[Click on the photograph to enlarge it, and for 22 additional photographs and commentary]
Today I had the opportunity to photograph the contrast between old and new when I visited a furniture and fixture manufacturing company and a metal grinder and fabricating plant, both located within a block of each other on Chicago's far west side.
[Click on the photograph to enlarge it and for an ode on digital technology]
Two days after the Apple store moved several blocks south on Michigan Avenue to its new riverfront location, I stopped by the old Apple store to see what remained. I was greeted by an all-black wall where a sleek glass storefront once welcomed me, with what was for me an intriguing statement stenciled in white: "We would never leave you."
[Click on the photograph to enlarge it and for additional commentary]
The Chicago Athletic Association Building now houses a boutique 241-room hotel, with a ground-floor Shake Shack, the Cherry Circle Room on the hotel's second floor, and Cindy's, a rooftop restaurant and bar, with an outdoor terrace. The interior is pretty snazzy.
[Click on the photograph to enlarge it and for additional commentary]
Not much to say about this one. That's the Prudential Building. If you doubt me, read the sign at the top. It was completed in 1955--the first skyscraper built in Chicago following the Great Depression. I am standing in Millennium Park's Lurie Garden.
[Click on the photograph to enlarge it and for additional commentary]
I am standing dead center on the BP Bridge, which connects Chicago's Millennium Park with the newer Maggie Daley Park. The bridge is one of the most frustrating photographic subjects in Chicago. Designed by famed architect Frank Gehry, its stainless steel parapets and hardwood planked floor slithers across Columbus Drive, bringing children and their parents to the two gigantic climbing walls, an ice skating ribbon, and the playground areas that makeup much of Daley Park.
[Click on the photograph to enlarge it and for additional commentary]
No snow today. The temperature was well above 32F until sunset. Yet, for me, today marked the start of winter. I was still after that elusive photograph of the new Apple store that overlooks the Chicago River.
[Click on the photograph to enlarge it, and for additional photographs and commentary]
Finally, after at least a year and half, Apple's new flagship store opened tonight at 5PM, with Apple CEO Tim Cook on the premises. The hordes were out there, worshipping the glass monolith just as the apes worshipped the black monolith in Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. From the monolith comes knowledge.
[Click on the photograph to enlarge it and for additional commentary]
The Cubs will not be repeating this year thanks to a powerful LA Dodger team, but that is not the only tragedy befalling Wrigleyville, Cubs fans, and late night drunks at bar time. News broke in early August that the much beloved Taco Bell at 111 West Addison would be closing, to be replaced with a shiny new 39,755 square foot three-story retail development.
[Click on the photograph to enlarge it, and for additional photographs and commentary]
Mark Naftalin, who added high octane playing to one of the original incarnations of the Butterfield Blues Band, offered a dazzling two-hour solo piano recital. Why this guy has not issued albums of his great blues piano playing is totally beyond me, particularly because runs an independent record label.
[Click on the photograph to enlarge it, and for additional commentary and photographs]
This photograph is either a two or four-minute exposure at F32 and ISO 100. I was using the iPad wireless app to trigger the shutter, and the camera appears to have recorded the shutter speed shown on the dial rather than the one I inputed into the application. My camera was fitted with a 10-stop neutral density filter, which explains the silky water and fuzzy clouds.
[Click on the photograph to enlarge it and for additional photographs and commentary]
I spent much of the day at the 59th Annual Chicago Air and Water Show. I take in some of the show every year because it takes place right out my front door, but I am not a fan, particularly from a photographic standpoint.
[Click on the photograph to enlarge it and for additional photographs and commentary]
Today, somewhere between 200 and 400 people marched from Federal Plaza to the intersection of Wacker and Wabash (Chicago's official anti-Trump demonstration site) to protest the weekend's events in Charlottesville and President's Trump's multiple responses to it. Clearly his 2-hour old comments from the lobby of the Trump Tower in New York City added fuel to the fire.
[Click on the photograph to enlarge it and for additional commentary]
Just finished a glass of Sauvignon Blanc at the rooftop bar of the recently opened Ace Hotel in the West Loop on Morgan Street. The bar opened August 10. Then headed over to the 'L' to get the long view of the Lake Street elevated line.
[Click on the photograph to enlarge it and for additional commentary]
I hate balconies, particularly when they are added to classic brick buildings. The developers will tell you that apartments and condos must have balconies to make them attractive, Yet, aside from storing grills on them, nobody seems to use them. Look closely at this photograph. It is a beautiful Saturday afternoon in August. Not a single person is on any of the balconies.
[Click on the photograph to enlarge it and for additional commentary]
The photograph was taken from the rooftop bar of the Ace Chicago Boutique Hotel. If I had guests in town, I might suggest staying here. It is a little off the beaten path if the Michigan Avenue, Lake Michigan, and Millennium Park are your destinations, but they are all a relatively quick "L" or cab ride away. One thing is for sure, this neighborhood is now restaurant central.
[Click on the photograph to enlarge it and for additional commentary]
The photograph may not fully capture the effect of the curve, but someone standing at the base, looking up, first sees the actual bend. If the person stares long enough, the top of the building appears to bend back over the person, which is just an illusion.
[Click on the photograph to enlarge it and for three additional amazing photographs, as well as additional commentary]
Regular readers have seen this photograph before, but this one is very different from the earlier one. It's later afternoon, with the sun streaming in between two skyscrapers, providing a wonderful glow to the scene.
[Click on the photograph to enlarge it and for additional commentary]
A few weeks back I said that I have had trouble capturing an image of the Jean Dubuffet sculpture that sits in front of Helmut Jahn's State of Illinois building. While heading out from today's 50th-anniversary reenactment of the the unveiling of the Picasso statue in Daley Plaza, I passed the west wall of the Daley Plaza. I had noticed the reflection before, but today the colors were striking and I liked the tableau of pedestrians. Not much more to say.
[Click on the photograph to enlarge it, and for additional photographs and commentary, including a listing of other public work in Chicago]
Today, the City's Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events held a reenactment of the August 15, 1967 unveiling of the Picasso statue that sits in Daley Plaza. Although a major tourist attraction, as well is should be, Anish Kapoor's Cloud Gate has usurped the Picasso's stature with city residents and visitors. Personally, I prefer the Picasso, which includes many classic Picasso motifs folded into its Cor-Ten steel outline and shapes.
[Click on the photograph to enlarge it and for additional commentary, including a restaurant review]
This photograph was shot from the third floor outdoor bar at the Chicago Loews Hotel in Streeterville, looking southwest to the famed London Guarantee & Accident Building on the south shore of the Chicago River at the intersection of Michigan and Wacker. The bar, dubbed Streeterville Social, is a nice place to hang on a warm summer night. We visited it after seeing Kathryn Bigelow's outstanding film, Detroit, at the nearby cineplex. We were seated on a coach under a large umbrella. The corn, pepper and mushroom flatbread, mussels, and watermelon feta salad were all excellent, as was the margarita.
