City Walk’s current theme is “Scream Louder” as seen on billboards over I-4 highway.  And the 50,000 visitors were screaming Sunday!

Today we were seated at a window table at the Cheesecake Factory restaurant in the Mall at Millenium.  Fascinating parade of different types of humanity.

Yesterday we worked the Shedd Aquarium and surrounding area for 3 hours. It’s a cool spot from which to photograph the Chicago skyline. Millennial Park is another good place for skyline pictures.

Shedd has interesting exhibits showing different water levels occurring in nature and the fish and reptiles that live in each different water level. There are also special tanks for the areas in the world with cichlids.

Herp lovers will enjoy the large lizard exhibit. There are frilly dragons, bearded dragons, chameleons, gecko, basilisk, komodo dragons, and more.

Today we worked the stores and area of North Michigan Avenue and the Chicago River, including Water Tower Place. The newest upscale shopping mall is 900 North Michigan. We enjoyed a delicious lunch at the Oak Tree Restaurant there.

A favorite photogaphic study of mine is store windows and reflections. Even better is having a pedestrian looking in the window, too. Tiffany’s Michigan Avenue windows were  some used today.  That film won’t be developed until next week. then we’ll add a window reflection picture here.

The unique glass sculpture of Dale Chihuly can also be seen in the garden. A green Chihuly has been donated and will be here permanently. A blue and white Chihuly installed over a fountain will be permanent if enough money is contributed for purchase. Both are fascinating.

It’s been three years since our last working visit and the gardens have all been redesigned. But, the Japanese garden is still here. So is Frog Baby bronze sculpture; young child holding a frog in each hand.

This is our first trip here without camera bags full of lenses and without tripods. We are now working on travel images more than documentary botany images. So, everything doesn’t have to be photographed at f22.

Now, just a brief word about food. We’ve had 3 dinners at Ted’s Montana Grill on Spring Street and highly recommend it! Ted Turner is the owner and bison from his western ranch is used in some recipies. We tried it in meatloaf, good to the last bite! The buffalo head below was mounted in the restaurant above the bar. A Nikon D200 digital camera with built-in flash was used to make the picture.

The outside of the Mall is actually better for the photographer, than the inside. The mall is below ground. There are 2 large areas with skylites giving daylight, but, those spots are filled with casual eating tables.
Next we went up to the observation deck above the Sun Dial Restaurant on the top of the Westin Hotel. Fortunately, there was no haze to obscure the view. The restaurant revolved and the view was fantastic. I used a 28mm wide angle lens for most of the work.

Yesterday afternoon we worked in Olympic Park, not the Westin Observation deck. Olympic Park has some interesting statues and fountains.