The Park of the Millennium, a photo from Illinois, Midwest

Photographer's Note

Millennium Park, Chicago

Many photographs of Chicago's newest attraction, the Millennium Park, have appeared in TrekEarth since the park opened in July last year. The latest photo of the park to be uploaded here is the wonderful The Zone by David Sidwell.

It is very difficult to explain to people what the park is all about, you just have to be there to experience it. But yesterday, I was invited to a gallery opening in a building just opposite the park - and luck would have it, they had a balcony AND I brought my camera with me - so here is a shot of almost the whole of Millennium Park showing most of its attractions. Lighting was poor, it was overcast and it was already 5 o'clock but I managed to get a few good shots.

From my description of the first photo of the park that has appeared in TrekEart entitled Kidney Bean:

"The Millennium Park is a glorious 24.5 acre park located in downtown Chicago on Michigan Avenue between Randolph and Monroe Streets. The park is an unprecedented center for world-class art, music, architecture and landscape design, where you can experience everything from interactive public art and ice skating to al fresco dining and free classical music presentations by the Grant Park Orchestra and Chorus. Among the park’s prominent features is the dazzling Jay Pritzker Pavilion, the most sophisticated outdoor concert venue of its kind in the United States, designed by Frank Gehry, one of the world’s greatest living architects, the Crown Fountain, designed by Barcelona-based sculptor Jaume Plensa, consisting of a pair of 50-foot glass-brick towers facing each other across a black granite plaza with water cascading down their sides (this is where David's photo was taken) and which 1,000 faces of ordinary Chicagoans are projected, one every twenty minutes, the BP Bridge, a steel and wood pedestrian walkway also designed by Frank Gehry, and of course, the celebrated Cloud Gate, affectionately called The Bean, a mammoth stainless steel installation by British sculptor, Anish Kapoor. There are also the Lurie Garden which features Illinois' prarie plants, a restaurant with an outdoor cafe that transforms into a skating rink during the winter, and various other outdoor exhibition spaces.

Not to be missed if you're in Chicago.

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Critiques | Translate

torben (3100) 2005-09-16 14:07

I'd say that the artwork with a big face in the foreground is the center of interest in this composition with an interesting pattern of green grass and grey pavement spreading to the distance, the "web" across the field in front of the large scene fits into this pattern nicely. The lake and the skyscrapers in the background doesn't do anything good for the photo IMO, they just divert attention from the good bits, I would have cropped that part.

Gauche (55) 2005-09-16 15:36

Great picture of the park, I love this city a lot, Very nice picture!

dsidwell (9783) 2005-09-21 19:46

Hi Ken, I finally made it! This is a good, broad view of the park. Your notes are very helpful at noting the different sites. I especially like the clarity of Crown fountain. It looks like the construction going on at the Cloud Gate is finished. When I was there, most of it was under wraps. Well composed and informative image!