Heart of Lincoln Land

This is as of Saturday, it doesn’t include anything taken this week. I still intend to finish the project and complete all 88 pictures, a goal towards which I have made significant progress this week. The weather here most of October hasn’t made this project easy (lots of cloudy days) but I’m doing what I can. As soon as I sort out the pictures from the past few days (which had almost perfect weather) I’ll make another post.

The 21 new pictures since the last post on this are:

* Union Square Park: This downtown park, popular with tourists, is across 6th Street from the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum, which you can see in the distance. It takes up almost an entire city block; Union Station takes up the northern portion of the block, the park takes up the rest. Many Lincoln-related events take place at this park.

* Lincoln Square Apartments: Luxury apartments in a great downtown location. I toured one of these once on the downtown Upper Story Tour, and they are very nice. Maybe someday I’ll live here. The building was built in 1984, though it looks much older than that. It emulates its historic downtown surroundings, as if it’s been there since Lincoln’s time. I took the photo from the 5th/Monroe intersection and captured some of the vibrancy surrounding it.

* (Benjamin) Edwards Place: This mansion in the Enos Park neighborhood is the oldest home still on its original foundation in Springfield. It was built in 1833. It was home to Benjamin Edwards, Ninian Edwards’ brother. The Lincolns were married at Ninian Edwards’ home which was on the 500 block of South 2nd Street where the Centennial/Howlett Building is now. However, the Lincolns visited the Benjamin Edwards home many times and the home was a focal point for activity during Lincoln’s time. The home is open to the public for tours and the Springfield Art Association (which owns the home) occupies an annex.

* Lincoln Park Pavilion: This is in Lincoln Park, a large, beautiful Northend park in a historic neighborhood encompassing over 150 acres. The pavilion in this park looks like an old stone country home on top of a big hill. It is located in the southern portion of the park, and you can see it from the little park road once you get into the park from the southeast entrance near 5th and Black. I took the photo from the grass “staircase” across the park lagoon from the pavilion. I wanted to capture the rural feel of the pavilion in this picture.

* Lincoln Bust at Lincoln Tomb: This is the one where everybody wants to rub his nose. It’s supposed to bring you good luck, and Lincoln’s nose is all shiny from all the rubbing. The bust was sculpted by Gutzon Borglum, who also did busts of Lincoln on Mt. Rushmore, in the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum and in the U.S. Capitol. I took this photo at sunset since I feel it captures the mood of the Lincoln Tomb nicely.

* 400 block of South 8th Street, Looking South from Capitol Avenue: This historic tree-lined street is in the Lincoln Home National Historic Site, preserved to its 1860 appearance. The Lincoln Home itself is visible down the street to your left. It was very difficult to get this shot without people in it.

* Lincoln School: I thought I’d do a school for this project, since a lot of Springfield’s school buildings are historic and have character. I chose this one since not only is it historic, it’s named after Lincoln. It’s located in the Pioneer Park neighborhood. The picture was shot from the 12th/Capitol intersection. This is the only shot in the project that I did on a cloudy day, but I think the clouds made it interesting.

* 700 block of North 5th Street, Looking North from Miller Street: This shot represents the Enos Park neighborhood, a diverse neighborhood just north of downtown. This neighborhood contains many Lincoln-era homes and lots of big trees and large, old colorful houses. There’s lots of character in this neighborhood. This block contains some beautiful old rowhouses, called the Enos Flats, visible on the right side of the street. Also visible are a couple of large brick homes, and a mixture of other historic homes.

* Lincoln Park Bridge: This stone bridge in Lincoln Park is over a century old. It spans the park lagoon, which contains beautiful waterfalls and fountains. It leads into a forest, where a path leads up a giant “grass staircase”. I took a picture of the bridge from opposite the staircase, with the forest visible in the distance behind the lagoon. The bridge has “LINCOLN” and “PARK” carved into the posts at this end (the end opposite the “grass staircase”), visible in the picture.

* State Fairgrounds Main Entrance: This is on 11th Street, at its intersection with Sangamon Avenue. There’s a large statue of Lincoln as a railsplitter just inside the gate. This isn’t my favorite Lincoln sculpture in Springfield (I always thought it was kind of tacky), but it’s still a representation of Lincoln and deserves to be included. I love getting the evening light on this shot – it’s as if the fair is about to begin.

