Whirl has worked at the Field Museum for fifteen years. And every year for the past 62 years, the museum hosts a special event for its members. The research floors and special exhibits are opened up. Scientists and exhibitors volunteer their time to meet with the public and discuss their work. For the last five years, Whirl has been one of those scientists in attendence, supporting research in birds and insects. This year she put together a demonstration of her microphotography work in insects.

This year, I invited my friend and colleague, Will, to bring his two daughters to the museum. I met up with them and the four of us spent the evening assisting the girls completing the biodiversity scavenger hunt. It’s a good list. You should try it the next time you’re at the museum.

• Find an organism that has claws.
• Find an organism that lives in trees.
• Find an organism that uses camouflage.
• Find an organism that is venomous.
• Find an organism that lives in caves.
• Find an organism that is green.
• Find an organism that is nocturnal.
• Find an organism that lives in a symbiotic relationship.
• Find an organism that is being dissected!
• Find a female scientist and ask her to name her favorite species.

What I particularly liked about the scavenger hunt is that it gave clear and meaningful openings to guests to engage with the researchers and vice versa. Larry Heaney, Curator of Mammals, used the item about animals living in trees to tell several fascinating stories about the unprecedented biodiversity of mice in the Philippines. Margaret Thayer, Curator of Insects, explained the symbiosis between the appropriately named ant plants of southeast Asia and the ant colonies who live in them. Mary Hennen, Collections Assistant, Birds, contrasted nocturnal great horned owls with diurnal peregrine falcons– her favorite species.

Will asked me to serve as tour guide for the evening. I took the girls to see the dissections being performed by Mammals. This year it was an anteater, a beaver and a porcupine. We visited Birds and Insects for some time. We were on our way to Reptiles to check out snakes, but along the way attention shifted to the Underground Adventure exhibit. When we completed the unshrinking process, the evening had come to a close.

It was fun to watch the girls take turns recoiling from the things they encountered, and then changing their minds and becoming fully engaged with what they were experiencing. We all had a lot of fun. I brought along the camera and took a few pictures, but I admit most of my attention was on the event itself and experiencing it with Will and his girls.

I am regularly amazed by the variety of events that occur at the UIC Physical Education Building. I swim there twice a week, typically on Sunday mornings in the 25-yard pool and Tuesday evenings in the 50-meter pool. The building itself is a little strange– really more of a conglomerate of various projects, expansions and remodeling than a cohesive design. The two pools bookend the building on the east and west. Between them stands a large, open space big enough for three full sized basketball courts. This two-story room has wooden floors and a wraparound balcony with a small running track. And it just seems there is always something new and different happening here. I’ve seen basketball tournaments, volleyball tournaments, dance competitions, and cheerleading tryouts. It’s regularly configured to support men’s and women’s gymnastics meets. And of course, there are regular swim meets and diving competitions in both pools. Add in regular practices for all of these sports, plus baseball and softball camps and you have a rather busy sports building.

But occasionally, something different rolls into the PEB. Something unexpected. Something like the Chicago Herpetological Society’s ReptileFest, the nation’s largest educational reptile and amphibian show. And when that happens– like it did this morning– I sometimes send Whirl a note about it. And sometimes she comes down to check it out. Like she did this morning. And we spend an hour or more wandering around the various exhibits talking about snakes and toads and lizards and turtles and monitors and iguanas.

Because nothing quite says, “Good job with that swim practice!” quite like the friendly grin of a crested gecko.

Yesterday I rode along with a few of my favorite Field Museum scientists to the Willowbrook Wildlife Center in Glen Ellyn. There were two reasons for the visit. Whirl, Mary Hennen and Dave Willard had been invited to the annual Chicago Bird Collision Monitors picnic hosted by the center, and Mary had an appointment with the center’s staff veterinarian, Dr. Jen Nevis. Willowbrook is operated by the DuPage County Forest Preserve and provides wildlife rehabilitation and education about the animals and ecological systems of the area.

Willowbrook takes in thousands of birds each year, many of them collected by CBCM. CBCM rescues injured migratory birds, and advocates for mitigating the urban dangers affecting migratory birds. They also collaborate with building management, architects and the public to prevent bird collisions. Dave is the Field Museum scientist who has conducted the bird collision studies supporting the Chicago Lights Out program and he works closely with Mary and the CBCM volunteers in his research.

All of this preface is my way of describing that the picnic was attended by collection of volunteers and scientists who knew each other from years of working together on a project they are passionate about. And I was able to tag along and listen to what they had to discuss.

I brought the camera along. I decided that I would set aside my prejudice against photographing wild animals in captivity. And I’m glad I made that decision.

