2024-05: Chicago

Since taking Dylan Vitone's class in college, I've always been thinking about photography. The introductory class didn't instantly make be a better photographer, but it did give me the bare basics of photography fundamentals and a taste for what a good photographer's eye can produce.

However, I hadn't really gone out anywhere with a specific photography goal in mind, often only taking one or two photos at a time, which isn't really enough to build a compilation off of. What changed this time around is that:

  1. I had seen a really good photography exhibit, An-My Lê: Between Two Rivers/Giữa hai giòng sông/Entre deux rivières somewhat recently, quite a few times actually, and was feeling an urge to take more photos.
  2. Chicago is a beautiful city, so I was feeling extra inspired.
  3. I had lots of downtime before the work event happening later that day, so I had the opportunity to act on my inspiration.

With all that in mind, please enjoy the images I've chosen present for my "return" to photography as it were, all shot on iPhone 11 Pro Max with only the default post-processing.

Under a bridge

Morning light illuminates the water under a brown-painted metal bridge, as viewed from the riverfront directly underneath.
The water is unnaturally green all the time I hear.

I Am Here

A clean light gray brick courtyard in the morning light, surrounded by dark glass buildings that warp the scenery.
I swear so much of modern "clean" architecture just looks like a video game render.

Courtyard

A modern-looking courtyard in front of a building is populated by shrubs, grass, railings, abstract sculptures, and a singular office worker walking awkwardly.
Looking away from Millenium Park.

The Bean

The Bean, with its patio fenced off under construction, as viewed from across the lawn, with a few people milling about.
Can you believe they closed the bean???

Post Office

Floor-to-ceiling walls made of glass window cause interesting reflections and lots of light to stream into a very upscale post office.
I find it amusing they put a post office in such a cool building. The post office is really cool, though!

Lake Michigan

A man in a brown fuzzy jacket takes a picture of the sailboats on Lake Michican with his phone, his beret tangent to where the dark blue of the water becomes the light blue of sky.
Photographer-ception, how original :P

Traffic Cone

An orange traffic cone sits on a grassy median in front of a (purposefully?) rusted sculpture in front of a Northern Downtown Chicago skyline. Everything lines up.
Dylan Vitone loved to talk about compositions like these, I think? I may have misunderstood and/or interpreted the Traffic Cone idea too literally.

Triangular Building

A glassy hotel building reflects the overcast sky and the buildings next to it.
Taking photos from an architectural boat tour is hard! You only get one chance to line a shot up, but the same angle repeats over and over since you're so close to all the buildings. This one turned out cool tho.

Memorial Park

A chinese memorial pavilion beneath a highway. The murals look old.
Cool park. Love out-of-the-way liminal spaces like these.

Shooting only on iPhone didn't feel like a restriction this time. If anything, the point-and-shoot nature was really freeing this time around, getting back into the swing of things. Doesn't make great photos when blown up to very high resolution, but they look fantastic on a monitor, which is how most photos are viewed I think.

I continue the trend of iPhone shooting during my next trip, to London.