Lincoln Park Zoolights

Every year the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago puts on a light festival that they call Zoo Lights. The festival runs around the Christmas holiday and the zoo decorates the ground with lights that are timed to music. The night that I went it was very cold and most of the animals were inside but I can imagine if it was warmer out that the animals would be in their cages.

The Zoo has lots of holiday figures such as Santa and of course his reindeer. I'm not sure exactly how many lights the zoo decorates with but both the amount and the quality of the presentation is impressive. Lincoln Park Zoolights is a great way to celebrate the Christmas holiday season. Lincoln Park Zoo is one of the only remaining free zoos in the country so if you attend please support the zoo through buying their concessions and souvenirs . If you are in Lincoln Park around the holiday I would highly suggest taking a stroll through the zoo and enjoying the festivities.

Best Views of Chicago - Rush Hospital Parking Lot

When you think of iconic views of the city of Chicago most people think of the Willis Tower or the John Hancock Observatory. While both of these locations are fantastic, there is another location that few people have been to and is rarely recommended to photographers and tourists alike. This location is the top level of the Rush Hospital parking lot.

Buy Now - $4.99

The parking lot is just a few miles west of the city and has an unobstructed view of downtown Chicago. If you don't have a car, it's a little difficult to get there but if you do have a car I highly suggest experiencing a sunset from the top floor. The parking is not free but it's not expensive for an hour or two.

I've visited the parking lot for both a few sunrises and a few sunsets and they are equally amazing. Below are a few of my favorite photos from one of my experiences.

Buy Now - $4.99

Open House Chicago 2013

For the past two years the Chicago Architecture Foundation has hosted an Open House Chicago event where 150 locations that would otherwise be private or closed are open to the public. This year the event was held on October 19th and 20th and many of the same places from the 2012 event were re-opened and many new great venues were added to the list. I was lucky enough to attend the event last year and I put together a blog post to show some of the photos.

For this year's event I tried to go to places that I hadn't been to before. Last year I visited the historic Drake Hotel, The Kemper Building, and the Chicago Tribune Tower.

Open House Chicago 2013 - From the Kemper Building

This year I decided to go back to the Kemper building to try to capture a few more photos from the 41st floor. The Kemper building sits on Wacker Drive and State Street and it's top floor has windows that go around the entire building. From this vantage point you can see directly down the river to the west and you can also see all the skyscrapers to the east. The building was built in 1962 and I think some of the original windows are still used so the views from most of the windows were hazy. I was able to find a few good windows to shoot through and get some shots down the river and to the east.

After the Kemper building I headed across the river to the IBM Building where I visited Perkins+Will Architects. Their suite was on the 36th floor and was just north of the Kemper building. These windows were much better and the views were even more amazing that I would have thought. The building is located at 330 N. Wabash, right next to Trump Tower. The office had floor to ceiling windows and from the office you could look east down the river to Lake Michigan. Luckily while I was in their office the bridges along the river were going up to let some sail boats go through. I had my Nikon 80-200 f2.8 so I changed lenses and snapped a few shots. I think this building was the surprise gem of the day.

Next on the list was The Cliff Dwellers on 200 S. Michigan Ave. I had never seen any photos of The Cliff Dwellers location in Chicago but knowing where it was located I was betting that the view would be good. They were on the 22nd floor of the building right on Michigan Ave. When the elevator opened I was greeted by a smell of rich mahogany and pure gasoline . Well maybe not the pure gasoline smell but there was a full Elk mounted on the wall so you get the picture. The Cliff Dwellers is a private club and non-profit for men and women either professionally engaged in or who support the fine arts. They have a large ballroom and bar with a full fireplace. Very old school Chicago. But that wasn't what I was interested in. When I saw it I made a B Line straight for the outdoor patio. The view was high enough to get over the Chicago Art Institute with nothing blocking the lake and city view. You could see as far south as Central Station and north to the Aon Center. My wide angle lens was too wide for this view so I changed over to my Nikon 80-200 f2.8 and shot close ups of The Pritzker Pavillion and the Bean. It was a very interesting view that I had never seen before.

After visiting The Cliff Dwellers I headed over to DIRTT Environmental Solutions building. I'd seen the building in passing but I didn't know anything about DIRTT or the view from the building. Once again this building sat right on the Chicago River. When I got upstairs I was surprised by a super modern showroom. Apparently DIRTT is an environmentally friendly construction and design company. They create customizable and sustainable architectural interiors and they are cool. Not only was I impressed with their work, I was super impressed with their view :) They had a huge wall of windows facing south toward the city. They also had a nice sized outdoor patio. I was so impressed by their work that I walked the floor before heading out to take photos.

2013 was another great Open House Chicago event. I wish I would have had the time to see more places but I will definitely attend the event again next year. I was a little disappointed that I didn't come away with a portfolio shot but I was very impressed with all the new views I saw of the city. I even got a few ideas for more Chicago shots. Overall I had a great day and can't wait to explore more at next year's event.

Open House Chicago - DIRTT Environmental

New York City - 2013

I few weeks ago I was fortunate enough to take a brief trip to New York City for a wedding. I knew I wouldn't have a lot of time to shoot but I figured I could squeeze in a few hours so I brought my camera gear.

Williamsburg Bridge from the East River.

The first day in the city I took a boat tour of Manhattan. The tour started in midtown on the East River and headed south past battery park and out to the the Statue of Liberty. It was a perfect clear day. I brought my circular polarizer to help make the colors pop and to fight the glare from the buildings and the water. It was very cool to see Manhattan from the water. The buildings seem to come right up the shoreline and dominate everything around them.

