"And then, when I went to Chicago..." Sun Ra

Millenium Park Stage

"Bright Lights, Big City" Jimmy Reed's great Chicago Blues classic is what I had hoped to hear in my first visit to Chicago but sadly I didn't hear  that blues style at all.  Nevertheless, the Bright Lights, Big City label is right on today and Chicago turned out to be a big surprise.  I'm not sure if the skyscrapers are a massive façade hiding a troubled urban blight but what I saw was wonderful.  Environmentally conscious, clean, graffiti-free, culturally dynamic and architecturally amazing, Chicago beats Toronto by miles.

A view across the Chicago Tribune Plaza on Michigan Avenue, part of Chicago's Magnificent Mile, where the controversial 26 -foot Marilyn Monroe Statue was placed in July. They're not sure she belongs in the Windy City. The general cleanliness of the downtown was very impressive.

Chicago's Architectural Institute's First Lady boat tour provided a great lecture on the architectural story of Chicago. Most of the next images were taken on this tour.

Wonderful reflections resemble Art Deco era.  Mysteriously each pattern is very different on any individual window. This skyscraper called "333 Waker Drive."    

Another part of the same building:

There is an endless supply of great photographic possibilities in the towers:  Below the Aqua tower (middle) where each apartment has a unique balcony design to deflect the wind. It's the tallest skyscraper in Chicago designed by a female architect

More reflections:

Thirty-Eight moveable bridges span the chicago river and each has a distinctive operator's rooms from the simple to elaborate:

Millenium Park's famous "Bean" and "People Fountains" are great attractions:

Legacy Tower behind "Bean" in Millennium Park

Under the Bean:

Walk a little further south and you find the treasures of the Chicago Art Institute:

Tang Dynasty, 9thC. women on horse

The modern bamboo artistry of Japan's Notoru

Contemplating Hopper's iconic "Nighthawks"

But art is on the street too:

Outside the Museum of Modern Art - 

This street art is a sad reminder.  T-shirts representing the young people who died in Chicago and area schools this past year:

Night Life: In search of the Blues

He said he was the world's greatest Blues singer.

Where's the graffiti?  Chicago Transit has ordered 300 new cars from Bombardier.

But everywhere there is this wonderful variety of buildings:

Willis Tower (formerly Sears) - World's Highest 1974-1997.  103 elevators

Harbor Point residential and the old Navy Pier

The famous and lovely Wrigley Building (clock) is now dwarfed by the Trump Tower, Chicago's second highest and ugliest?

The John Hancock Building, Chicago's 4th Highest.  

Top of the Chicago Tribune. Built after the Cathedral of Rouen's Butter Tower. The tower incorporates rocks from all over the world (Below)

Finally, half a day is not enough to explore the Chicago Botanical Gardens, 20 miles north of the city:

Changing Courtice

Monarchs, near the lake down Courtice Road

The fall is a favourite time for good light and colour and September has already been full of surprises.  The country-side is starting to change rapidly as the temperatures fall and clearer air has arrived. All the images, except the Monarch butterfly's were taken with a point-and-shoot, Canon G12, while biking the roads around Courtice.  I continue to be amazed at the variety of opportunities for photography within 5 km of my home - walking or biking give you more time to discover your surroundings and enjoy the scenery than you might see from a car.

Living in this area trains are a constant part of daily life and this gentleman said he came down every day to film the trains.  He listens to the train engineers on a WT. Trains are a tough shoot as the most times they don't stand still but here they move slowly.

Containers can be as long as 14.6 m weighing over 30,000 kg -

Later, the view from the Courtice Road Railway bridge offered a surprise opportunity - One train was waiting  as another passed by:

Canadian Icons

Contrasting Light:

 

Contrasting Shapes:

A misty morning on Courtice Road, with a pleasing soft light

Here is a view of downtown Toronto from Trulls road, over 55 km away! The evening air is now very clear together with dramatic, contrasty fall skies which to me are photographic candy:

Well the landscape is already starting to look very different - but the colour is yet to come.