* Adams Street Mall, looking West from 6th Street: Also known as the Old State Capitol Plaza, this busy brick pedestrian mall, which forms the south side of the square, is often used for outdoor events. I took the photo during one of these. The shops and restaurants that line the Adams Street Mall are visible to the left.

* 200 block of South 6th Street, Looking South from Adams Street: This busy downtown block is lined with a variety of shops and restaurants. The Tinsley Building, which contains the Lincoln-Herndon Law Offices, is visible on the right. To capture the vibrant urban feel I took the picture with people walking down the street.

* 1100 block of South Grand Avenue East, Looking East from 11th Street: This is in Old South Town, a quirky “mini-downtown” district on the near east side that is currently being revitalized. The district is about one mile southeast of downtown. The South Town theater marquee in this district is the oldest theater marquee in Illinois, dating from the 1910s.

* Skyline from 5th and Capitol: The harmony and contrast between nature and the city is visible in this shot. Through the trees, you can see buildings that punctuate the Springfield skyline. Down below, you can see the street, and people walking along it.

* 100 block of North 6th Street, Looking North from Washington Street: The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library is the edifice that occupies much of the right (east) side of this block, towards the end of it. On the west side of this block, there are shops and restaurants. This block is often busy with tourists and other people milling about. I tried to capture some of this in the shot.

* Skyline from Comer Cox Park: This is a large 40-acre park on the east side, along M.L. King Drive between Capitol Avenue and Washington Street. You can see parts of the skyline from it. The Pioneer Park neighborhood lies between this park and downtown.

* Vachel Lindsay Home: This Lincoln-era home on the 600 block of South 5th Street was home to Springfield poet Vachel Lindsay, who lived here from 1879 until 1931. The home is restored to its appearance during that time. This is also known as the C.M. Smith home, for the name of Lincoln’s brother-in-law, who lived here during Lincoln’s time. The home is owned by the state and is open to the public.

* First Presbyterian Church: This is the church that the Lincolns attended (though Lincoln was never an official member of the church). When Lincoln lived in Springfield, the church was located at 3rd and Washington. It was moved to this location at 7th and Capitol in the 1870s. The new church building incorporates some elements from the old one, though (such as the stained-glass windows). The pew the Lincolns rented is on display here.

* Pasfield House: This large historic house in the Pasfield House neighborhood, just to the west of the State Capitol, functions as a B&B now. It’s not Lincoln-era (it was built in 1896), but it’s still beautiful. As a nice added touch, there is a large color cutout of Abraham Lincoln waving at you from the front porch. I love it and I made sure to capture it in the picture.

* Lincoln Tower Apartments: This large apartment building is conveniently located near the State Capitol. Even though it’s a more modern building, I felt the need to include it as it is another major “downtown living” apartment complex.

* State Library: This beautiful building on the northeast corner of 2nd and Capitol is located across the street from the State Capitol. It houses the State Archives (different from the collection that the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library has, which is the Illinois State Historical Library). The names along the top of the building are the names of prominent Illinois authors, writers, and educators.

The 21 new pictures:

Union Square Park	Lincoln Square Apartments
Edwards Place	Lincoln Park Pavilion
Lincoln Bust at Lincoln Tomb	400 block of South 8th Street, Looking South from Capitol Avenue
Lincoln School	700 block of North 5th Street, Looking North from Miller Street
Lincoln Park Bridge	State Fairgrounds Main Entrance
Adams Street Mall, Looking West from 6th Street	200 block of South 6th Street, Looking South from Adams Street
1100 block of South Grand Avenue East, Looking East from 11th Street	Skyline from 5th and Capitol
100 block of North 6th Street, Looking North from Washington Street	Skyline from Comer Cox Park
Vachel Lindsay Home	First Presbyterian Church
Pasfield House	Lincoln Tower Apartments
State Library

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I have 44 of the 88 pictures so far. (Not including anything I got today or yesterday.) At least it rained last weekend, so now I can go take some of the residential shots without getting brown grass. This week’s weather so far has been cloudy, though, which has made it difficult for me to take the photos I want. I’ve also been working hard on my Etsy shop. I might not get this done until sometime in early October now. I thought I’d be finished by now. But of course, I’m still going to finish it, whatever it takes.

