Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon before the Cubs home opener on April 8, 2019. | Victor Hilitski/For the Sun-Times

Participants flee the frigid water during the 19th annual Chicago Polar Plunge on March 3, 2019, at North Avenue Beach. The money raised from the event goes to all of the items that the Special Olympics organization needs for more than 7,500 area athletes that participate in their program. | Victor Hilitski/For the Sun-Times

Chicago Blackhawks 2019 training camp festival on September15, 2019 at the United Center. | Victor Hilitski/For the Sun-Times

The diamond ring phase happens at the end of a total solar eclipse on August 21, 2017. The village of  Makanda (Illinois) got two minutes and 40 seconds of darkness during the total solar eclipse - more than anywhere else in the United States.  

Lori Lightfoot greets supporters on Wednesday, the morning after defeating Toni Preckwinkle in the 2019 Chicago mayoral election, at a Clark/Lake CTA Station in Chicago, on April 3, 2019. | Victor Hilitski/For the Sun-Times

The U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds perform at the annual Chicago Air and Water Show on Aug. 19, 2018, as seen from North Avenue Beach in Chicago. | Victor Hilitski/For the Sun-Times

New members of the Joffrey Ballet at Navy Pier Chicago, September 13, 2018. | Victor Hilitski/For the Sun-Times

Blackhawks goaltender Robin Lehner(left) and forward Tim Soderlund(right) during Chicago Blackhawks 2019 training camp festival on September15, 2019 at the United Center. | Victor Hilitski/For the Sun-Times

Part of the story “Being Chloe“.
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"Slow and Low" Chicago Lowrider Festival - celebration of Chicago’s lowrider culture and community, featuring lowrider cars tricked out by Chicago’s finest clubs, as well as vintage cars and trucks from the 40s and 50s. For Polaris Imges.

Vladimir Putin (Russian president) arrived in the Palace of Independence in Minsk for the second meeting of the Norman Four. "Normandy format" is a diplomatic group of high-ranking representatives of four countries (Germany, Russia, Ukraine and France) to resolve the situation in eastern Ukraine. Belarus . 2015

full article is HERE

People run on South Lake Shore Drive during Chicago Marathon.

Story on the journey from Chicago(IL) to Los Angeles (CL) on Amtrak passenger train Southwest Chief: 43 hours, 2265 miles, 31 stop. The Southwest Chief is a passenger train operated by Amtrak on a 2,265-mile route through the Midwestern and Southwestern United States. It runs between Chicago, Illinois and Los Angeles, California, passing through Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. 2019.

As part of an annual Woodstock tradition, groundhog Willie emerged from a tree trunk on Groundhog Day to predict an early arrival for spring this year on Feb. 2, 2018. Woodstock was made famous by the movie "Groundhog Day," which was filmed there.
On the picture: Woodstock Mayor Brian Sager (right) anounse the word from Woodstock Willy that he saw his shadow Friday during the annual Groundhog Day prognostication in historic Woodstock Square. Stephen Tobolowsky (center) aka Ned Ryerson - everyone’s favorite insurance agent from the movie and Willy is being held by Mark Szafran of Animal Rentals in Chicago.

Chicago Lowrider Festival began as a small gathering of 40-plus cars enthusiasts in 2011. Today's event has grown to over 200 cars and attended by thousands. It took place in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago. The festival is a celebration of Chicago’s lowrider culture and community, featuring an awesome display of lowrider cars and bikes tricked out by Chicago’s finest clubs and shops, as well as vintage cars and trucks from the 40s and 50s . Attendees can check out the lowriders from inside and out or see them in action as they show off their impressive hydraulic systems and hop off the ground.

Part of the story “Being Chloe“.
CLICK HERE to read more.

Overview of the Chicago skyline as seen from the Northwestern University Lakefill during Polar Vortex on January 30, 2019. Temperature dip into -29 Cº (-19Fº) with the strong wind that was blasting on the shoreline. Distance in between this bench and downtown is approximately 11 miles (18 km) on straight line.

Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot at the Wrigley Field before the Cubs home opener on April 8, 2019. | Victor Hilitski/For the Sun-Times

 American Eagle Airlines airplane Embraer ERJ 170-200LR (tail N982NN) Boston-Chicago flying over the moon before landing in O'Hare International Airport.

Field hockey match

Massive live show of DDT band. It's a popular Russian rock band founded by its lead singer, musician and songwriter - Yuri Shevchuk. 

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Participants jump into a 34-degree Lake Michigan for the 19th annual Chicago Polar Plunge on March 3, 2019, at North Avenue Beach. The money raised from the event goes to all of the items that the Special Olympics organization needs for more than 7,500 area athletes that participate in their program. | Victor Hilitski/For the Sun-Times

Belarusian Open Championship on the cycling track

Top-level athletes from across the world compete during the annual Norge Winter Ski Jump Tournament in Fox River Grove. The mood at the 113th Norge Ski Jump International Winter Tournament was especially festive as members celebrated the success of three Olympians who trained at the facility. Norge Ski Club ski jumpers Mike Glasder, Kevin Bickner and Casey Larson all qualify for the U.S. Olympic team. January 28, 2018 - Fox River Grove, Illinois, United States: (Victor Hilitski / Polaris) 

Euromaidan was a wave of demonstrations and civil unrest in Ukraine, which began on the night of 21 November 2013 with public protests in Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) in Kiev. The protests were sparked by the Ukrainian government's decision to suspend the signing of an association agreement with the European Union, instead choosing closer ties to Russia and the Eurasian Economic Union. Read full story HERE.

Performance of world famous British pop star - Robbie Williams in Minsk as part of the «Let me entertain you» tour. 

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Petro Poroshenko (President of Ukraine) ahead and Alexander Lukashenko next to Vladimir Putin (Russian president) on stairs on the way to hall of negotiations of the Norman four. "Normandy format" is a diplomatic group of high-ranking representatives of four countries (Germany, Russia, Ukraine and France) to resolve the situation in eastern Ukraine. Belarus . 2015

full article is HERE

Chicago Lowrider Festival began as a small gathering of 40-plus cars enthusiasts in 2011. Today's event has grown to over 200 cars and attended by thousands. It took place in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago. The festival is a celebration of Chicago’s lowrider culture and community, featuring an awesome display of lowrider cars and bikes tricked out by Chicago’s finest clubs and shops, as well as vintage cars and trucks from the 40s and 50s . Attendees can check out the lowriders from inside and out or see them in action as they show off their impressive hydraulic systems and hop off the ground.

Prisoners of Metropolitan Correction Center in downtown Chicago (MCC) doing morning yoga classes on the prison rooftop (~29 floor).

The MMC seems to break away from all the past typological rules of prison. Not like the prisons in the mid-eighteens century which were built on the edge of the city, this prison is built in a crowd area in downtown, it's a concrete skyscraper in a right triangular shape with narrow and long slit windows. MCC Chicago was designed by architect Harry Weese and constracted in 1975. Weese chose the maximum five inch width for the seven-foot-high barless windows. Following an escape in 1985 bars were introduced. In 2012 two convicted bank robbers managed to create a hole and rappel 17 stories to their escape on tied bed sheets.

People swim and play in the water the town's outdoor swimming pool. Leisure area located in the very center of Minsk, and along with shashlyk, sun loungers and mineral-rich water, allows to enjoy the atmosphere of classic Soviet sanatorium for a day.
Minsk, Belarus, 2013

Blackhawks forward Nathan Noel(78) and defensemen Philip Holm(48) during Chicago Blackhawks 2019 training camp festival on September 15, 2019 at the United Center. | Victor Hilitski/For the Sun-Times

Polar vortex 2019: Record cold grips the Midwest: a winter storm is moving through the area, potentially causing white-out conditions and dumping a half-foot of snow. Saturday, Jan. 19, 2019, in Chicago. The storm has resulted in snowy and icy roads throughout northern Illinois, some Metra delays and more than 600 cancellations at the city’s airports. Temperatures could dip into the single-digits Sunday night, and don't forget strong wind, that literally blasting on the shoreline.