Places 1 - Chicago Reflections

Went to Chicago last month.  Great city.  We were there two nights and one of them was in a downtown hotel…better to experience the flavor and atmosphere of the place. 

While Manhattan has a fantastic skyline, one can’t really appreciate it when you’re deep inside its steel and glass canyons.  You have to be in Jersey or Brooklyn to do that.  Chicago, with its river and grand lakefront park space, allows you to see great swaths of its high-rise development and distinctive skyscrapers.  Also, as Central Park does for pictures of New York, the natural elements of Grant Park add a pleasant contrast to the vertical features of the buildings.

One of my favorite public spaces there is Millennium Park and the Cloud Gate sculpture.    Also known as ‘The Bean’, this huge, polished, stainless steel form sits in a much larger plaza where it can be approached from all sides.  What makes this sculpture so attractive is that it is a giant, curved mirror.  A total of 168 plates are joined so seamlessly and smoothly, all you see are the reflections of everything behind and around you.  I went to it on both days and there was never a time when visitors weren’t all over it.  See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_Gate for a picture of the entire structure in its place.

Since I flew to the Windy City, I packed just one camera and one lens…a Tamron 18-270 mm zoom lens I bought in February 2010.  There will be a future post about that lens but let’s not spoil this moment.  I was in compact, urban-visitor-on-public-transportation gear mode…as least as compact as a big, honkin’ camera can be, but that’s my choice.  I envy those of you who can pull a ten-megapixel camera out of your pocket and capture a winner…but that’s also another story.   

Naturally, when I was there, with 500 other camera-wielding visitors, I tried to find a different way to show this fascinating structure. 

Cloud Gate Behind the Wall (16 June 2011)

Because there are no flat surfaces on the ‘Bean’, it’s not always easy to find your reflection.  Plus, seeing what the city looks like in it is mesmerizing. 

Cloud Gate – The Bubble That Ate Chicago (16 June 2011)

Since the sculpture is large enough to allow people to pass underneath it, one can get an even freakier perspective looking up.  It’s as if you have been swallowed by a fun house mirror.

Cloud Gate – In the Belly of the Beast (16 June 2011)

Don’t miss your chance to see downtown Chicago.  The Loop and the lakefront alone can take up days, if you want, with the Art Institute, Shedd Aquarium, Field Museum and Navy Pier…all within walking distance of each other.  And don’t miss the ‘Bean’.

A post script for this entry. 

We were joined in Chicago by Beck’s brother Rod.  I realize I have never dwelled much on the fact that I have no brothers…but I do have nine brothers-in-law.  Rod’s a neat guy…doting father…successful businessman…amazing woodworker…former All Academic Big Ten basketball player.  We were together in Chicago and there was talk about how lucky the nine Ripley kids were.  The parents are still with us and none of the kids (the youngest is 44) has ever had a life-threatening event. 

Rod, Jennifer and Beck (18 June 2011)

A week after this picture was taken, he was badly injured while working alone.  A couple of Good Samaritans in Madison gave him the critical minutes he needed to survive.  It will be a long recuperation but he has a great family and a terrific lady to help him.  We wish for him a fast and full recovery.