The 9 new pictures:

* Lincoln Home: This upper middle class house on the northeast corner of 8th and Jackson was the only home Lincoln ever owned. He lived here from 1844 to 1861 (when he left to be inaugurated as President). He probably spent the best years of his life here. The house was built in 1839 by the Rev. Charles Dresser, who also presided over the Lincolns’ wedding in 1842. When Lincoln bought the house, it was only 1 1/2 stories tall, and they added onto it over the years. The home was given to the state of Illinois in 1887 by Lincoln’s son Robert and then (along with the 4-block-square area surrounding it) to the National Park Service in 1972. One of the stipulations Robert made in the transfer of the home to the government is that it must always be free to tour, and that of course is still true today.

* Skyline from the 400 block of North 11th Street: If you recognize this photo, it’s because I used it (well, a version from a past year) to make my blog header image. I love the pretty lights and the urban feel. You can see the Hilton, the Convention Center, the President Abraham Lincoln Hotel, the Horace Mann Building, the State Capitol and the Myers Building from here.

* 600 block of East Capitol Avenue, Looking West from 7th Street: This is my favorite point along Capitol Avenue to take a streetscape shot looking directly towards the Capitol. To the right is the First Presbyterian Church, which the Lincolns attended (albeit not at this location), and visible down the street are restaurants and shops.

* 600 block of East Monroe Street, Looking West from 7th Street: This busy block has the Federal Building on the left, and a state office building on the right, and restaurants in the distance. For some reason, the traffic pattern at the 7th/Monroe intersection makes it tricky to take this streetscape shot.

* 600 block of East Adams Street, Looking West from 7th Street: Taken from the north sidewalk of the street instead of in the middle, because I like it that way. This vibrant block connects the hotels with the Adams Street Mall and the 5th and 6th Street corridors in the distance. It is lined with shops and restaurants and is one of the main corridors in downtown Springfield. The Illinois Building is visible on the right in the distance.

* West Side of the Square: Like the South Side of the Square shot, this one features the sun shining on the buildings. Which means that it was taken in the morning, and I’m not a morning person, so this one was little difficult to get. But I like the feel of this picture, somehow calming, yet urban, and vibrant. The tall building on the far right is the Myers Building, and Lincoln’s last law office was in the spot where this building now is. (The Myers Building was built in 1886.) The Chatterton Building, the 2nd building from the left, is a Lincoln-era building that housed a jewelry store where Lincoln bought Mary Todd’s wedding ring.

* Old State Capitol: This was the tallest building in Illinois when it was completed in 1839. Lincoln served his last two terms in the State Legislature here, and it was here that he gave his famous “House Divided” speech. This building remained the State Capitol until 1876 when state government outgrew the structure, thus necessitating the need for the New State Capitol.

* View from the 800 block of East Jefferson Street: While walking to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum one day, I noticed that there was a point on this block where you could see the domes of both the old and the new State Capitols, and where the domes of each of the State Capitols both have the same apparent size. This is a shot of this, viewed through the columns of the Horace Mann building on this block, and the trees on its grounds.

* State Capitol: This is the tallest building in the city, at 405 feet high. It is so large it is impossible to get the whole thing in, so I just got the dome. The building is often referred to as the “New State Capitol” to distinguish it from the old one, even though it was completed in 1876. This building is the State Capitol building today, and it is located where 1st Street and Capitol Avenue would intersect if they ran that far.

The 9 new pics:

Lincoln Home	Skyline from the 400 block of North 11th Street
600 block of East Capitol Avenue, Looking West from 7th Street	600 block of East Monroe Street, Looking West from 7th Street
600 block of East Adams Street, Looking West from 7th Street	West Side of the Square
Old State Capitol	View from the 800 block of East Jefferson Street
State Capitol

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That’s not including anything I got yesterday or today, so I’ve successfully taken 10 new ones since the last post on Wednesday. That means that 35 of 88 are successfully completed now, and the project is proceeding along faster than it was earlier. The 10 new pictures are:

* Iles House: This house is the oldest house still standing in Springfield. It was built in 1827. It is named for Elijah Iles, one of the founders of Springfield. He was also a friend and political ally of Abraham Lincoln. The house was originally located at 6th and Cook. Over the decades it was moved around a couple locations on the south side of the city before being moved to the northeast corner of 7th and Cook in 2001. (The 6th and Cook location is now a church.) Once it was moved to 7th and Cook, it was restored as much as is possible to its original appearance and opened to the public. It is now owned by the Elijah Iles Foundation.

