Chicago at Night - December 2014

And I am back.

I am not sure how many people will be spending time surfing blog posts during holidays, but I thought I will share my latest experience photographing Chicago at night. As usual I had to read everything about photographing Chicago and I found ebook very similar to one I used in Yosemite: Photographers Guide to Chicago by Christopher J. Smith. He lists about 100 sites to take pictures in and around Chicago. This little book helped me a lot. I usually photograph nature landscape (as you know from my previous posts) and not so much of urban landscaping. The tips in the book helped me to get to the right point at the right time (well almost, I will explain later) and to locations I would never find myself, or will have to spend a lot of time on Internet. 

As a result within small time period (few hours during the day and 5 hours at night) I created a few images that I wanted to share with you my audience. 

I rented a car to drive around Chicago. You might say that I was insane to do so during holidays, but  I did research and here is a very good parking system (at least it worked for me) in the city: one can prepay parking and spot is guaranteed. Be patient while searching for parking spot in pre-paied garages: the longer your search more chances you will find a cheap spot - $15 I think very reasonable to be parked on Randolph/Wabash on Friday a week before Christmas for 3 hours (well technically I could be parked there from 6am till 6pm, but I only arrived to town at 1pm and had to leave at 4:30pm, but it was worth it). 

 So my first stop was James R. Thompson State of Illinois Center Located on 100 W. Randolph St. The building does not look very special from outside, but it has see trough glass wall from inside  with rather interesting architecture. You should see for yourself lf:

A lot of places in Chicago are accessible on foot, I decided to do a loop. So I continued on Randolph St to the parking garage that on the corner of North Wells St and West Lake St. From the very top of this garage you can see trains making their terms 

From there I continued to W. Upper Wacker Drive and crossed the river by Clark Street Bridge. I left Trump tower on my left, since I knew I will see it again at better angle going back to the car via Michigan Ave. I went in the general direction of Holy Name Cathedral. This church is really beautiful, but lack of sun made photographing inside less attractive plus my lens fogged up (I came from cold into warm without covering it first and as a result condensation covered the lens, if I wanted to take any pictures I would have to wait and I didn't really had time). So I continued to Michigan Ave, turned right and back to the car. I stopped to take pictures of Trump Tower and few views of Downtown.

After spending a few hours with my girlfriend outside Chicago proper, I went back to do my night photography - the real reason I rented two lenses: 8-16mm Sigma Fisheye and 16-300mm Tamron. I arrived to Downtown around midnight and could easily park on the streets. I chose Randolph (I guess because I knew the area from the earlier) and paid meter (although according to my friends parking even on meters after 10:30pm is free, I choose not to take any chances with rental car) whith cost me $7 for 3 hours. First I went to see if there are any lights in Millennium Park. The Pritzker Pavillion was all barricaded for the winter and there were no light. I was lucky enough to take pictures of Cloud Gate (Note: you are not suppose to be in the park after it is closed, don't tell me I did not worn you):

I did not plan to walk all the way to Adler planetarium, so I turned around and concentrated on finding interesting angles to shoot Michigan Ave Bridge, car lights, Trump tower, and Old Water Tower:

Somewhat tired and semi drunk from being awake at 3am, I went back to the car and drove to Adler planetarium to take famous panorama shot of Chicago Skyline. When I got there the rode to planetarium was closed for cars, so I had to park and walk, but it was worth it.

After that I was done. Got to hotel around 5am. After relatively short sleep (5 hours), I met my friend and we asked around Baha'i Temple, so is that:

We had dinner and when it became dark again drove back to Chicago, so there is more:

If you note in the midground of this photo is Ferris Wheel, that went dark exactly as I was planning to shoot. That what I meant earlier, that my luck ran out

Hope you liked my little adventure. Come and visit again. I will continue posting my California trip.