Saturday, August 25, 2012

Saturday Snapshot: The Bean

Saturday Snapshot is a meme hosted by Alyce at At Home with Books. All you have to do is "post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken and then leave a direct link to your post in the Mr. Linky on [her] blog. Photos can be old or new, and be of anything as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give is up to you." All she asks is that you don't just post random photos that you find online. (Click pictures for close-up).
The bean in all its glory.

That's me with the camera.

Looking up at the bean from underneath.
Two weeks ago, I took a spur-of-the-moment trip to Chicago to get together with two college friends.  It was my first trip there since a sixth grade field trip that took us to the Field Museum and the Museum of Science and Industry.  One of the stops on this trip was to Millennium Park to take in a free concert.....and to get some cool reflective photos of the "bean" (aka the Cloud Gate sculpture). 


13 comments:

Arti said...

This is a fascinating sculture... or, what exactly is it? Must be fun that you can actually go through it and see all the kaleidoscope of reflections. Thanks for sharing!

Christine Harding said...

How strange! I looks like some kind of alien creature. What is it made of?

Laurel-Rain Snow said...

Wow! What an awesome sculpture! Thanks for sharing, and for visiting my blog.

(Diane) Bibliophile By the Sea said...

Very cool shots.

Bev Hankins said...

@Christine: It is made of 168 plates of highly polished stainless steel (so polished that there are no visible seams). It is said that it was inspired by liquid mercury....

Bev Hankins said...

Arti: The kaleidoscope picture is my favorite.

Stacy at The Novel Life said...

I have never heard of this sculpture but wow, what fantastic photos you were able to get! And capturing the reflective quality from underneath is truly remarkable!

J F Norris said...

I'm amazed that no one knows of this outside of Chicago. We can't escape images of it - photos of the Bean are plastered on any piece of P.R. for the city - and it seems to have usurped the former Sears Tower (no the Willis Tower) and the Hancock building as *the* icon of the city. When some mindless thug etched a word into it there was an uproar - as there should have been. Did you notice any recent vandalism? I've never gone near it since it's been installed. Too many tourists.

Bev Hankins said...

John: Hi, from one of the tourists. ;-) No, I didn't notice any vandalism...of course I wasn't really looking. I'm hoping they were able to polish the word out. We didn't stay there too long--like you said, too many people.

Lmkazmierczak said...

The Bean is always a photo op magnet♫
Glad you enjoyed your visit to the Windy City♪

Leslie (Under My Apple Tree) said...

I love The Bean! That is an interesting effect from the underside.

I live near Chicago and worked in the city for 20 years and I'll concur, The Bean is on all the city PR.

In the summer the tourists are always swarming around it making photography almost impossible but in the winter they go away. Of course you will freeze out there with the lake winds, but that's the best time to see it. I got some nice shots of it back in February with no people in the way.

Alyce said...

I've never been to Chicago before, but if I ever make it there that is one of the sites on my "must see" list. It looks like so much fun to take photos of, and I'm sure it's awesome just to walk around and look at too.

Bookzilla said...

I've been to Chicago, but I definitely missed out on the bean! Ah, modern art. :) Looks like fun!