* Lincoln Statue at State Capitol: This dramatic statue of Lincoln on the State Capitol grounds greets you at the eastern approach to the State Capitol, at 2nd Street and Capitol Avenue. I took this picture when the sun was hiding behind some clouds, to minimize glare.

* 400 block of East Jefferson Street, Looking East from 4th Street: This shot is aimed at one of Springfield’s greatest treasures between two of the city’s biggest downtown residential complexes. To the left (north side of Jefferson) is the vine-covered Near North Village Apartments, and to the right (south side of Jefferson) is the historic St. Nicholas Hotel (now apartments). In the distance are the rotundae of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum.

* County Building: Even though the sign by the building says “Sangamon County Complex”, I call it the County Building, and so do many other people, probably because it’s shorter to say. The building was built in 1991, though it certainly looks more historic than that. It houses all of the county offices, including the present day Sangamon County Courthouse, and even the jail. The building takes up the whole block bounded by 9th, 10th, Adams, and Monroe. The original idea for this shot involved getting the whole 9th Street side of the building together with the sign, but realizing that that was impossible, I decided to take it with the sign close up. I liked the results.

* 500 block of South 7th Street, Looking North from Edwards Street: The first house on the left (west) side of the street is the Maisenbacher House, an upper middle class home that was built by Isaac Lindsay with a loan from Abraham Lincoln. It is currently being restored after having been moved to this block last year from the 1000 block of South 7th to save it. On the right (east) side of the street is the Lincoln Home National Historic Site. Further down the street, in the distance, behind the trees and other historic buildings, you can see downtown.

* City Hall Fountain East: Splash, splash, splash… This large fountain is located at the corner of 8th and Monroe, to the east of City Hall. It pulsates and splashes water several times each second. I tried to capture it during one of these water-splashing cycles, and I think I succeeded. Behind the fountain is the walkway that forms the 300 block of South 8th.

* 300 block of South 13th Street, Looking North from Capitol Avenue: This shot represents the Pioneer Park neighborhood, a primarily middle class, African American neighborhood just to the east of downtown. This neighborhood was developed in Lincoln’s time, though many of the houses in the neighborhood now are newer than that. Still though, the neighborhood has character and contains many old homes. It is the first neighborhood shot I have managed so far. This particular block was selected since it included a brick street. I love those.

* President Abraham Lincoln Hotel: This large hotel on the northeast corner of 7th and Adams is often considered the most expensive, luxurious hotel in the city. It was built in 1985, though its architecture, designed to emulate its historic surroundings, would lead you to believe it was built much earlier than that. It is located across Adams Street from the Hilton and is right next to the Convention Center. It contains restaurants, conference rooms, and ballrooms on the first floor. This year, with the Bicentennial, it is surrounded by Lincoln Bicentennial banners and posters in the windows. I had a tough time capturing it without all the people that are normally around the hotel (I wanted it without anybody in the way). Making things more difficult, I can only barely fit the entire height of the hotel into a landscape oriented frame. This is with my camera zoomed out all the way, standing kitty-corner from the hotel literally next to the buildings on the southwest corner of 7th and Adams. I can’t use a portrait oriented frame, since this is for a CD project and CD covers are in landscape. I tried (and failed) to shoot this one for many days until I finally got it (in just a single shot) on Saturday.

* Hoogland Center for the Arts: This large building on the 400 block of South 6th Street, on the south edge of downtown, contains theaters, art galleries, and the like, and is home to the Prairie Art Alliance. There are many events, like live theater and music, that occur here. It has a colorful marquee on the outside that lights up at night. To represent the activity that occurs here, I decided to take a picture of the Hoogland Center at night, after a show let out. The shot is panned towards downtown, so you can see what’s in the distance.

