My Visit to the Windy City

I'm back sports fans, after an extended hiatus!

Part of the hiatus was due to a trip I took to Chicago to attend a meeting related to my day job.  I wasn't particularly looking forward to this meeting, mostly because I don't consider myself to be a big city kind of guy, whatever that means.  The last meeting of this organization I attended was held in Santa Fe New Mexico which is a mecca for photographers.  I didn't view Chicago this way and didn't even want to take a camera.

But, what is a photographer without a camera, so I decided to make the effort to carry a camera and a couple of lenses on the off-chance that I would get an opportunity to get some images of the concrete jungle.

And am I ever glad I took it!  It turned out to be a great opportunity for photography and some different kinds of images for me.  Certainly most of my images turned out to be skyline and architectural but, let's face it, skyline images done right can be awe inspiring.

A cruise on the Chicago River was the perfect place to capture the buildings and skyline.  The last leg of the cruise took us right out to the opening into Lake Michigan and far enough away that I was able to capture images for a panorama that I love:

And the ever-popular Willis tower (formerly the Sears Tower):

A late night walking excursion along the river gave me an opportunity to try some new tricks and get the images below:

The trick about the night shots?  Set your camera's white balance to shade.  It makes the images more golden than it probably would be but makes the image more desirable in my opinion.

If anyone is interested in how to do the panorama stitched shot, let me know and I'll blog it!

Later!