Chicago Skyscraper Canyon Black and White Photography

An Older Tower Framed Between Modern Chicago High-Rises

The small tower in the distance is what makes this photograph work for me. Surrounded by enormous modern buildings, it could easily disappear, yet the narrow opening through downtown Chicago pulls my eye directly toward it.

I found this view in 2011 while photographing the city’s architecture. Instead of concentrating on one skyscraper, I used the surrounding buildings to create a canyon of glass, steel, brick and repeating windows. The towers rise almost completely out of the frame, leaving only a narrow strip of sky and that much smaller structure standing at the end of the corridor.

There is an interesting shift in scale here. The buildings closest to me dominate through sheer size, but the distant tower becomes the visual destination. Its older form feels almost delicate against the broad grids and reflective surfaces around it.

Black and white was important because the photograph is really about structure. Removing colour lets the window patterns, vertical lines, balconies and different architectural surfaces work together without distraction. Light moves differently across each facade, separating the buildings while still allowing them to become part of one dense composition.

Chicago often gives me these layered architectural views, where buildings from different periods appear almost stacked against one another. I like that this photograph does not reveal itself all at once. First I see the canyon of skyscrapers. Then, farther in, I discover the smaller tower waiting at the centre.