* 600 block of East Washington Street, Looking West from 7th Street: This is the only streetscape shot in the entire Lincoln Land 80s project that is taken at night. I did it this way since this block seems to have more activity at night than during the daytime, and I wanted to have at least one nighttime streetscape shot. There are people walking down the street in the shot. The Myers Building is visible in the distance, and further in the distance is a parking ramp stairwell all lit up (I always thought it looked neat that way). Since it’s impossible to set up a tripod in the middle of the street, this shot focused down the north side of Washington Street.

The 10 new pictures:

Iles House	Lincoln Statue at State Capitol
400 block of East Jefferson Street, Looking East from 4th Street	County Building
500 block of South 7th Street, Looking North from Edwards Street	City Hall Fountain East (at 8th and Monroe)
300 block of South 13th Street, Looking North from Capitol Avenue	President Abraham Lincoln Hotel
Hoogland Center for the Arts	600 block of East Washington Street, Looking West from 7th Street

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I didn’t meet my goal of getting the Lincoln Land 80s CD pictures project done by Labor Day, but I’m still going to complete the project. And I’m working on it – I’ve managed to take 7 new pictures since last Wednesday. I didn’t take any on Saturday or Sunday, I had family over those days. Of course, I would’ve got rained on had I took pictures those days.

These are the last 7 of them (since the last post on Lincoln Land 80s):

* Lincoln Statue at Lincoln Library: This is a “cubist” Lincoln statue at the entrance to Lincoln Library (the downtown one) on Capitol Avenue. Some people don’t like it, but I actually do like this statue. Somehow it seems to remind me of my 1980s youth. In any case, I think it goes along well with the building.

* 200 block of South 5th Street, Looking North from Monroe Street: This is one of the downtown blocks in the 5th Street nightlife district. A lot of the bars/nightclubs/late night restaurants in Springfield are located on this street. I took this one in the evening as people were milling about and sitting outside at some of the restaurants to capture the mood.

* Skyline from the 200 block of South 9th Street: This is taken at sunset, looking west towards the big hotels and the Illinois Building. The lights in the hotels and the colors from the sun setting create a very vibrant scene, one that I feel represents downtown Springfield. The city’s alive!

* Lincoln-Herndon Law Offices: Also called the Tinsley Building (for its owner Seth Tinsley), this building, located on the southwest corner of 6th and Adams, is the only building still standing today in which Lincoln had law offices. (Lincoln also had law offices in a building where the Myers Building is currently located and on the 100 block of North 5th Street; these locations are marked by plaques.) The building was preserved in 1986 by a local preservation group who bought it and then sold it to the state. The exact dates Lincoln had offices in the Tinsley Building (and where) are unclear, but he did have an office in the front of the building and (later) in the back. The building is basically the same today as it was then, except for the first floor, which has a small museum, and the Tinsley Dry Goods gift shop (one of my favorite Lincoln shops in Springfield). The post office is in basically the same spot as it was then. I shot this one from the north side of the building, close up. You can almost imagine Lincoln coming up to the door and entering it.

* Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum at Sunset: This shot was taken from “behind” the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum, through the trees on the grounds of the nearby Horace Mann building. I’ve always thought the museum looked neat at sunset, so I wanted to do a shot of the museum at sunset for Lincoln Land 80s.

* Lincoln Statue at 6th and Adams: This is my favorite Lincoln statue in Springfield. It shows Lincoln as a normal Springfield citizen, and as a lawyer and politician, before he became well known nationally. Mary is straightening his tie, with his son Willie standing beside him. His son Robert (Tad wasn’t born yet) is running away from him (this was not captured in the picture). This statue is life size, and it certainly encourages tourists to interact with Lincoln as evidenced by its popularity as a tourist gathering spot. This makes it rather difficult to take the picture, since I don’t want people directly behind the statue (though I like capturing people walking around or sitting at sidewalk cafes on 6th Street in the distance). I used the Lincoln-Herndon Law Offices as a backdrop to represent his career at this point in his life.

* 300 block of South 8th Street, Looking North from Capitol Avenue: This section of 8th Street is actually a tree-canopied brick pedestrian walkway between City Hall and the police station. You can see these buildings along the side of the street; further down the street, you can see Saputo’s (a very good Italian restaurant), the President Abraham Lincoln Hotel, and the Convention Center.

