Today’s featured photo of the day! The feature is: Architecture – The Buildings of Chicago, Illinois

Here is today’s featured photo presentation of The Chicago “Untitled” Picasso monumental sculpture in the Richard J. Daley Center Plaza. To let the summer months REALLY shine, I am featuring fine photos of great architecture, so we can continue to honor the brighter side of life this year. Part 3 features the beauty of The Buildings of Chicago, Illinois, which also includes fine architecture like the one and only art piece in the terrace outside the front of the Daley Center: The Chicago “Untitled” Picasso monumental sculpture. The art is formally stated as “precipitated an aesthetic shift in civic and urban planning, broadening the idea of public art beyond the commemorative.” Only two years later, in 1967, the wonderful Chicago “Untitled” Picasso monumental sculpture artwork was delivered and erected into the court exposed outside the front area of the West Washington Street terrace, and is a staple to the famous ““Under the Picasso” Noontime Events” which feature free cultural programming for visitors, including performances, singing, dancing, flag raisings, cultural ceremonies, and so much more. . .throughout the year that take place every weekday from 12 to 1 pm. The Daley Center itself, behind this wonderful piece of art was built and opened in the year 1965, and at that time it was the tallest building in Chicago–until 1969 when the John Hancock Center took that “tallest” title. Situated at 50 West Washington Street, between Randolph, Dearborn and Clark Streets, the Daley Center building is considered one of Chicago’s architectural highlights, designed in the International Style by Jacques Brownson of the firm C. F. Murphy Associates. The building was originally known as the Chicago Civic Center, but was renamed only seven days after Mayor Daley’s death on December 27, 1976. The building stands 648-foot tall, made with bronze tinted windows, and of self-weathering steel called Cor-Ten, a material naturally designed to rust, and to strengthen the structure. Italso to give it the distinctive red and brown color that is re-known. The Daley Center has thirty very tall floors, and is the tallest flat-roofed building in the world with fewer than 40 stories. Daley Center has 120 court and hearing rooms as well as the Cook County Law Library, the offices of the Clerk of the Circuit Court, the Offices of the Recorder and certain court-related divisions of the Sheriff’s Department. The building also houses office space for both the City of Chicago and Cook County. The Daley Center is the resting place for the famous “Mission From God” in the 1980 movie “The Blues Brothers“, which Elwood Blues famously quoted: “We’re on a mission from God. “There are 106 miles to Chicago, we have a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it’s dark and we’re wearing sunglasses“. They really don’t make movies like these nowadays! The great John Landis movie shows the character “Joliet” Jake Blues played by the famous late John Belushi, who for years was a veteran actor of the long running show “Saturday Night Live“. My photo here only two years after the filming of The Blues Brothers, is 40 years of age this year, and was taken when the Daley Center was only 17 years old. It is artwork and architecture like the The Chicago “Untitled” Picasso monumental sculpture in the Richard J. Daley Center that make the City of Chicago a cultural city–and among unique examples of the great staples throughout the City of Chicago. This is another example of what makes the great city of Chicago it’s very own, and a great place to visit for any day, any season–for a relaxing afternoon filled with entertainment! Date – July 1981.

Photo taken with a Nikon EM-through a Nikon 26 mm lens, filter=Polarizer, Aperture=16 f/stop, shutter-speed 1/60th second, loaded with Ilford FP-4 Black & White 135 Negative Film ISO (ASA) 125 (fine grain) processed with D-76 Processing Chemicals, and a fiber paper print using the Kodak Professional “warm-tone” enlargement paper developed with Kodak Dektol chemicals onto a 3½x5″ matte-gloss print. Date – July 1981.

☼TIP: A polarizing filter is almost an absolute must when taking a photo from ground level of any downtown building situation, while aiming the lens above your eye level. If you take a photo without the polarizer in a like situation, the windows reflect light from the across the street buildings, rendering a completely different view–mostly distorted, and certainly not at all a very good photo. It was with this photo where I really learned the great asset a polarizer is while taking great architectural photos.☼

Another fine Architectural photograph to follow very soon: Feature – Part 3: The Buildings of Chicago, Illinois. It is going to be quite a summer, so join me ALL summer long! 

PHOTO OF THE DAY

© 2021 Versatileer