Cloud Gate, better know as The Bean, is one of the most popular sights in Chicago, the city that’s not short of picturesque spots. Despite being only 13 years old, it’s one of the top locations for photographers form around the world. The way its mirror-like surface bends and twists the surrounding Millenial Park and Chicago’s skyline can make any creative mind go nuts with trying to take that best shot. Not to mention millions of selfies taken there each year.
But how do you shoot it in a way that hasn’t been done before? Well, you can’t. You can just hope for a new angle, or something more original than a bunch of guys with fancy cameras next to you will come up with. And that was my challenge when I visited there.
I looked and looked, and walked around, taking in the sight. It’s super cool, really – even if you leave your camera at home. Kids, in particular, had a blast, looking at themselves as they would in carnival mirrors and laughing. I took a few shots around The Bean, including the obligatory reflections of Chicago’s famous skyscrapers.
Then I suddenly saw a burly, buzzcut man looking in what appeared to be a dent in the otherwise convex surface. It looked as if the entire surrounding suddenly spiraled in some sort of tiers of depth, going into singularity as it would into a black hole.
I never knew who the man was – he remained a mere onlooker, a subject of a picture who left just as suddenly as he appeared. But if you look closely, you could probably find the photographer somewhere there, in the vortex.