Chicago Skylines: Part 3, Art and Culture
Time for the next part in the set! If you haven't been following along, start off by checking out part one here, and then part two here. If you're in the mood for some humour, @joseph also made a parody of my photos here!
Part 3 will distract a little bit away from me ogling skyscrapers all day long, and instead get a bit artsy, wandering around Millennium Park in downtown Chicago. So, let's get started!
Cloud Gate
Formally known as the Cloud Gate, this reflective sculpture is known to all as "The Bean". The coolest thing I find about it is that it is completely uniform, without seams, and is a hyperbolic structure -- okay, a little mathy, but it's cool! Taking a picture from the right angle can lead to some crazy infinite-mirror results.
For bonus points (and an upvote), can you figure out which person in the reflections is me?
Jay Pritzker Pavilion
This oddly-shaped amphitheatre in the north end of Millennium park serves as a place for performance, as well as an eye catching work of art. In fact, to get around height restrictions for buildings, the pavilion is technically a work of art, not a building. Loophole!
Art Institute Train
Walking past the Art Institute of Chicago, which is right beside Millennium park, I nabbed this photo of the Edit: "L" train South Shore Line station here -- which goes right through the institute. I quite like the style of the trains in Chicago: it seems to match well the metallic infrastructure and massive skyscrapers for a steampunk-y feel.
Cultural Center
Lastly, I peeked inside the Chicago Cultural Center, which is right across from the park and amphitheatre (which you can see in the last shot). The place had free access, and hosted a few exhibits -- but nothing too interesting to me while I was there. The building itself however is pretty cool: being a landmark and hosting a ton of exhibits year round, and originally being a library.
That's it for today; stay tuned for Part 4!
For those of you interested: Camera is Sony NEX-7, with my usual Zeiss 16-70mm lens.
Click an image to enlarge! They are, of course, down-sampled from my original copies; we can chat if you're interested in any full quality versions. As always, these are my original photos, and I maintain the copyright.
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First, let me say that yours is one of the best photos I've seen of The Bean.
However, the trains by the Art Institute are not L trains. They belong to the South Shore Line, an interurban railroad which runs between Chicago's Loopand South Bend, Indiana.
Aha! Thanks for the clarification!
Aw man, I miss my city. During the summertime it gets so beautiful with Lollapalooza and all :) The only thing is.. I do NOT miss the winters one bit. They are brutal.
I worked across the street from the Cultural Center for 25 years. I spent a lot of lunch hours there.
Just found this :) Gonna go back and check the other posts! Thanks!
Congratulations that your post got it's due success!
Cultural centre is amazing
I want see this city :)
Really well done @anyx! You are going to DPS.
Really nice pictures. And wow, that ceiling in the cultural center. Just amazing...!!
I love great architecture, so thanks for the great pictures. Also, very nice combination of modern and classical buildings :)