So far this season, Willowbrook has taken in three of the Chicago-area peregrine falcon fledglings for rehabilitation. Dr. Nevis had a number of questions for Mary about the fledglings and their behavior. In particular, Mary explained that fledgling peregrine falcons are not the best fliers at this age and will often stay in one place for hours. Often in poses that can appear quite distressing to someone who does not know otherwise.

After Mary answered Jen’s questions, Jen took us on a tour of the raptor rehabilitation facility where we were able to see how Willowbrook was caring for the peregrine fledglings and look in on some of the other current residents. I happily snapped pictures of each of the fledglings for Mary and Whirl in their spacious open flight chamber, as the first stop on the tour. The second stop was the highlight for me. Five juvenile great horned owls were rehabilitating in the second flight chamber. Perhaps somewhat to Whirl’s distress, my favorite bird-of-prey is not the falcon, but rather the owl. I could have stayed in that room watching them for all afternoon. They swooped from perch to perch in front of me. Wingspans of about four feet, and whisper quiet.

Quite the treat. You will notice that one of the owls is afflicted by a retinal defect in the left eye. The center is actively looking to place this animal with a licensed facility, and were happy to see the animal flying about as actively as the others. I tried desperately get some good photographs of the afflicted bird to donate to the center and aid in the placement process.

Yesterday Whirl and I attended C2E2, the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo. We met up with our friends Farmboy and Princess. The three-day convention covers comic books, movies, television, toys, anime and video games. The show floor plays hosts to hundreds of exhibitors if you’re looking to score some interesting loot. There are panel discussions and autograph sessions that allow fans access to artists, actors and writers. And the ever-popular sneak-peek film and television show screenings. This was the second year for C2E2. Last year was fairly lightly attended, but well-received.

I wasn’t particularly interested in spending three days at the convention, but I thought it would be a nice way to spend a Saturday afternoon. And besides, I’ve always wanted to pull out the camera and see what kinds of cosplay portraits I could make.

We attended two panel discussions. The first was “The Walking Dead Q&A” with Jon Bernthal (“Shane”) and Laurie Holden (“Andrea”). This was very funny, with Bernthal running away with the conversation on more than one occasion. Farmboy remarked a couple of times about Bernthal’s apparent southern California origins. While I have no idea whether that’s true or not, I can attest to the fact that his choices of slang and colloquial idioms stagnated somewhere around 1989. Everything was “rad” and he was “totally digging” working with Frank Darabont. The highlight of the panel came about two minutes after all the press photographers filed out and Bernthal found himself trapped in a nearly three-minute long string of unintentional double-entendres. Each more embarrassing than the last.

The second panel was the “True Blood Q&A” with Brit Morgan (“Debbie Pelt”), Kristin Bauer (“Pam”), and Sam Trammell (“Sam Merlotte”). While not quite as entertaining as the Walking Dead panel a few hours earlier, it did provide some moments of levity and one crucial insight into acting from Morgan. While answering a question about contending with the various supernatural stressors placed upon the characters they portrayed, Morgan talked about becoming a sort of legal advocate on the set, with their character as their client and the director as the judge. The two women also agreed that Alexander Skarsgård is even more beautiful in person than he is on-screen. Trammell was conspicuously — and humorously — mute with his opinion on that question.

We walked the floor between the panels and took in the environment. There was a lot to see and photography was not only permitted, but actively encouraged. Aside from the challenges of making a frame with a halfway acceptable background, it was an exceedingly target-rich environment. The skill and creativity that went into a number of the costumes impressed the hell out of me more than once. I’ve published the full set of photos, but a few of my favorites include:

• Na’vi
• Deadpool
• Kingpin
• Princess Zelda
• Scarecrow

The Chiditarod Urban Iditarod, a shopping cart race and mobile food drive, is an idea stolen from some folks in New York (who in turn stole it from some people in San Francisco).

Inspired in part by the Alaskan Iditarod dog sled race, an urban iditarod replaces dogs and sleds with shopping carts and costumed heroes.

2011 was the sixth annual running of the race in Chicago and this year the start of the race coincided with the start of the Alaskan Iditarod race. The weather in the morning was cool with some light snow flurries and continued to deteriorate over the next several hours. Winds kicked up. Snow turned heavier and icy. Whirl and I dressed for the weather, packed up the cameras and spent the afternoon running alongside the racers on the streets of East Village, Wicker Park and Ukranian Village shooting the race. Whirl reprised her standout role as photo shoot producer, providing operational support and keen insight into composition and dramatic moments worth capturing.

