Chicago 2017...III

Today's shoot around Chicago took me to only a few places I needed to get to. I started out on West end of downtown. This took me to the new River Point office tower, which is also the new headquarters for Morton Salt. River Point is a state-of-the-art 52-floor glass office tower that I had fun shooting. I was able to capture reflections of the clouds and some of the other office buildings behind me off the blue glass windows of the tower. And from the steps of River Point, I was able to capture a great photo looking East on the river. From there I walked on Lake Street to grab a photo of another new tower. Wolf Point West, built right in front of the Chicago Sun-Times building, is the first of three towers to be completed at West Point. It has completed its finishing touches and has already welcomed its first residents. The 48-floor glass tower will eventually be joined by two neighboring high-rises just to its East. Heading down towards the newly completed Riverwalk, I captured Tony Tasset's "Deer" sculpture along the west bank of the river. This is a pretty huge sculpture, especially when you get right up on it. And I bet it will be kind of scary for some walking along that area at night. I also spotted the Seadog II tour boat making its was across the river as well. Another new tower...150 North Riverside Plaza is a 53-floor high-rise building completed in 2017. I captured a nice view of it from Upper Wacker Drive just above the new Riverwalk.

My next stop was Navy Pier, which is some place I haven't been to in quite some time. After parking my car, I took the opportunity to capture a nice photo of the skyline looking West. The sky was a little muggy, but still made for a great shot! Walking along the walkway, I photograph a cool statue of The Rolling Stones' logo. The statue was there to promote fellow photographer Paul Natkin's photo exhibit of his days from touring with The Stones. Other highlights from this walk were the USS Chicago Anchor, the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse, the Aon Grand Ballroom and the Shoreline Sightseeing boat as it made its way across the river. After checking out Paul's photo exhibit and eating some lunch, I head back downtown to go to the Sears Tower. Yeah, I know it's Willis Tower, but it will always be "Sears Tower" to me and a lot of other people. While heading towards the Tower, I capture my standard "looking up" photo. Once inside, to bypass the looooooong line that was before me, I get an express ticket. It costs a few dollars more, but nothing beats walking past everyone and beating them to the elevators to go up to the observation deck. Once at the top, it wasn't a packed as I thought it would be, which meant more room for me to move around. There's nothing like looking at the city from above...you have truly amazing views of the city! The view I was most excited to see was the new Jane Byrne interchange fly over ramp. It looks really cool from above. With my photography, I do a lot of traveling, but there's no place like Chicago! Well, maybe except New York City!

I ended my day by going to the 37th Annual Taste Of Chicago. I usually go to the Taste to photograph the concerts every day and leave. But this year I chose to go to sample a "taste" of what Chicago restaurants had to offer. Some of the things I "sampled" were: Tequila Lime Marinated Grilled Chicken Taco from Carbon Live Fire Mexican Grill, Smoked Alligator Sausage from Chicago's Hot Dog, Churro from The Churro Factory, Corn Fritters and Popcorn Shrimp from Lawrence's Fish and Shrimp, Italian Ice from both Frannie's Cafe Inc. and Franco's Ristorante, Toasted Ravioli from Tuscany and Red Beans and Rice with Jerk Chicken from Vee Vee's African Restaurant. The highlight of the day was watching a performance by the Chinelo Dance Group as they paraded down Columbus Drive.