Not Just Gothic: The Glassy Side of the University of Chicago Campus

The University of Chicago is known for its ivy-lined buildings and gothic architecture, but next to the University's iconic quads lies an expanse of glassy modern buildings. From the University of Chicago hospital to Manuseto library, the newly-developed areas surrounding the quads stand in stark contrast to the center of campus. These photos portray the lesser-seen side of the University of Chicago campus, where glass and steel replace ivy and gargoyles. Enjoy!

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Chicago Winter in Black and White

     Man it's cold out. After spending winter break in the Bay Area I just returned to Chicago - a massive downgrade in terms of weather. Chicago is being hit by a polar vortex full of ultra-cold air, causing temperatures to drop to around -40°F including wind chill. That means I just lost around 100°F of warmth compared to the Bay Area. Yeahhh, don't think I'll be doing much photography this week. Below are a series of photos taken during a comparatively warm snowstorm in December. At this point December's weather looks balmy....

A security guard at the University of Chicago stays warm by standing over a steam vent.

The University of Chicago quads dusted by a late-night snowfall.

The skeleton of the Institute for Molecular Engineering building at the University of Chicago.

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Hyperlocal, Artisan-Made, 100% Organic iPhone and Desktop Wallpapers for $.99

My previous wallpaper packs have been some of the most popular posts on this blog, so today I'm releasing a new experiment: paid mobile and desktop wallpapers. These are high-quality images of iconic places formatted for desktop and mobile devices.  I'm selling each wallpaper for $.99 through Sellfy, a startup that provides a platform for securely selling digital goods. 

Why should you buy one of my wallpapers instead of using a free one? Many of the wallpapers I'm selling are of places that people have strong connections to, such as the University of Chicago campus, the Illinois centennial monument in Logan Square, or the redwood forests in California. There are not high-quality wallpapers of these places readily available elsewhere. I've tested each of these on my own phone and computer to make sure that they look good behind lock screens and task bars. Finally, many of these are images I haven't released on this blog before, and will be released exclusively as wallpapers.

Click here to purchase a desktop or mobile wallpaper

The mobile wallpapers are specifically formatted with the iPhone 5 and 5S lock screen layout in mind, but can be used on any phone (including earlier iPhone models). The new iOS 7 lock screen has a fairly similar layout to earlier lock screens, so you can keep using these wallpapers if you decide to update your firmware later on. The desktop wallpapers are formatted for widescreen displays, and will look good on both Windows and Macs. Finally,  if you see an image I've previously published that you'd like to see as a wallpaper, let me know - I'm more than happy to whip up a custom wallpaper for you. Enjoy!

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Spring 2013

A thin moon above the University of Chicago.

The Harper Center at the Booth School of Business

Rockefeller Chapel, The University of Chicago

Rockefeller Chapel, The University of Chicago

The glassy side of the University of Chicago

The top floor of a parking lot at the University of Chicago during a thunder storm.

Heavy showers at a parking lot at the University of Chicago.

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Winter White

It's 85 degrees in Chicago right now, so needless to say I'm a little late in posting this set of black and white images from the UChicago campus during winter. More comings soon!

A woman walks accross the Classics Quad at the University of Chicago during a snow storm.

The Theological Seminary at the University of Chicago. Shot from my dining room table.

The Classics Quad at the University of Chicago during a snow storm.

Rockefeller Chapel, The University of Chicago

A pedestrian near Rockefeller Chapel, The University of Chicago.

Harper Memorial Library during a snow storm.

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Winter Orange

We had a huge snow storm during winter quarter, and some friends and I decided to go out and photograph the quads when the snow was undisturbed. Of course, like any cloudy Chicago night the sky was orange, which makes for an eerie backdrop. More to come soon!

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West Campus Combined Utilities Plant

UChicago has three utility plants that provide steam and chilled water to buildings on campus.  Like a lot of the new buildings at UChicago, two of the plants have entirely glass exteriors, and from the outside you can see all sorts of colorful pipes and vats inside the building. I have been looking for an excuse to get inside one of these plants for a while to take photographs. Luckily,  The Maroon wrote an article about campus sustainability in Grey City, our quarterly magazine, so I got the change to tour one the West Campus Combined Utility Plant. It's a pretty cool structure inside and out, although I don't have any good exterior shoots to show. Enjoy!

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UChicago Fall 2012 Part II

A few more photos of campus left over from fall quarter. I'm going to release a wallpaper pack with some of these photos soon, so keep an eye out.

Unusually large waves caused by Hurricane Sandy crashed against the sea wall (or rather lake wall) at Promontory Point, Chicago.

A silhouetted figured (who I believe is UChicago's Dean Boyer) walked through Harper Quad in the rain.

The entrance to Max Palevsky East Residence Halls.

Bond Chapel and Harper Library at the University of Chicago. Taken from Cobb Hall.

Harper Memorial Library at the University of Chicago.

A bird rests on top of Harper Memorial Library.

A rainbow emerges above Rockefeller Chapel at the University of Chicago.

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UChicago Fall 2012

Fall on the UChicago campus is gorgeous - it's hard to resist stopping between classes to capture images of the colorful leaves surrounding the gothic (and not-so-gothic) architecture. Unfortunately,  the leaves all pretty much gone now, so campus will be cold and bland until we get our first snow (when it will be really cold and really bland, but that pretty wintery sort of bland.)

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Three Seasons

This is a fun little photo manipulation I did earlier this month of Kent, one of the buildings on campus. I had a photo I took last year during the snowpacalypse, and another that I took from the same spot during the fall, so I figured I would just run out to the quads during sunset and get a third photo from the same spot and blend them all together. Blending them was a little tricky because I didn't do a very good job of lining the photos up perfectly, so I couldn't just split the photo into vertical thirds for each season. In any case after a little tinkering this is what I came up with and I'm fairly happy with the final result.

 

Chicago Botanical Gardens

A few weeks ago the UChicago Glass Eyeball photo club made a trip out to the Chicago Botanical Gardens. The gardens were gorgeous and there were lots of opportunities for macro photography. Enjoy!