In a holding pattern with a number of other planes circulating around O'Hare International Airport like eagles in the sky, I had witnessed outside my port hole window, a spectacular beauty of Chicago's nightscape from above. Like a circuitry on a microchip, an expansive view of orange street lights below outlined its network of carriageways cris-crossing each other. Larger thoroughfares were lit even brighter, most notably Michigan Avenue, and tall skyscrapers were reaching out to the midnight sky with fingertips softly pulsating amber.
Taking the 'L' to the Magnificent Mile, I carried my luggage to the Double Tree Hotel and familiarised myself with my new surrounding environment. From my suite on the twenty-third floor, I looked out to the coldness outside; directly across were office buildings and down below a few late-night stragglers hurrying on by.
I had a full days' work of attending seminars, conferences, and hands-on events the next day and found myself shuffling between the Wyndham Hotel, the Intercontinental, and the Sheraton. Why the organisers of this annual Chicago Dental Conference couldn't book all of its activities under one roof (like at a convention centre) remains to be a mystery to me. Nobel Biocare had chosen this conference to officially introduce its new Procera OptiMet scanner for the first time and, typical to large industry players, rolled out a lavish ballroom extravaganza to mark the occasion. Food and wine flowed continuously with live jazz performances to keep us entertained.
I managed to squeeze in some time to see Chicago at leisure outside of the ballrooms and conference halls over this multi-day event and played around with my 40D a little more. It was certainly frigid outside with temperatures in the negative, but I quite enjoyed breathing in the crisp cold air as I stood at the edge of Lake Michigan frozen over. A delightful view of the downtown core stood proudly and prominently across with that unmistakable black beauty known as the John Hancock Tower in the mix. The great photographs I took of this city had not so much to do with my compositional skills, but because the city itself was so photogenic. It just lend itself to me for the time being.
Further along, I had discovered Navy Pier Park, and further along, a giant statue of Grant Wood's American Gothic just outside of the Chicago Tribune building. In the evening, I had inadvertently stumbled upon a fireworks display about to begin on the Chicago River as part of the Toast: The Magnificent Mile event. I was in awe and I couldn't stop taking photographs while playing with my long exposure settings to capture the changing light.
The very next day, I had ventured into an Apple Store, then walked over to Pizzeria Due for Chicago's infamous deep pan pizza. Snow continued to fall while I continued my trek to Millennium Park to see the Silver Bean. Over at the Archicenter/CitySpace Gallery, I learned a lot about Chicago's long history and it's many engineering feats including the reversal of the river's flow from Lake Michigan and it's L line. Over at the Museum of Contemporary Photography, I was intrigued and inspired by Bettina Hoffmann's La Ronde video installation which aimed to capture that void space between the photographer and his/her subject. She had used video and panned around and around and around in a loop of a still 360º photograph. In one sequence, I had noticed a carton of orange juice on the table with Jus d'orange printed on the other side as it panned around 180º. This lead me to believe that this was taken in Canada, and sure enough, after reading the plaque on the wall, I learned that she is from Toronto.
The snowstorm brewing outside turned even windier and I had to start walking backwards to avoid getting snow pelting on my face. A nearby smoker struggled to light his cigarette. After standing in front of the Sears Tower, I went over to the John Hancock Observatory and went up with a discount ticket due to poor visibility. I had stayed there long enough for the storm to blow over and was rewarded with a spectacular view on the 94th floor. Shoot me for being a tourist, but I grabbed one of the handheld device called the Multimedia SkyTour and learned a lot about the building and its surroundings with David Schwimmer narrating.
Chicago was a true delight.
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