waldo: (Lizard Wink)
waldo ([personal profile] waldo) wrote in [community profile] shutterspeed2010-05-23 07:59 pm

The Bean that Launched a Million Reflection Shots...

So, timing is everything.  I've lived in the city (Chicago) proper for 10 years, but I'd never really been to Millennium Park.  But a group I belong to had a photo hike scheduled for there today.  Just in time for the end of this appature. :)

Anyway, there's a structure at the entrance to the park that's officially called "Cloud Gate," but not one person I know actually calls it that.  We all call it "The Bean".  It's a big mirrored bean that sucks in photographers from an 18 mile radius, I swear.  I have never seen more cameras in one place since the last time I went to a camera shop.   Most play inside where you can stand on your own head and stuff, but I was having fun taking shots outside.

The Chicago skyline, both in front of and behind me.  (Yes, that little orange and blue blob at the bottom left is your intrepid photographer.)
http://pics.livejournal.com/thefannishwaldo/pic/0091060k



See why it's called "The Bean"?
http://pics.livejournal.com/thefannishwaldo/pic/0090xfwd

For those who like their reflections a little more abstract...  It makes it look like the section of The Bean is made from tiles the same shape as the ones on the ground. 
http://pics.livejournal.com/thefannishwaldo/pic/0090zch4

End of The Bean.  Again, you see what is both in front of me and behind me.  It would be so *fabulously* scifi if they could get a garden in behind where I was standing so you'd have this very urban background and then the garden reflected in The Bean... but I don't think they're going to redo the whole part of the park just for me. :)
http://pics.livejournal.com/thefannishwaldo/pic/0090y4ap

sasha_feather: Retro-style poster of skier on pluto.   (sirius black)

[personal profile] sasha_feather 2010-05-24 03:37 am (UTC)(link)
How neat! I agree with your comment about the garden. What a cool sculpture. I like the 3rd shot best.
darkemeralds: A round magical sigil of mysterious meaning, in bright colors with black outlines. A pen nib is suggested by the intersection of the cryptic forms. (Default)

[personal profile] darkemeralds 2010-05-24 05:52 am (UTC)(link)
Oh my gosh! I was just looking at one of my favorite bicycling blogs today, Let's Go Ride A Bike in Chicago, and she featured The Bean, and I thought, dang, if I lived in Chicago, I's so be there taking Reflection pictures.

These are great. And it's a marvelous piece of public art.
turlough: red gate in water, torii at IItsukushima-jinja, Miyajima, Japan ((other) tranquility)

[personal profile] turlough 2010-05-24 03:02 pm (UTC)(link)
What a fabulous sculpture! I really like your photos of it, particularly the last one.
jesse_the_k: kitty pawing the surface of vinyl record (scratch this!)

[personal profile] jesse_the_k 2010-05-24 10:36 pm (UTC)(link)
Excellent bean-salad!