The 7 new pictures:

Lincoln Statue at Lincoln Library	200 block of South 5th Street, Looking North from Monroe Street
Skyline from the 200 block of South 9th Street	Lincoln-Herndon Law Offices
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum at Sunset	Lincoln Statue at 6th and Adams
300 block of South 8th Street, Looking North from Capitol Avenue

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I have successfully taken 6 new Lincoln Land 80s pictures since last Wednesday (not including any that I may have successfully taken today since I haven’t really looked at them yet). Some of the cloudy, cool days late last week made it difficult to take anything interesting (I don’t like completely gray sky in my photos). I didn’t even bother to go out some days last week. But, the weather in the past few days has been much better, so I managed to take 6 new ones. Here they are:

*Springfield Marine Bank: This is located on the east side of the square. The “Springfield Marine Bank” facade and columns in this structure date to the Lincoln era. Lincoln held a bank account at the Springfield Marine Bank when he lived in Springfield. In fact, the ledger where his account records were kept is on public display inside the building (now Chase Bank). In Lincoln’s day, the county courthouse was just to the north of this building (at the southeast corner of 6th and Washington). Today, the Chase Bank building occupies this spot.

*Lincoln Depot: This small brick depot at 10th and Monroe is the place in Springfield where Lincoln left to assume the Presidency. Here, he gave a very emotional farewell address to a crowd of over 1,000 citizens as he was about to leave his hometown. It is one of the few impromptu speeches that Lincoln gave; in most cases Lincoln spent weeks preparing speeches. Its unusual impromptu nature suggests the emotions Lincoln felt about his hometown and its people as he was about to leave and see Springfield for the last time. We know what he said (pretty much anyway) because newspaper reporters on the train asked him to write it down after he left. The entire speech is engraved into a stone plaque visible to the right of the depot. It is also listed on a “Looking for Lincoln” storyboard visible in front of the depot, and on a marker just to the west on the 900 block of East Monroe (not visible in the picture). There is a small museum inside the depot today, and the depot has been restored (as much as possible) to look like it did on February 11, 1861, the day Lincoln left Springfield.

I’ve always thought it would be neat if this was still a functional depot (the tracks still run right by it, and the city wants to place the new high speed rail corridor on 10th Street, something I support) but that is a topic for another post.

*Skyline from the 14th Street Bridge over Clear Lake Avenue: This is probably one of the best unobstructed views of the Springfield skyline in the city. You can see many of the buildings that characterize modern Springfield from here. You can see the County Building, the Hilton and President Abraham Lincoln Hotels, the Illinois Building, the new and old State Capitol buildings, the Horace Mann building, the St. Nicholas Hotel, the Union Station clock tower, and even the top of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum. I have a tradition of using this shot as an “introduction” to Springfield on the cover of the first Lincoln Land 80s CD, since many people enter Springfield via Clear Lake and see some of this skyline on their way into the city.

*Illinois Building: This 15-story Art Deco office building, located at the northeast corner of 6th and Adams, is the third tallest building in Springfield. On the first floor, it contains street-level retail and restaurants. I believe Barack Obama’s Springfield office is in this building. At night, the top of this building lights up. I took this picture from Adams Street at around sunset, just after the light at the top of the building turned on.

*Skyline from the 700 Block of East Madison Street: Taken at night, to capture the lights on in the Hilton and President Abraham Lincoln Hotels and in the Illinois Building. You can also see some of the historic buildings on the west side of 7th Street from here.

*Hilton Hotel: Look up, up, up… This towering 30-story hotel is the second tallest building in Springfield. Only the State Capitol (the new one) is taller. I took this at night (from near 7th and Adams, where the hotel is located) to capture the pretty lights on in the hotel. If you go to the 30th floor of this hotel, you can get some truly incredible views of the city and beyond.

Pictures from the last week:

Springfield Marine Bank	Lincoln Depot
Skyline from the 14th Street Bridge over Clear Lake Avenue	Illinois Building
Skyline from the 700 Block of East Madison Street	Hilton Hotel

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That’s not quite as many as I would like – only 12 of 88 pictures are taken so far – but I’ve been continuing to work as hard as I can on the project anyway. I’ve been having some trouble with the weather (last week) and some things related to my T-shirts that I have to deal with (this week). Still though, I’m making progress, and I’ve got 8 new pictures. Among them:

* Lincoln Statue in the Southeast Corner of Union Square Park: I took this one on a cloudy day last week to make it look like a storm was coming, since the statue is supposed to represent Lincoln just before he left Springfield to assume the Presidency in Washington. The train station adds to the effect (even though the station he left from was, of course, at 10th and Monroe and Union Station didn’t exist yet). I had a lot of trouble getting the light level right on this one.

