Open House Chicago
Last October I was able to make it to my first Open House in Chicago. I've heard about it for the past two years but ALWAYS missed it. Well this time around, I was finally able to go. Wanted to go for both Saturday and Sunday but I didn't feel like spending money on a room, so I drove out just for the day.
I wish I had more pictures, or at least saved my snapchat videos of how badly it was raining. It was coming down like all of the world's precipitation relocated to I-94 all the way to Chicago.
I planned to meet with my good friend who many know as @doughnutkillmyvibe on Instagram. She and I had to indulge in our donut cravings together at Stan's Donuts in Wicker Park.
(iPhone Shot)
At the time, not many people had taken portraits of her. BUTTTTT since she told me she loves my work so much (yall don't know how humbled I feel to hear that), she allowed me to get shots right there in Stans lol.
Alright after she and I departed ways, I made my way into Downtown. I walked to the Blue Line station which is pretty much right outside of Stan's and waited for the train to come. When I say the rain was just short of a waterfall, I'm not playing.
*Insert the snapchat video of me riding on the train as the rain is violently needling at the fogged windows*
I got into Downtown without a clue as to where to go. Didn't know any of the buildings on the list, so, I searched Google lol. Found Aon was on the list and I believe it was the tallest building on the list so I figured, why not start there.
(iPhone shot)
Given that this was the first time I've been there for Open House, I really didn't know what to expect. I walked in, was welcomed by the greeters and given a brochure and map and directed to go up the elevator. Just so you can get an idea, most of the tall buildings that were on the list for Open House or at least the ones I went to, they looked like this. The things worth seeing were simply the views.
The day was so cloudy, when looking out, BUT thankfully the clouds had varied heights. So this is what it looked like...
While in the Aon Building, I saw other photographers but didn't really think much of it. Chicago's filled with a ton of photographers like any other city. I went to one side of the building and snapped these shots, all the while not realizing I was next to my friend Julio (@sinful.one). Let me say that I am SUPER glad I ran into him. Not only was it good to see him again, and it was the second time we randomly bumped into each other in Chicago lol. But I got to tag along with him and others who knew all the sweet spots to hit and had the express pass or whatever it was called to avoid any long lines.
After everyone was content with their shots, we rallied up the group and headed out of the Aon building.
(iPhone shot of stranger)
Saw this girl walking as an opportunity to get a nice umbrella shot in all the rain, but i couldn't pull my phone out fast enough with all of the rain happening - hence the blur.
*insert the other snapchat vid of me and the fellas walking in the downpour and almost getting splashed on by a car driving by*
(iPhone shot)
To be honest, I don't remember any of the building names we visited afterwards or where they are in the city lol. Sooooo I'm just gonna post a bunch of photos that may or may not jog my memory.
I believe this was one of the last buildings we hit. I don't know what pics in my cam are from here though. (iPhone shot)
Once it started getting late, about 4 or 5:00ish, I decided to head out given I had a long drive ahead of me. So I walked to the closest train to get back to Wicker Park. Starving, I decided to stop at a pizza joint down the street from Stan's. Let me tell you that pizza SLAPPED. I wish Michigan had some delicious pizza like this! (iPhone)
After eating, I headed back to my car to get on the road...and as you can see it was STILL raining cats and dogs so I wasn't looking forward to the drive home. (iPhone shot)
OH! This was also the day that I discovered that both of my shoes had a tiny hole in the bottom of it. So the entire day my socks were soaked. Was looking to get a little relief and possibly dry them out on the trip home, but the heat in my car had a mind of it's own before I got it fixed, soooo you can use your imagination to see how fun that 5 hour drive was lol. Needless to say, when I got home and took the socks off to let them dry, they hardened the next day LOL. Took two wash cycles to get them back to normal smh lol.
Fin.