She also was our navigator, which was no easy task. There were a total of twelve checkpoints. Each team had to complete a circuit of five of these checkpoints. So two given teams would not necessarily follow the same route, in fact no specific route is prescribed. Teams must appear the the assigned checkpoints in the appropriate order. That made it somewhat challenging to capture the entire scope of the race with a single camera. We tried!

The race did not disappoint. There were over 170 teams and the mass start was truly something to behold as racers streamed down the street and out into the surrounding neighborhoods to their respective checkpoints. We ran into one of Whirl’s classmates who had worked on one of the most incredible entries of the race, the immense ten-man Titanic entry. Their entry actually comprised two teams of five racers each. One team was the bow of the doomed oceanliner, one team was the stern. Of course the ship was appropriatedly broken across the beam.

We saw two teams of Muppets, three teams of Black Swans, Angry Birds, Gnomes, an Oregon Trail team — complete with a boombox broadcasting the appropriate 8-bit MIDI soundtrack.

The Chiditarod is not just fun and games however. It is a food drive that collects thousands of pounds of food for the Chicago Anti-Hunger Federation every year. Additionally, checkpoint hosts donate signification portions of their proceeds from the day’s events to charity. All of the teams, carts, costumes and creativity are donated — put together out of spare time, ingenuity and willingness to do something good for other people.

A week ago all the residents in Printer’s Row recieved notice of an extensive helicopter lift operation taking place in the neighborhood. Four new pieces of HVAC equipment were to be lifted to the roofs of the Printer’s Square towers on Federal Street and the old equipment lifted down and hauled away. While the rest of Chicago enjoyed an extra hour of sleep due to the end of daylight saving time, Printer’s Row had street closures and low-flying aircraft as our makeshift alarm clock.

I grabbed the camera and headed out into the chill morning to get some photographs. I’ve seen several helicopter lifts, but none ever this close. Some of the most memorable were the various lifts to place new antennas on the top of the Sears Tower several years back. As you might imagine, the lift attracted quite a bit of attention, and there were a number of amateur photographers out taking pictures — and then quite a few more people obliviously trying to make their way down Dearborn to get a cup of coffee. Chicago police were vigilant in keeping sleepy pedestrians out of harm’s way. The helicopter was flying as low as 100 feet above the street right next to the 22-story Transportation Building. Exciting stuff.

Unfortunately, the lift ended a little over halfway through the projected process. The final two pieces turned out to be too heavy for the helicopter and the task was cut short. Midwest Helicopter succeeded in raising two of the four HVAC pieces to the roof and lowering three of the old pieces down to the awaiting flatbed trucks.

Last year I had the opportunity to shoot the Windy City Rollers All-Star squad shortly before they headed to the Declaration of Derby, the WFTDA National tournament in Philadelphia. And as much as I wanted to make some frames that would make Strazz weep with envy, I didn’t quite manage that. But I’m not one to just give up with one minor setback. They knock you down, you get right back up and try again. (Just so that it is said, I didn’t get knocked down. The girls did; I didn’t.)

When I learned that the Windy City Rollers would be hosts for this year’s WFTDA National tournament, Uproar On The Lakeshore, I applied for photo credentials. And got them! Although not for the entire tournament, I received a full-day press pass for the main day of action, Saturday. It was also the day the Windy City Rollers were guaranteed to compete. Being a single elimination tournament, teams only get one shot at moving on.

So, handy press pass in hand, I headed over to the UIC Pavilion yesterday morning and set about finding my way to the “digital darkroom”. This was serious business, this time around, with dozens of photographers from all over the nation covering the event. Team photographers, press photographers. The Derby News Network streamed all the action live online.

And then there was me jumping around trying not to get run over and trying to make some good shots at the same time. The whole style of the game has changed since last year. Last month, the Chicago Reader published an extensive feature about the advent of “slow derby” and its corresponding challenges to more traditional leagues like the Windy City Rollers. The tournament was a great opportunity to see these new styles in action.

Bout after bout the teams who best incorporated the strategies of the Western style came out on top, so I set as a goal for myself to try and capture some of the technique: the strategy of trading penalties, the massive walls of stopped blockers. And the ensuing frustration that played across more speed-and-power oriented teams.

I covered three bouts and stayed to watch the fourth and final bout of the day while editing what I’d shot:

Rocky Mountain Rollergirls vs. Charm City Roller Girls
Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, Recap

Kansas City Roller Warriors vs. Philly Roller Girls
Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, Recap

Windy City Rollers vs. Oly Rollers
Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, Recap

Rocky Mountain Rollergirls vs. Gotham Girls Roller Derby
Recap