After the boat tour I had a few hours to travel the city. I wanted to walk the Brooklyn Bridge and shoot Manhattan from under the Brooklyn Bridge but we didn't make it out there. Instead I decided to go to the Top of the Rock to try to capture the sunset.

I thought buying tickets and getting up the elevator would be quick but it took a lot longer than I had thought. Fortunately I had given myself just enough time to get up to the observation deck before sunset. The views of Midtown and downtown were truly amazing and I totally lucked out with the sunset that night.

Top of the Rock - Rockefeller Center - New York

I was able to get some great shots of the sun setting over Manhattan and captured this one that is now in my portfolio.

Cinque Terre

One of my favorite stops along my recent trip to Europe was Cinque Terre, Italy. We flew from Paris to Pisa, then took the train to the town of Riomaggiore, Cinque Terre. When we arrived at the station the owner of our B&B rental, Lorenza, was there to greet us with her miniature car. We drove up a hill for about five minutes to get to the house, winding through a road so narrow there were no more than 6 inches on each side between the car and two buildings! After settling in, Lorenza brought us ice cold Italian beers and potato chips. My wife and I enjoyed our snack on the balcony while listening to the ocean and taking in all the sights. We then ventured out to explore Riomaggiore: there was one Main Street with maybe 10 shops and 6 restaurants. The town is quaint, quiet and beautiful, with colorful buildings set on cliffs along the Mediterranean.

Our second day in Cinque Terre is when the real adventure began. The area is known for hiking trails that connect the "cinque terre", or five villages. Although two of the hikes were closed due to recent landslides, we were able to hike the two most difficult hikes. Our first hike started from Corniglia, which is up high on cliffs, a few hundred stairs up from the train station. The stairs were worth the trek: Corniglia is a beautiful town, also overlooking the ocean with picturesque, winding roads through beautiful buildings. We walked through the town and visited the local church, which was unexpectedly ornate with beautiful, old architecture. For lunch we got a focaccia pomodoro sandwich with tomato, mozzarella and basil - a perfect treat to fuel us for our first hike from Corniglia to Vernazza.

The 90 minute hike from Corniglia to Vernazza is the second most difficult in the area. It started through the streets of Corniglia then wound through nearby lush vineyards. The hikes up and down hills offered breathtaking views of the town. About half way through the hike, Corniglia disappeared and we found ourselves immersed in the mountainside facing the Mediterranean. The trail led us several hundred feet up, then back down the mountain towards Vernazza. As we approached the town we were struck with an impressive view of the town jutting out into the water.

Vernazza looking North from the hiking trail.

After a pasta lunch at a cafe along the water, I took a few photos of the town but the sun was too bright, so I scouted locations for later. We hopped back on the local train and headed to Monterosso to explore a bit more.

We stepped off the train to the largest of the towns, Monterosso, famous for its beautiful beaches. We explored the main strip of hotels and restaurants, and enjoyed an excellent dinner at Via Venti: gnocchi with crab, seafood risotto, and a local white wine from a Cinque Terre vineyard. After dinner we went back to Riomaggiore to capture shots at sunset.

On day 3 we took the first morning train to take photos of Vernazza at sunrise. The town was so peaceful with no tourists and few locals around. As the sun rises from behind the mountain, I was able to get great light for shots of the village just after sunrise. We enjoyed a quick Italian breakfast of champions: ham, cheese and tomato calzone and a chocolate pastry, then headed out to start our next hike from Vernazza to Monterosso.

I'd seen pictures of this trail online and knew I wanted to hike it early to grab a photo for my portfolio. As we wound our way up into the hill I saw the shot. We were looking directly down into the bay with Vernazza in perfect sight. The composition was amazing and the light was perfect. I love the organic view of the coastline without tons of people in the shot.

We continued on the winding trail up and down several paths through the mountain along steep cliffs and a few waterfalls. The views were amazing but this hike was a lot more nerve racking than our first. A few sections of the trail were no more than 2 feet wide with a 10 foot drop off. We finally got to the final stretch on our way into Monterosso: about 300 steps straight down a hill. The hike was exhausting but a great experience. The rewards for an almost 2 hour hike were the gorgeous view of Monterosso in the distance, an amazing lunch of lemon marinated anchovies and salmon salad by the water, and a relaxing afternoon on the beach. Instead of taking the train back to our house in Riomaggiore we took the local boat which stopped along each of the five villages. The evening weather was great for a boat ride and the photographs were even better. I was able to get some of the shots I was waiting to take of each village. I ended the day with a few more sunset photos from Riomaggiore followed by another delicious dinner of local seafood, pasta and wine.

Our last full day in Cinque Terre was the first overcast day and the temperature dropped to the mid 60's. We decided to explore the towns of Manarola and Riomaggiore. Manarola is similar to Riomaggiore with a main street and a town square, but with more shops and restaurants. We walked down by the water for a breathtaking view, then took a path just north of the Main Street that led along the mountain. The view back into the city was breathtaking. We explored the town's cemetery and church, then wound through a maze of tiny streets and ended up near the rows of vineyards in the middle of town at a lookout point with a beautiful ocean view.

We made it back to Riomaggiore for lunch at our favorite restaurant, Il Grottino where we again indulged in the lemon marinated anchovies, shrimp gnocchi, our favorite seafood spaghetti and of course a bottle of local wine. After lunch we visited the town church and the castle at the top of the village. The clouds hovered over the top of the mountain and made for a beautiful sight. On our way home we visited local shops and bought dinner to eat on our balcony: fresh tomatoes, prosciutto, cheese, fresh-baked focaccia and Italian beer - a great feast to celebrate the end of our trip to Cinque Terre.

We definitely fell in love with Cinque Terre and can't wait to go back. Each town has a unique charm and serene vibe. I would highly recommend anyone visiting if they have the chance.