Tired. Tan. Delayed. Home.

Ok - so we just couldn't make it home fast enough today. And though we got up at 8:30am Madrid time to walk around a bit before our flight at 1pm, I certainly didn't expect to be walking in my door at home in Chicago at 10pm central. That's 4am Madrid time.
But though it's late, it's good to be back. I'm relieved our 2nd flight from Philly was only 2 hours late. I'm relieved my bag made it home with me. And I'm relieved that I could come home to my own bed once again.
Details on the trip soon...

How Chicago celebrates Independence Day

For at least the last month, this flag has been displayed inside the Macy's department Store (originally the Marshall Field's Flagship store) on State Street. It is by their account the largest indoor flag in America. And it's pretty incredible.
I'm headed to the beach to celebrate freedom today with a few new city friends. The weather will be perfect, albeit unseasonably cool by local standards.
I'll think about the fact that our freedom has never been free. I'll remember that many people have worked long and hard to enable this democracy to allow its citizens the rights to free speech, press, assembly and above all that "all men are created equal..." even if that equality takes some fighting.
I hope yours has some bbq or a parade or maybe just some good fireworks.

Still packin 40 hours into a 24 hr work week.

So - I actually started this week in Michigan, shooting video for an upcoming client website. We had the fortune of getting approval to shoot green-screen video of the talent used in a catalog photoshoot to give some life to the new website homepage.
Shooting video is actually one of the more exciting things we get to do - and the creatives love it because they really get to affect the brand and how we position it.
But alas - our schedule for Monday was chock-a-block full--- shooting 5 videos and two photo setups (one 30 miles out of town in the middle of nowhere). And I also attended three client meetings in the corporate office.
But hey - I can't really complain. It gets me out of the office.
Now, I'm officially on vacation until 8am July 21.
Amen to that.

30 pictures in 30 hours

Times Square trenches
Originally uploaded by j_b_copeland

I had a little more time to check out my New York City pictures from my recent trip, and posted a few to flickr. My favorites were pulled from my late-night walk up to Times Square to find hidden tags (stickers/graffiti/etc) that a million people a day walk right by-- and never see. i took more night photos than day photos, but then again - my camera takes very decent low-light photos. Check out the set by clicking on the adjacent picture.