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All in Chicago Tourism
Parasite or Love?
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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."
Venetian Gothic
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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.
Chilling in the Park
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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.
A Wet Fall Day
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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.
Winter's Arrival
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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.
Apple of Concord
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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.
Taco Tragedy
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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.
Buckingham Fountain
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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.
Air and Water Show
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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.
From the Ace Hotel Chicago
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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.
Reenacting the Picasso Unveiling
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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.
Tiffany Dome
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The photographer takes the Tiffany Dome in the Chicago Cultural Center's Preston Bradley Hall as he or she finds it. The 38-foot in diameter dome has been lit by natural light since its restoration in 2008.
City-County Building
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Pictured is a sculpture that adjourns the City and County Building. Analogous to Certs--Two Mints In One--the Cook County Main Administration building is combined with Chicago's City Hall in an 11-story, Greek-styled building designed by Chicago architectural powerhouse Holabird & Root.
Dubuffet Sculpture
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Helmut Jahn's State of Illinois Building is in a state of disrepair. Chicago Tribune architectural columnist Blair Kamin points to rusted columns, chipped paint, and duct tape holding faded carpets together. There is also the smell of fast food grease wafting through the atrium from the food court on the lower level. All of this mirrors the State of Illinois' budget crisis, which will continue to plague the state despite the band-aid tax increase signed into law ten days ago by Governor Bruce Rauner.
Unfortunately, but appropriately, Jean Dubuffet's Monument with Standing Beast, which is located at the building's southeast corner, is in similar disrepair. The 10-ton sculpture has faded in parts from white to cigarette-finger yellow. It appears to be chipped, with parts of it covered in graffiti, which serves as another example of why we can't have nice things.
Playing on the Picasso
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Ah, yes, we all remember being a kid and partaking in the joys of summer. No school, so head down to the Daley Plaza, and then use the Picasso statue as a slide.
Glass Dome
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I headed over to the Chicago Cultural Center today intent on photographing the Tiffany Glass dome that sits above the Preston Bradley Hall. This is the dome that has the star power because it is believed to be the world's largest Tiffany dome. At 11:00AM the light was perfect, with the sun not quite directly overhead. Unfortunately, the hall was closed for an event--high school students.
Basking in the Sun
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Let's face it, one of life's simple pleasures in lying in the sun on a hot summer day in July. This gentlemen has it going on: The towel behind his head, the sunglasses slightly askew, and dressed in white head to toe. All serve to emphasize his deep tan. He is gracing one of the new lounge chairs that line Navy Pier. Yes, there is nothing better than lying out in the sun on a hot summer day in July.
Cigar
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Several stores opened pop-up shops on Navy Pier as part of the festivities surrounding the launch of the 109th Chicago-to-Macinac Island sailboat race held by the Chicago Yacht Club. One of the stores offered patrons the opportunity to acquire what looked like some high-end cigars and to then smoke them under a small tented area overlooking Lake Michigan.
Mwata at the MCA
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Mwata Bowden, a member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), brought his band, One Foot In, One Foot Out, to the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art for a Tuesdays on the Terrace performance. Bowden is not to be missed, particularly when he brings Ari Brown (tenor saxophone), Avreeayl Ra (drums), and Harrison Bankhead (bass), all AACM members, with him. Let's not forget Phil Q. on trumpet and Bowden's son, Khari B., who added poetry and rap to the mix.