never a problem) and then meet for breakfast at a local restaurant at 8 (somebody always brings prints to pass around). Things usually wind down mid afternoon.

While many of us (me included) only shoot 4X5, many larger cameras have been showing up...5X7, 8X10, 11X14, 8X20 & 7X17. This is a great group of people. We look forward to having you join us...and if you get something going for just Chicago, I'm sure we will show up as well.

Also, I should mention that in January, we all bring portfolios for a day of just looking and enjoying prints (no judging) from our outings. We rent a room in Chesterton, IN which is a good mid-way location for everybody. See my other posts in this section for more details.

Rick Tapio

[David R Munson]

Rick,

Thanks for the info. It sounds great and I will definitely be getting involved!

[David R Munson]

I still need to get around to getting involved with the Midwest LF group, but I wanted to bump this all the same. I'm in Chicago (Avondale/Logan Square) now, well-settled, and really need to get more involved locally. Who wants to get up stupid early on a Saturday and go shoot LF down in the loop or something?

[rcjtapio]

The Midwest Large Format Asylum's next outing is scheduled for Saturday, November 17th. We will be in central Illinois near Monticello/Decatur. We will shoot at the Monticello Railroad Museum in the morning. Some of us will drive down on Friday (checking out the small towns) & plan to explore Allerton in the afternoon. Because of University of Illinois football, we will be staying in Decatur Friday night. More details can be found on our website www.midwestlargeformat.com in the "outings" section. Look forward to meet you on a future outing.

Rick Tapio

[rcjtapio]

Thought I would reply on this thread as well......in less than 2 weeks, on January 26th (2013), the Midwest Large Format Asylum (www.midwestlargeformat.com) will hold a portfolio showing day in Chesterton, IN at the Best Western Indian Oaks. This is our 6th year of showing off photographs made with LF. It's free to come. We start about 8:30 am & go all day. Lunch is catered in for a flat $10. We expect a good turnout, maybe 35 to 40 people, and maybe 16-20 portfolios. The only requirement is that the images were captured with a large format camera. We have friends coming from Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio and Indiana. Many of us will come on Friday & stay until Sunday (we have a special room rate with the hotel). Although most of the time will be spent looking at images, there could be some shooting as well. The Indiana Dunes National Park is only a couple miles away. Also, there is great conversation over breakfast and dinner. If you can't make it on Jan. 26th, this group meets every 3rd Saturday of every month for shooting outings. We plan all our outings in the forum section at www.midwestlargeformat.com. Hope you will consider joining us.