Chicago: view of South Branch Chicago River, Sears Tower observation deck IMG_0321.jpg
Image by jetzenpolis
photo: 10/11/2004
LATENT CASE: A SLIGHT VERTIGO
The Sears Tower's Skydeck is on the United States's tallest building's 103rd floor: 1,353 ft. above the ground.
People walking on the sidewalks below are as small as mites and other nearly microscopic insects. Cars and vehicles are far less than the size of toys, minaturized to an incredibly tinyness, something that could be held between your finger and your thumb rather than in your hand.
The South Branch of the Chicago River flows far below your feet.
The flow of the Chicago River was reversed by human engineering by the Army Corps of Engineers in 1892 so that it would drain from Lake Michigan rather than into the Lake, thus protecting the purity of the city's water supply fromthe city's own water pollution. It now drains into the Mississippi River basin through the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal constructed in 1900 replacing the earlier Illinois & Michigan Canal finished in 1848.
The average sway of the steel frame skyscraper is less than 6" from true center.
My friend, Fay Marie, says she believes she felt that thing swaying when she was on the Skydeck of the Sears Tower. Of course, the Skydeck's staff said the building's sway could not be felt. (Do they know the full range of human ability to detect such sway? It could vary from individual to individual.)
This view out the Skydeck from the "backside" of the building was somewhat alarming and, yet, at the same time, thrilling. Perhaps it was the river running beneath my feet.
The Skydeck is a large space but it is also incredibly open. There aren't any posts or beams blocking your view of it (although the center of the room is occupied by the restroom, etc. It's easy to figure out the dimensions of what is essentially a single large room set high atop a the relatively slender profile of the Sears Tower.
It's the proportion of the Skydeck's width and length in comparison to the vast height of the Sears Tower that preyed upon my mind, perhaps more than anything else.
The Skydeck's total amount of floor space is incredibly small in comparison to the block after city block of Chicago at ground level below. When I think of it this way, It's almost seems that the Skydeck is suspended in mid-air high abover the city.
The Sears Tower is so tall you look down on all the other city's buildings, including all of the other of the city's downtown skyscrapers. The view on a clear day without haze extends 40 to 50 miles from Illinois to three other states: Wisconsin, Indiana, and Michigan.
Sometime after being on the Sears Tower Skydeck Ipictured being in the position you see in the photograph: my feet next to the register at the bottom window which starts very close to the floor. The buidling starts to sway, losing its balance: the top heavy structure bending over, breaking in the middle, the top half breaking and dropping head first into the South Branch of the Chicago River below.
Sears Tower Skydeck: official website
www.theskydeck.com
Chicago Traveler: Sears Tower Skydeck
www.chicagotraveler.com/attractions/sears-tower-skydeck.html
Wikipedia: Illinois & Michigan Canal
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illinois_&_Michigan_Canal
Nigel #45/100 "SMILE, LIFE'S TOO SHORT"
Image by Mark Emery Photography
All Rights Reserved. The image is set CC to allow the Stranger to download the image for their own use.
Today I met Nigel at Victoria Tube station playing my favorite Snow Patrol song "Chasing Cars". After years of moving on buskers, The London Underground now have designated spots for them to play their music in. I stopped to listen to the whole song, gave Nigel my change and did my intro.
Nigel agreed to being part of the project. I let him get on with his playing, not wanting to impact his earnings as more people were coming up the escalator. While looking for a bit of paper to write my Flickr URL on (so not ready for photos today) he followed up with another great song, “Tears In Heaven” by Eric Clapton.
This has been the first day in many months that I've walked out of the house without the 40D, in a hurry to catch a train. I felt naked! I'd thought about the lack of dSLR for a moment and decided a lower res camera-phone shot would be better than no shot at all.
I could tell from the way he rocked about on his stool and the expressions he made while he sang and played that this wasn't just a way to earn some money, he truly loves his music. This created a small problem for me - the CPU in the phone is slow in comparison to the DIGIC processor in the Canon so all of the shots came out very blurred and I had to ask Nigel to stay still and pose for a shot.
I thanked Nigel and said something along the lines of “Note to self: Don't leave home without it!”, he smiled and said “You never know what's going to happen”. Too true. I might have my first photo in a news paper very soon because I'd carried the camera and been in the right place at the right time while heading to the station one morning.
Nigel told me that he does gigs with his band and also plays solo. He's planning to travel to India soon, somewhere warmer than here.
The initial upload of the shot via email looked blurred as the photo app on the phone had scaled down the image for sending. This experience and Nigel's “Smile, Life's Too Short” will be a good reminder to carry the Canon.
I should use Will Smiths saying: “Always be ready, then you don't have to get ready.”
Thanks for you time Nigel, it was lovely meeting you, I hope you have a great time in India.
Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at www.100Strangers.com
1401C State of California
Image by The City Project
Los Angeles is park poor, and there are unfair park, school, and health disparities. Children of color living in poverty disproportionately lack access to parks, to school fields, to healthy food in grocery stores and restaurants, and to cars or transit to reach parks, schools, or healthy foods. They suffer from the highest levels of child obesity.
Chart 1401C presents demographics and park access for California for comparison to
*the County of Los Angeles
*the City of Los Angeles
*the Los Angeles River
*the San Gabriel River, and
*the United States.
Visit the core maps covering healthy, livable communities for all
Read more in The City Project's Policy Report Healthy Parks, Schools, and Communities: Mapping Green Access and Equity for the Los Angeles Region, a guide for creating healthy, livable communities for all.
1402C United States
Image by The City Project
Los Angeles is park poor, and there are unfair park, school, and health disparities. Children of color living in poverty disproportionately lack access to parks, to school fields, to healthy food in grocery stores and restaurants, and to cars or transit to reach parks, schools, or healthy foods. They suffer from the highest levels of child obesity.
Chart 1402C presents demographics and park access for the United States for comparison to
*the County of Los Angeles
*the City of Los Angeles
*the Los Angeles River
*the San Gabriel River, and
*California.
Visit the core maps covering healthy, livable communities for all
Read more in The City Project's Policy Report Healthy Parks, Schools, and Communities: Mapping Green Access and Equity for the Los Angeles Region, a guide for creating healthy, livable communities for all.
06 Burton Bradstock 001
Image by mikbex
To see a modern comparison
www.flickr.com/photos/mikbex/4272931038/
Very little has changed in this village. Note that the small petrol station in the old photo is still a garage selling cars. The thatched roof on the cottage has, unfortunately, been replaced.
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