Crossing the Wells Street Bridge by Chipka
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Description
Chicago is known for certain architectural graces: a wild profusion of unexpectedly graceful skyscrapers clots the down-town core of the city, bordered to the north, west, and south by a ramshackle aggregate of older, brick buildings. The international history of the city might be traced in the hidden shadows of its neighborhoods. Its history is a thing carried in the soft meat of human brains, though not everyone is likely to recall the city as it was. Ironically, those from other countries recognize elements of Chicago’s past. Czechs recognize Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood, though today, Pilsen (named after the Czech city of Plsen) is predominantly Mexican in local flavor. Regions farther west bear other histories ranging from the Russian taiga to sultry warmth of Trinidad and India or the dry savanah heat of Africa's central continental central region. In Chicago’s downtown core (amid lurid and phallic skyscrapers) the city’s distinct (and brutal) history emerges.
Cross the Chicago River and you’ll do so on heavy, iron bridges that look like something from a Fritz Lang nightmare. Indeed, there is something of Lang’s cinematic Metropolis in this region of Chicago. Though towers of glass and steel dominate the skyline, things at ground level are less graceful and designed along older, more purely utilitarian lines. Everything is riveted into place. I suspect, however, that compacted layers of paint hold everything together. Art Deco flourishes lurk in hidden corners, along with the ghosts of gangsters and bootleggers and infamous women in red. Modern Chicagoans walk in the ectoplasmic shadows of the long-vanished, but in some strange way, they linger in the old bridges spanning the river. That’s not unusual, ghosts in some cultures are bound by rivers. They cannot cross water, and whenever I cross a river on foot, I spit into the water at mid-point, as I’d learned (long ago) from the lore of Turkish gypsies. One spits, when crossing a river, to keep the Devil from following.
I didn’t spit as I crossed this particular bridge. I was too busy taking pictures with Corey. We were downtown: Corey had an appointment, and I had a day off. I’d already spent the weekend with him, snapping pictures like a tourist, and so it was not so unusual to find myself in the massive footprint of the city’s Merchandize Mart. It is a hulking, prison-like structure, though at one time, its arcade resembled something from Star Trek’s Deep Space Nine without the dubious Ferengi bartender and all manner of humanoid aliens, distinguished from one another by their foreheads. I wasn’t thinking about aliens or ghosts as I took pictures. I was too busy trying to capture an uncooperative, urban duck, and feeling the need to take a break from that particular, waddling creature, I sought another subject, and the nearest bridge is what drew my attention. This is the result
Postwork done with The Gimp, my substitute for photoshop.
As always, thank you for viewing and reading and commenting, and hopefully you're all having a great week.
Comments (20)
blondeblurr
My cousin and I used to spit into the river as kids, just the same... from the Glienicker Bruecke in Berlin-Spandau, but I never knew the 'true' meaning behind all this, thanks... *** Another landmark of your historic hometown Chicago, in a different light... the old gray bridge and just a hint of colour, are a nice touch, in a 'Metropolis'-kind of way. (I also remember Quark, who like all Ferengis, liked their earlobes scratched and had a healthy appetite for making money.) Cheers BB
jac204
It took a minute before I realized that the picture is black and white except for the young man in color. I know, I'm slow, but it's a nice touch.
Hubba1
Awesome :) I will have to check out this Gimp!
kwami
amazing shot
bmac62
Chip, This is rich...I like to think I'm up on my trivia and folk lore but somehow I've missed the spitting in the river trick! Like your use of selective coloring...I've done a little bit of that myself but not for sometime. The bridge itself has to be in B&W:)
Meisiekind
Excellent use of selective coloring Chip and a most provocative angle of the amazing structure! All over a fantastic piece of art! Well done indeed! :)
auntietk
Love the image, and your use of selective coloring is just right. I started looking at the map to see which bridge this was, and got all distracted by the El and which line it might be and Grant Park and the Museum Complex and that little place where we saw the globe, and then I just started "walking" the streets of Chicago and realized I have a picture of the underside of the El taken at Wells and Ontario, and ... well ... you KNOW why I was at Wells and Ontario! Street view is a wonderful thing, my friend. It's always a sunny day in Chicago on street view.
koosievantutte
very fine image and postwork!
YorkBerlin
wunderbare arbeit - very nice YorkBerlin
kgb224
Outstanding capture and post work my friend.I also do have gimp but rarely use it.did use it though when i did some 3 d work which i uploaded here on Renderosity at this link http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/index.php?image_id=1664354&user_id=424150&np&np
blinkings
Yes I can see what you mean about Metropolis. I really like your selective saturation on Mr Beloved too.
beachzz
The color selection is fantastic. The whole shot is SO Chicago and I love that finally I actually can say I've been there, or close to it!! Was that just 2 months ago---holy moly!!
helanker
And the result id beautiful. I like all the nails or bolts in the iron. Looks fantastic and the whole makes a beautiful play in geometric shapes and perspective.. I like that.
durleybeachbum
The first thing that struck me was how high the sun must be because of how small the lads shadow is! It's a very powerful composition, and I like the purposeful walking and driving that's going on. Selective colouring is something I haven't done, must try.
MrsRatbag
These steel bridges full of rivets seem so safe and solid; built to do a job for a long time, nothing fanciful or airy about them. Not really a design challenge artistically, but certainly practical and comfortable. I love the textures of the steel and the lines, and the pattern of rivets. Excellent shot, Chip!
Sea_Dog
Excellent work. The bridge gives such a feeling of permanence which contrasts with the scurrying of the people and the passing cars. Selective coloring words great.
flora-crassella
very cool shot!!! Great picture!!!!!
romanceworks
A great shot. Love all the textures. CC
CoreyBlack
I remember this day! It was late last June, and as I recall broiling hot ( one of the few truly hot days we had last summer ). The sun was so bright that it made everything look totally bleached out and it took me a minute to see that you'd actually done selective b&w post work on this picture. Very nice job.I like how the cute boy is in color and everything else is in b&w, kind of like the aforementioned Lady in Red emerging brightly from a monochrome background. Your text on this photo is especially nice and evocative of the better written Raymond Chandler novels. Good stuff!
NefariousDrO
That's possibly my favorite part of Chicago, the burly steel structures always remind me of the Whitman poem.