For a few years, a local group and site called Forgotten Chicago sponsored some cruises down South Side rivers that were kind of more canals than rivers. These were a real change of pace for me, even less than a decade after I’d started photographing, moving from mostly nature to heavy industry, both active and dead.

This is the first of many photos I’ve culled from those trips. We went down the Calumet River for a few miles; one of the sights we passed was this very exposed mountain of blue salt that Chicago keeps handy for salting roads. It was a few stories tall and pretty impressive. I zoomed in and out as we passed; this was my favorite shot. But we’ll see this site again, along with others from those trips.

August 29, 2010. Nikon D90 (DX sensor), 70–300mm Nikon zoom lens at 300mm (35mm equivalent: 450mm), f/8, 1/2,500, ISO 640.