A beautiful summer day for the most recent private photowalk. We started the day in Millennium Park and lucked out with some great clouds reflecting in the Bean (Anish Kapoor).
Despite it being summer and it usually being very busy, it was pretty calm when we arrived at 9am on a Monday, allowing this detailed shot of the underside of the sculpture.
Given I’ve shot here many times, it’s hard to find a new perspective. Standing under the Bean looking northwest I noticed the reflection of the Crain’s Communication Building creating an interesting reflection.
Onto the nearby Pritzker Pavilion (Frank Gehry). I love how the stainless steel picks up the subtle hues of the red seats and the blue of the sky. A soft contrast to the harsher geometric section of the pavilion and the steel. This might be my favorite shot of the day.
There’s this section on the west side of the pavilion where you get a look at the structural area behind along with this rounded balcony-like staircase area. From a distance, I liked how the curves of the steel framed the concrete section of this space. And, I couldn’t decide between color & BW. So, you get both 😉
Getting a little closer, the zigzagging of the staircase wall + the beams casting shadows on the corrugated steel on the back wall grabbed my attention. Nice use of leading lines, layers, and shadows.
Lakeshore East was next with the world’s 2 tallest buildings designed by a woman (Jeanne Gang of Studio Gang Architects) – Aqua (2nd tallest) & St Regis Chicago (tallest).
Aqua is my favorite Chicago building. I’ve photographed it so many times it’s getting difficult to find something new. This time, there were some nice clouds so I thought I’d split the frame between the curves of the balconies & the clouds.
At the St Regis, there were some nice shadows between the columns. Interestingly, based on the curviness of the shadow you’d think the building was curved, but it’s not. I believe it’s the varying depths of panels that create the illusion of curves.
My only ICM shot of the day came from the section under the building where the driveway area is located. The columns create some interesting, geometric reflections on the glass side of the building. I edited it in both color & BW but prefer the color. I’ll share both for comparison.
More reflections at the Apple Store (Foster + Partners). The curved glass corners of the building are my favorite areas here to photograph. Typically, I’ve included some of the neighboring buildings but this time just the contrast in the linearity of the warm wood ceiling + the curves of the glass reflecting the blue sky and clouds.
Another reflection at the Burberry store (Callison Bartluce Architects). The alley side of the building is one of my favorite areas. Great reflections of the neighboring building and the vents of the building causing interesting, warped patterns on the black stainless steel.
We headed back toward the river for a Chicago icon – the Wrigley Building. Here, some angular details.
And, some dramatic light on the facade details.
Next door, Trump Tower (Skidmore Owings & Merrill). A bit more of a commercial shot of the winding walkway along the river.
Another Chicago icon – Marina City (Bertrand Goldberg) and those great patterns. The first shot is also combined with Mies van der Rohe’s 330 North Wabash.
Black & White, just because.
The final stop of the day was Santiago Calatrava’s Constellation at River Point Park. Always love the red against the reflective buildings surrounding it.
