Of Bikes and Boats

On Sunday the Chiflickr meetup group planned to meet at Ping Tom Park and we were in for a bit of a surprise. There was only three of us, this doesn't surprise me at all because everyone says they're going and no one really shows up.

To Get to the park I took the 44 Wallace Racine Bus to Archer and Canal then walked Canal one block north to Cermak. Then Cermak to Princeston and then zig-zag down little streets to the park. My first surprise was all the bikes a saw while I was walking. I didn't realize that the Lakefront Boulvard ride was this Sunday and that Ping Tom Park was a rest place. Instead of an empty park to shoot we had one filled with people and that was a good thing :)

I arrived around 10:30 and shot some of the activity including some people doing tai chi. The event used the pagoda as a staging area



The three of us spent some time shooting the railroad bridge, which other than the pagoda, is the most photogentic object in the area. Below is some of the bridge



We also noticed that water taxi service to downtown was in operation and there was a $6.00 all day pass. So we took the next taxi. Below is a photo of the taxi.




The next stop for the taxi is Madison Avenue for commuters at Union Station and then onto the Wrigley Building. We waited about 5 minutes at Wrigley and then headed back to Chinatown. Roundtrip was around 45 minutes. Below are some of the shots from the Chicago River.










Finally back to Ping Tom Park here is the pagoda from the water:



All in All I thought it was an interesting photo shoot. The water taxi experience was cool since you get to ride on a part of the river south of the guide boats and if you already know the buildings it's a great way to capture shots on the cheap.