Photo spots (Chicago, Madison, Ashland: how much, wedding, taxi)

[alexm23]

Me and some friends are catching an early dinner in Lakeview before they leave for the airport at 5:30pm. In addition, I need to leave for the airport at about 7:30pm. I would like to use these 2 hours in the middle to do some photography in Chicago. What are some suggestions for places I could hit? I'd like to stay between Lakeview and South Loop since I'll be hopping on the Orange line to get to Midway.

Right now, I don't know specifically what kind of photography I want to do. Probably architecture/scenic and maybe some street photography.

My original plan was to just wander around and see if I run into cool stuff, but I figured some guidance might be nice.

Oh, also, TRAINS. Where are the best places that have potential for good shots of L/Metra trains?

Will there be lights along the mag mile? Or was that a temporary thing?

[orelaf]

I sure hope you have a good tripod and a camera with manual settings for the slow shutter speeds, which you'll need because you'll be shooting in almost total darkness.

[alexm23]

Originally Posted by orelaf

I sure hope you have a good tripod and a camera with manual settings for the slow shutter speeds, which you'll need because you'll be shooting in almost total darkness.

I know that (unfortunately) it gets dark at like 4:30 now. I am experienced with nighttime photography.

[Thepreacherswife]

Go to the Shedd Aquarium at the Museum campus. Excellent view of the Chicago skyline from there. You could then go west on Roosevelt. The viaduct at Roosevelt and Michigan would be good for seeing Metra Electric and South Shore trains. Walk west to Canal and you could see Amtrak and Metra trains entering and leaving Union station. Not sure how much action you'll see though.

You could catch the Orange line at Roosevelt and Wabash.

[Alacran]

Any train stop has good train pics. Some places on the blue line and green line have a combo skyline-train rail spot since there's a bridge over the elevated rails to get to the other side.
Ashland stop on the green line and Milwaukee and damen/western stop on blue line.

Anywhere on the lake shores.

[Hatchetman]

Best place to see A LOT of commuter trains is on Roosevelt, east of Canal. Another good spot about a mile or so north of there on canal near fulton. from 4-6 PM during the week you will see a train every few minutes. on weekends, not so much.

[jdiddy]

Randolph, just west of the river, looking north. Metra trains running underneath where you'd be standing, CTA trains running over the Lake St Bridge, and frequent water taxi's on the river. Makes for a nice urban scene.

[alexm23]

thanks for the tips everyone! i think i'm going to get off the L at merchandise mart, walk the chicago riverwalk (something i've meant to do for a while), then take the L down to roosevelt, visit the museum district and walk west on roosevelt for trains, then go back to the station and head down to Midway.

I hope two hours is enough for all this...

[nikitakolata]

I just thought I throw in there that if it's after business hours or on the weekend, LaSalle Street between Madison and Jackson has some great photo opps with the board of trade in the background. I got a couple pictures taken there during my weather and they are my favorites. My wedding was in March (so pretty cold) and it was rainy/snowy, so we did a lot of pictures inside at Union Station as well. Both were great spots for interesting pictures.