Cloudscraper by Chipka
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Description
There are times when the lake (in the throes of some strange temperament) will spit a rolling soup of vapor into the air. The low-hanging clouds often scud from east to west like half-witted harbingers of nothing in particular.
The towers that mark Chicago's downtown core, are often tall enough to pierce these clouds, and on nights when such vaporous masses make their westerly transits, the tallest of the buildings break them, and even form wakes.
Corey and I were downtown, on our way to the Westin Hotel to visit with Tara and Marilyn. Traffic droned around us like subliminal advertisements beneath the sounds of random talk and the wind itself. The low, westerly clouds caught light from the city--that unctuous, orange sodium vapor glow, and as a low, roiling bolus of condensation passed the Hancock Tower, the brute, taper of the tower itself darkened a wake, while casting an indescribably bluish/whitish/greenish glow into the nearest body of the cloud. I paused, stole three shots of the spectacle, then ambled across the street and into the Westin lobby with Corey, and started a brilliant evening with lots of good company and Persian food. It's funny, I can still taste the dill rice, and I'll probably always think of Persian food when I see the John Hancock Tower at night, spewing light into a low, passing cloud.
Comments (42)
Fred255
Now this is a very impressive photo! I really like it very well done!
beachzz
This is even better than it looked in your camera--has an almost menacing quality to it. But we know how menacing THAT night was--as you said, talk, food, amazing company. Doesn't get any better than that!!
elfin14doaks
Awesome shot , this is really cool. Chipka a wasp, No just kidding LOL.
elfin12u
WOW!!! This almost looks like something out of Ghost Busters! Now all that's needed is the Stay Puft marshmallow man to come ambling down Michigan Ave. Sorry,...if it's any consolation, I now have that stupid song stuck in my head! Cool shot all the same, I wasn't aware of the phenomenon, but you captured it brilliantly. Well met my friend, I had a great time on Saturday,...I even found the way out of Chicago without any trouble at all.
JaneEden
Wow Chip this truly is an amazing photo, capturing the atmosphere perfectly, very well done my friend, hugs Jane xx
Danny_G
Really brilliant capture..FAV
MrsRatbag
Excellent shot, Chip; what a mystical halo way up there!
KatesFriend
Alas, we do not get very many cloud formations such as this in my neck of the world. And even if we did only the CN Tower could could on a show as spectacular as this. What an uncommon site to be sure. The mixing of the colours in the cloud scape is what really captures the imagination here. It back lights the obelisk-like tower bringing to mind the coming of some great dark god-like being.
tamburro
Wowwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!! Fantastic photo!!!!!! I loved it! Congratulations! Hugs.
anaber
Superb perspective.Wonderful light and cloud formation! Straight to the gods:))
Sea_Dog
Superb work. As other have said the vaguely menacing quality here is great - a comment on modern urban life. Well done.
NightGallery
This ROCKS! Awesome shot. Great POV and wonderful exposure work.
timtripp
amazing!
CaressingTheDark
excellent photography
auntietk
When I saw this on your camera's viewer, I was astonished at the color, the way you captured all that so beautifully. (It's even more impressive on my monitor!) Then when we went outside and you reminded me to look up to see what you'd seen, I was even more impressed. Those colors were really THERE! Not just some trick of the light, or the angle. I'm going to make sure to show this to a friend of mine here who wanted me to take a shot like this (of course I forgot) so he can see where we were. (I still can't believe they park on the 12th floor above street level!)
blinkings
Oh this is sensational. I LUV skyscrapers.
LovelyPoetess
Wonderful shot, it so well gives you a taste of what nights in Chicago can hold.
MrsLubner
The pov is astonishing. Stellar!
geirla
Great image! Shows the advantage of always carrying a camera. You never know what you might catch.
durleybeachbum
Astonishing revelations! and your description explains what's happening in such a powerful way. Persian food...now you're talking!
micturn
Amazing shot, really well done.
pauldeleu
Really cool shot!
Xantipa
Excellent Photo...really nice +++5
DEWoodward
Stunning capture.
bimm3d
gorgeous!!!!
ladyraven23452
WOW You really out did your self great shot.
anahata.c
well Chip, if there's any evidence of how fine a writer you are, it's that you find depths of language & soul in even a simple description like this. Your first paragraph alone is evidence of that. Life rolls into you & you transform it into visionary music...this is gorgeous prose. ("will spit a rolling soup of vapor"..."The low-hanging clouds often scud from east to west like half-witted harbingers of nothing in particular"...I won't quote more because I'll wind up quoting the whole passage. Even your use of "scud" as a verb is terrific [even though the original meaning was a verb/cognate with scuttle/it's almost exclusively used today in relation to the missile; it's just typical of your sensitive & creative use of language.) You have the sense of what the city does, how even the manufactured corrosive clouds from our sodium vapor lights & other hellish stuff combines with these strange towers to create the effect you photographed. (The Hancock is a pretty ugly building: It's classic, but ugly. Skidmore Owings & Merrill stuff, boxy and not even with the proportions that make some steel-glass bldgs elegant. And it's all muscle too, right for a huge industrial city...) But you got the mystery of it all, a mystery that's risen out of cities since the beginning, no doubt; and the glow in the sky creates beautiful undulations—you captured a painting up there! And I love that you left in the pinkish light at bottom-left: A terrific choice! I don't know where your visual sense comes from (given the dominance of your magnificent writer's vision) but maybe your eye & inner voice are intertwined. It's a beautiful shot, mysterious, metallic & undulant, and it transcends the ills of these huge cities & shows that when the elements speak, they put on a show as primal as the universe itself. Beautiful work, Chip. And I'll get to your other pieces soon. I sitemailed Corey, btw (when I sitemailed you)...when you speak to him, please give him my best on the things he's going through now. I wish him all the best.
Meisiekind
Oh Chip - this is glorious! I so wanted to be there with you all! I hope you guys got all the hugs and wishes I sent with the gals!!! :)
bmac62
Chip...sorry I didn't get to jump into all of this with the Rendo crew. Love the description you've written here. The photo proves your point. I am an old New Yorker (grew up 20 miles distant 'til age 18)...there is something about Chicago that runs naturally in my blood stream. Bill
helanker
WOOOOWWW! What a sight ! This is a marvellous capture. Looks fantastic. !