I've been putting off showcasing this trip for a while, being a bit overwhelmed of how many pictures I took that I needed to sort through. With life getting stressful, I ended up sorting through them somewhat mindlessly... One of those procrastination moments where you know you have work you should be doing -- but you'd rather do something else (a bit less) productive. Ever cleaned your room instead of studying? It's just like that.

Anyways, I have now picked my photos, and I'm ready to show off my next photo series: Chicago! Almost a year ago to-date, I went the the IPDPS conference to present a paper I published a year before. Staying there for the whole week, I had just enough time to breeze around the city and take a slew of pictures. Chicago is known for being the birthplace of the skyscraper, and the skyline is full of them, both new and old. Being from a city with very few skyscrapers (Vancouver: and those that exist, aren't very tall), and with most of my travels taking me to another city with small skyscrapers (San Francisco), going to Chicago was my first true taste of doing it big in 'murica.

This is going to be quite a long series, because boy do I have a lot of pictures. But follow along, I promise they will be all be worth seeing! So without further ado, on to photos!

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Chicago Theatre

A major landmark, the Chicago Theatre was my first stop after arriving in Chicago from O'Hare, coming in on the train to "The Loop". Well, okay, it wasn't intentionally my first stop. I was lost. But a great place to start, and where I caught a tour bus!

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Skyline

Taking a tour bus in this city is a wonderful idea. There's a TON on crazy high skyscrapers, all jam-packed into a tight area, and it makes for a beautiful, awe inspiring sight to behold. Though, it makes me wonder... what do they DO with all that SPACE? So much room for activities!

Some of these shots are of important landmarks, such as the pumping station in the Water Tower district, and of course, a monument to everyone's favourite politician right now!

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Innocence

This shot may seem out of place (I mean, it totally is), but stopping at a light while on the tour bus I saw this cute scene with two kids playing with the flowers -- and had to capture the moment!

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Chicago "L"

Now, the best for last: the Chicago "L" trains! These elevated trains form the backbone of the public transportation in Chicago, and are actually surprisingly good. The trains have a loop in downtown, and spread out to the suburbia surrounding. You can take the train all the way from the airport to downtown with basically no hassle!

Well, that's it for part one. Don't miss part two: there will be some great shots coming up!

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For those of you interested: Camera is Sony NEX-7, with my usual Zeiss 16-70mm lens.

Click an image to enlarge! They are, of course, down-sampled from my original copies; we can chat if you're interested in any full quality versions. As always, these are my original photos, and I maintain the copyright.

Don't forget to if you like my blog, I like to post picture stories!