* City Hall: Taken in the evening. It was kind of cloudy the day I took it, so I had my camera adjusted for the cloudiness. At the last minute, right when I was down to one picture left on my memory card, the sun came through the clouds and illuminated the building. I quickly took the last picture and it turned out beautiful.

* Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum: I decided I didn’t want to get any of the light poles in the picture, so I took it close up. Of course, you can’t get the whole building that way, but you can create neat effects. I took the picture so that it resembles the logo for the museum. I like the way the sun is shining on it, too.

* South Side of the Square: I love taking a picture of this at sunset. The sun illuminates all of the historic buildings on the south side of the square, causing them to “glow” and creating a very colorful picture.

* Horace Mann Building: Shot from 9th and Jefferson. I like to get a bit of the skyline in back of this one. I also took it in the evening, so that you can see the lights on in the building. I’ve always thought that this building is a good example of modern steel-and-glass architecture.

* Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library: Like the shot of the Museum, I took this one close up, focusing down the 6th Street side of the building. In past years I’ve taken this picture in the daytime, but this year I arrived at the building in the twilight as the sun was setting, and decided to see if I could take a decent picture. I was able to pull it off and capture some neat lighting effects created by the lights in the sidewalk that run along the edge of the building.

* City Hall Fountain West: At night this fountain (at the corner of 7th and Monroe) lights up in gorgeous red and blue colors. I took it at night to capture this effect.

* St. Nicholas Hotel: This building at 4th and Jefferson has a lot of history. Lincoln sat for sculptor Thomas D. Jones on the 4th floor of this building in 1861, just before he went to Washington. Douglas also frequented this hotel. Today it is an apartment building that houses the Caitie Girl’s restaurant on the first floor. (It’s a neat place if you haven’t been there.) I captured the hotel in the evening (including the annex to the south on 4th street) as people were walking into the building.

Pictures from the last week:

Lincoln Statue in the Southeast Corner of Union Square Park	City Hall
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum	South Side of the Square
Horace Mann Building	Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library
City Hall Fountain West (at 7th and Monroe)	St. Nicholas Hotel

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Yesterday I took a break from my other projects and went to the State Fair. I normally go at least once every year. This year, being the Lincoln Bicentennial, the butter cow (a state fair tradition that goes back to 1922) featured a young Abraham Lincoln sitting down next to a log and a tree stump reading a book. I thought the artist did a good job depicting Lincoln’s non-farm-related ambitions and dislike of manual hard labor, since he’s not in any way attending to the cow. He has an axe and a split rail behind him, creating the “Railsplitter” image. The sculpture took over 1200 pounds of butter to create.

The highlight of the day, though, was the concert with Heart and the Bangles. I’m a big fan of 80s music, so I thoroughly enjoyed it. The Bangles were first, and they kicked it off with their rockin’ rendition of “Hazy Shade of Winter”, which has always been one of my favorite covers. They ended it with the crowd-pleasing “Walk Like an Egyptian”. In between they played their other hits (”Manic Monday”, Eternal Flame”) and some songs that I haven’t heard before. I still liked hearing them, though.

After that (and a short break), Heart kicked it off with their 70s hit “Barracuda”. I guess I never was a huge fan of 70s Heart (it always felt a little rough around the edges and a bit repetitious for me) – though I do like some of their 70s songs like “Crazy on You”. However, they followed that song up with what is my favorite Heart song – the inspirational 1985 hit “Never”. It was in the 80s that Heart expanded their style and combined that with their singing talent to produce true rock masterpieces, and “Never” is one of them. Heart encouraged everyone to sing along, and crowd went wild and everybody sang along (including me). I know all of the words to “Never” by heart, and I sang every one of them. “Never” has always had a lot of meaning to me – it’s a positive, uplifting song about NEVER giving up. I’ve always thought that Lincoln would like 80s music if he was alive today and this song is an example.

