The decade of the 1970s was one of radical architectural transition in Chicago’s central business district (“Downtown”). Many old buildings dating back to the early years of the 20th century and the late 19th century were being demolished in the name of “progress” in that bigger, taller structures would make better use of the space now occupied by these 4-5 story buildings. Unfortunately some historically significant buildings, like the old Adler and Sullivan Chicago Stock Exchange, were caught in this rampage of destruction. Much of this vanishing of Chicago during the 50s, 60s and 70s was recorded by a Chicago photographer named Richard Nickel. It was his work that inspired me to do what I did after he was killed in a roof collapse while documenting the wrecking of the Stock Exchange building. For more of his work, see the book RICHARD NICKEL’S CHICAGO currently available at the Skokie Library.

This video tells the story of one such old building, not historically memorable or important, that stood at 367 West Adams in Chicago, between the Sears Tower and the south branch of the Chicago river. I was fortunate enough to be able to take a series of photographs (slides) documenting its demise. Photos were taken “before and after” from ground level. From a vantage point on the 24th floor of the Sears Tower, a series of photos were taken of the building at intervals that recorded the work of the wrecking ball. Ultimately a vacant lot is visible showing no trace of the building that once stood on the site. That was in 1976. The photos have been stored since then.

The equipment and software now available to Skokie Public Library cardholders in the Digital Media Lab, 36 years later, made the production of this video possible. Combining the ability to scan old 35mm slides on our scanners and programs on the Macs like iPhoto, Photoshop Elements and iMovie, this video came to life after more than three decades of wishful thinking. Enjoy.

This image by Dan Golden was drawn in thanks for the Digital Media Lab providing a space/equipment/software to create art.   We are just thankful that we are able to help people be brilliant.  Do you have some art you created in the DML you would like us to share on our website? Please let us know!

Here is a video Sally Chapralis made while in the Digital Media Lab with assistance from Library staff.  She plans on adding video entries to spice up her very active blog http://sallychapralis.com/.  This video (and one more) made with a Flip Video camera, a tripod and a few minutes of work with iMovie – all in about an hour.

Enjoy high schools students Rishy P. Chacko and Jake Morrison’s video project.  This video was created in the Digital Media Lab using the super-easy and surprisingly robust iMovie.

Geri, a volunteer in the Digital Media Lab, continues her lessons on graphic design with this video on the Mixer Brush Tool. The Mixer Brush tool’s job is to simulate what a paintbrush would do on a real canvas, mixing colors, stroke direction, wetness, and amount of paint on the brush.

Geri Martinez DML volunteer and now instructor teaches us how to touch up old photos with Photoshop Elements 9 in this short video.

Check out Samantha Harris’ ABCDEEZ COLORS – The Guide to an Alpahbet of Uncommon Colors. Samantha designed this book using the program Adobe InDesign CS5 for a class at DePaul University.  The same  Adobe InDesign Cs5 we have on two of our computers in the Digital Media Lab.

She didn’t use the Digital Media Lab for this particular assignment, but now that she is home from school she will be using the Library to learn more about this incredible program and others.

If you too would like to learn more about InDesign check out a book, view a helpful video, or ask in the Adult Computer Lab on the second floor and we can set up a lesson.

Check out regular Digital Media Lab user and occasional volunteer Lacy Wood’s website.  She designed much of the look of the site using various programs in the DML.

If you would like to learn more about designing websites with Dreamweaver or just designing graphics for a regular HTML site or blog let us know and we would be happy to sit down and show you the ropes!

Geri made a fun and instructional movie on how she created her awesome poster (Food & Wine) in the Digital Media Lab.  Take a few minutes to watch a master at work!

Geraldine Martinez designed this poster using Photoshop CS4 (we now have CS5 on computer #3) and the Bamboo Fun Tablet.  Wow, is she talented!

Geri will be providing an upcoming video tutorial on how she used the Bamboo Fun Tablet to trace pictures in to Photoshop.