Yesterday was Independence Day, I decided to to get out of the house, away from television, away from the internet, and go and take some photos. I left my dad's house and walked down Belvidere Rd. It is a very busy road ususally, but it being a holiday there was not much traffic. As a photographer, I try to keep my eyes moving around looking for something interesting. There is always something interesting to shoot. As I walked down the street I realized how, we as a society, throw our trash alongside the road, I seen beer bottles, soda cans, left overs from fast food resturants, clothes [I actually seen a full set in a 1/2 miles stretch, including underwear, pants, socks, shirt, bra, and shoes, makes me wonder if some lady is running around naked, LOL], and other garbage. It made me sad that we treat our planet this way.
After walking down Belvidere Rd. for an hour, I entered the DesPlaines River trail, I started walking north and looking around for wildlife to shoot. I didn't see any but I did take some shots of the river and several scenery shots on the trail. I couldn't stop very long to snap a picture, every time I did stop, I got swarmed by mosquitos who must have smelled fresh blood. There were so many, they could have all picked me up and carried me off. After about 45 minutes I came to Washington St.
I decided to go west on Washington St. I quickly came upon Six Flags over Great America. I snapped a few shots of a rollercoaster and a ride there. I moved on and found my shot for the day [the above photo]. Out of my entire stroll this is the only house that displayed any decoration for Indepence Day. I think this is "the" best shot of the day. This made me sad, when I was a kid, everybody had flags on their houses, they "actually" celebrated what the day stands for, I think that this generation has forgotten that. Anyways, I pressed onward. I finally, after 2 1/2 hours of walking came across a park where they were going to have a fireworks display, only to find out it was cancelled and rescheduled for the next day, due to the threat of rain. So after sitting for a couple of minutes I started my walk back.
I went directly down Washington St. I did not go through the trail, because I am not sure how safe it was after dark. By this time it was getting dark very quickly. By the time I got half way home it was very dark. I came across a family that had some very impressive fireworks, they were setting them off very close to the street I was on. I was able to get a few good shots of them, especially since I was right under them, they were going off right above my head.
Those were the last photos I took on my stroll, it was dark and I wanted to get home before the rain started. I got home just over 5 hours later. I walk 5 miles in 1 hour and 15 minutes, so at that speed, it comes to a 20 mile walk, in the end of all my photo taking, I took 115 photos. I was exhausted, I haven't walked that much in years, but it was a great little stroll. I have posted some of the shots on my FaceBook page for anyone interested. Take care and stay safe.......Kevin
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