They rocked on, mixing in many of their hits from both the 70s and 80s (and some newer songs). The synths were noticeably absent from their rendition of their 80s hits (like “These Dreams” and “Alone”), but it didn’t matter – it was replaced with guitar that sounded just as good, and just as emotional. And of course, the singing was still incredible. They ended the concert with “Crazy On You”, and after that they performed a 3-song encore that included “Magic Man”. All in all, it was an awesome night with great music.

I’ll end this post with some words that I think are very relevant to today and that I think Lincoln would agree with and enjoy hearing.

We can’t go on and on
Just running away
If we stay any longer
We will surely never get away
Oh, oh, anything you want
We can make it happen
Stand up and turn around
Never let them shoot us down
Never – no!, never – no!, never, never run away…

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I started the Lincoln Land 80s CD project on Monday, but the rain pretty much made sure that I couldn’t take any pictures that were quite good enough for me to use in this project. However, yesterday I did manage to successfully shoot 4 of the pictures. I focused on the Jefferson and 9th Street corridors downtown, successfully obtaining the following pictures satisfactorily:

* 100 block of North 7th Street, looking south from Jefferson Street. I’ve always liked the colorful, asymmetrical view comprised of the tall buildings (the Hilton and President Abraham Lincoln Hotels) on the left (east) side of 7th Street and the low-rise historic buildings on the right (west) side of 7th.

* The statue of Lincoln in the southwest corner of Union Square Park. Trying to get this one without people on a day like yesterday is difficult. I’ve always liked how this statue of Lincoln portrays him in a more “human” manner, encouraging people to interact with him, as though he has come back to Springfield. I know the pose is fictitious – he’s holding a draft of his Second Inaugural address in his hat – but Lincoln is celebrated both as a common man and as a hero, and I think this statue successfully combines both of them.

* Union Station. With the clouds and sunlight effects yesterday, the picture almost looks like a painting. It was a challenge getting the whole thing into a single shot, though.

* The Convention Center. I timed it so that I’d get something “Springfieldy” (is that a word?) on the electronic sign outside. In this case it is the Old State Capitol. Of course, I also had to time the picture to avoid cars.

Some shots from yesterday:

100 block of North 7th Street, Looking South from Jefferson Street	Lincoln Statue in the Southwest Corner of Union Square Park
Union Station	Convention Center

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Each year, I like to do a special Springfield photography project to organize my growing 80s music collection called “Lincoln Land 80s”. Essentially, I create custom CDs (with only songs that I like, from my own CD collection), where each CD has a different cover showing a different photograph of something unique to Springfield. This way each CD cover becomes kind of like a postcard. In addition, each CD’s track list is completely randomized, so that the same artist does not appear more than once on a single CD, and of course, there are no repeat songs throughout the entire collection.

This year, I estimate there will be about 85 different CDs, so I will take 88 unique pictures (in case I end up with more CDs than I thought). I keep my own personal 80s music database, so I can “guesstimate” how many CDs there will be. I try to take each picture as professionally as I can. I use a 6 megapixel Fujifilm Finepix F20 camera to take the pictures, and I have since 2007 (before that, I used a crappy Radio Shack FlatFoto camera – but it was amazing what I got out of that sometimes).

Included in the list of pictures are the Lincoln sites (of course); many areas of, and places in, downtown; and areas and places in the historic neighborhoods surrounding downtown. Aside from the focus on downtown, I try to represent each side of town about equally. Of course, I carefully plan the entire list of pictures ahead of time (and keep that list with me so I can check off the ones that I’ve successfully taken already).

It’s fun to do a project like this, since it’s kind of like a treasure hunt – I love the feeling when I finally get a shot – and I get to refamiliarize myself with sections of town I haven’t been to in awhile and notice the changes that have occurred. Afterwards, I have a historical record of what certain places unique to Springfield look like that particular year. This year is special, since it’s the year of the Lincoln bicentennial. I’ve been doing this project since 2004 and I always enjoy doing it – even though sometimes, a particular shot can be difficult. I usually have my own little adventures as part of it too, but that’s part of what makes it fun. I hope to finish it before Labor Day. I’ll post updates on the project here at least every few days. (I was actually going to start the project today, but the rain made me wait until tomorrow.)

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