Above Wacker Drive at the River’s Bend, Chicago, © 2012 Celia Place
There’s a sweetness to the morning commute; have you noticed? Everyone is looking their best, if a little sleepy (that’s part of the charm, the romance and weariness clinging from the night before). Bodies fresh, clothes fresh. Hair washed and combed. Many clutching coffee, though the most wide-awake have worked out already.
Everyone inward, quiet. Nothing bad has happened; it’s too early. No loud conversation. The amazing mobilization of the morning commute pulses with determination to get to a certain place by a certain hour. And you know what? It happens. The human orchestra hums.
The train creaks over the ceremonial bridges that Daniel Burnham dreamed of. This may not have been the exact thing he dreamed of, but still it’s awfully pretty: the river with its balustrades and fancy street furniture, the tiers of facades with their geometries, the shadows and steps of another day.
neverphoto says
I like this angle. Where were you shooting from?
Celia says
The el, always from the el.
neverphoto says
This must be a different vantage point than that which I am thinking.
Celia says
I must have been on the southbound brown line. This is the view west from on top of the wells street bridge of the–Franklin Street Bridge, I think it is. The one that goes to the west of the Merchandise Mart. You can see it here:
http://footage.shutterstock.com/clip-653977-stock-footage-time-lapse-of-chicago-river-and-rush-hour-traffic-at-sunset.html
neverphoto says
OK, I thought it was Wells St bridge – that makes more sense.