Skyline From the West

Chicago

Northerly Island

Still hoping the rain would stop for a few skyline shots, I headed out to Northerly Island, home of the Adler Planetarium. Lights still shimmered the streets on the way out, I had to balance an umbrella to get even one shot, and I had no idea if I got anything worth saving. Home, dried off, warming up, I found the misty rain lighting up the skyline in one shot I really did like from the lakeside vantage point. One shot? Yes, worth the effort.

Downtown Walkers

Two walkers huddled under a single umbrella and crossing a downtown street with the colors of the lights shimmering into the night.

Navy Pier

Navy Pier looks strangely different under the falling rain at ten o'clock of a Saturday night. Walkways normally filled with people are empty, lights shimmering across the pier. The empty wheel was turning as I turned and drove the car away.

Rainy Streets

I had an intention of getting some well-lit skyline/night shots of the beautiful Chicago downtown. With the rain, I was more successful capturing wet scenics of a city riding out a rainstorm. As a candid photographer, I always gladly change gears and collect what I find.

Skyline Panorama & Polar

Our last sights from the lakefront tour via Segway are two looks at the magnificent skyline of the Windy City, depicted from Adler Planetarium. The panaorma was stitched together in Photoshop from three photos and it stretches from Shedd Aquarium on the left through the entire downtown and includes Lake Point Tower on the right.

Below that we have a Polar Coordinate view of the skyline as a planet of its own. Certainly a planet worth visiting!

Shoreline and Beach, October

Touring south of Adler Planetarium and passing a beach, closed for the season, put a touch of fall into the camera lens. Later, along the harbor shore, several rowboats rest upside down, waiting for the yacht owners to run their boats up the river for the winter.

Last Pair

When I first saw the striking red of the CNA Building, featured in the portrait, I disliked it. Time has changed my eye as the powerful color sets the simple rectangle apart as no other portion of the cityscape. The landscape is from the grounds of Adler Planetarium, with its huge and beautiful sundial appearing to caress the north side buildings.

Another Couple of Looks

This pair of looks includes a peek of harbor in each, the landscape looking northwest once again and the portrait looking due north and highlighting Lake Point Tower.

The marvelous sun and crisp, clean October air really acted as the makeup to primp the Chicago skyline to its very best.
And this is my 650th post.

A Great City in Any Direction

From Buckingham Fountain and then heading south along the lakeshore, a viewer is in perfect position to see a great city in every direction. Well, every direction other than east, which is Lake Michigan.

We will look in the next few posts at some traditional landscape shots, in the horizontal format, but also some building cityscapes in the portrait format. The main subject in this portrait is the Willis Tower. (Wow, I managed to use the new name!) The landscape looks north from the Museum Campus, with the underpass in the foreground. The underpass allows foot traffic, bicycles, joggers . . . and Segways, to pass under Lake Shore Drive.

At Buckingham Fountain

Back on the Segway trail, we see a shot of Buckingham Fountain as we look north, back toward Millennium Park and the Prudential Building, once the tallest building in Chicago. Then turning to the left and looking west away from the lake and into the downtown skyline. It is still a bit hard for me to call the tallest building anything but Sears Tower!

Turning the Skyline Inside Out

Loved the skyline shots taken from Mystic Blue so much that I had to take a little play time with some of the images. Changing the Polar Coordinates curves and flips a horizontal image into a globe-like view. Here we have two opposite looks, one wrapping the skyline around the globe and one wrapping it inside.

Dusk

As dusk falls over downtown Chicago, watching the many lights click on is quite beautiful. Here we see an image of the downtown area as the lights come on, followed by a closeup of the iconic Adler Planetarium on a peninsula reaching out into Lake Michigan.

Millennium Park & the Prudential

Look closely at the group of buildings seen here and you can find evidence of Millennium Park. The Silvery panels of the bandshell are seen just beyond some of the sailboats parked in the harbor. Most interesting to me, a lifelong Chicago area resident, is to look just to the right of Millennium to see the Prudential Building, dwarfed by the Aon and other skyscrapers. Of course, that was the tallest building in Chicago for several years.

In the other image, one of the sailboats heads in toward the harbor making the scene look just ready to be turned into a poster. Guess I should start looking for a quotation!

Two of Three

Two interesting clumps of buildings surrounding two of the three tallest buildings in Chicago. One features the Aon Building, the other features the John Hancock Center. Perhaps we will see the Willis Tower before the lake cruise is complete.

Lake Michigan Cruise

Labor Day weekend was a great time to cash in one of our Groupons, and we did. A great bargain gave us tickets on Mystic Blue, a Lake Michigan dinner cruise ship, and we loved the entire event. The food was excellent, the coffee was great, a nice glass of wine was included, and the staff on board was friendly and efficient. The two hours went by quickly, and the star of the show was downtown Chicago.
We boated south from Navy Pier just beyond Adler Planetarium and Soldier Field, then we turned around and headed back. Perhaps five miles in two hours, all in perfect view of the skyline of Chicago. We will look at some of the views in the next several posts. Here we see Mystic Blue at the pier before boarding and the creative logo I developed from one of the photos I collected. We will look at more in the next post.

Tall Buildings

From the rear of the rooftop a look up and to the left shows a great view of the downtown skyline, one that is of course impossible inside the ballpark as the upper deck would block it out. Here we see a view of the John Hancock Center on Michigan Avenue.
Looking up and to the left gave me a great view of the largest of the high rise buildings north of the ballpark, this one on Irving Park Road and Lake Shore Drive. This one always catches my eye, as my son Eric lived there for a year fifteen years ago, a nice memory. I would park in that garage and we would walk to the ballgames.