Free Chicago Photos, Page 2   All of these free digital photos were taken in and around Chicago, mostly during January and February, 1999. Almost every one of these pictures was just 'spur of the moment'. Most were just taken through my car's window as I was driving around downtown to drop something off or something like that. So that's why many of these pictures might look kind of spontaneous or not prepared for. I'll add better versions of these photos and update this page as I get take new, better pictures. A sort of overview of the Chicago skyline. There's very little detail in the picture because of the great distance from the actual buildings that this picture was taken at. (Chicagoans, this was from near Montrose Harbor, almost six miles from many of those buildings.) The building on the far left is Lake Point tower, which is the world's largest apartment building and the only commercial building east of Lake Shore Drive. The tallest building of the bunch in the center is the John Hancock building. And, of course, the tall one on the far right is the Sears Tower, which is still the world's tallest building, despite what you might have heard. Any Chicagoan can tell you that the people in Malasia, who put some kind of decoration on the top of Kuala Lumpur Tower to increase its height, don't hold the real title! This is a typical city street here in Chicago. Our cold winters and widely varying climate make for some very rough driving, so most streets are in conditions about like this. Of course I'm just kidding, but our streets still are rough. This picture was taken on Valentine's Day, 1999, at the end of the 'breakwater' for Belmont Harbor. They're re-paving the street and making lots of other big changes around there. A jet at O'Hare airport. Not the sharpest photo. I'll get better pictures of jets and other airport stuff next time I actually go to O'Hare. This was just another 'through the car window' picture as I went by. I don't think the phrase "snow white" was a reference to the snow we get in Chicago. See illustration at left. This picture is just really funny because of how incredibly black this snow was. It had been piled up for a few weeks and was just absorbing pollution and attracting garbage or something. This was some of the hundreds of tons of snow piled up in Horner Park, on the North Side. Okay, this is a somewhat better picture of a jet. It doesn't really have much to do with Chicago in particular, but it's still an okay photo, with the unusually blue sky and all. Just a foggy winter day on the Chicago River. This picture was taken looking south from the Lawrence Avenue Bridge, across the Chicago River's North Branch. On a clearer day, the Standard oil building and a few others downtown are visible from here, even though they're over six miles from this point. Another foggy picture of the river. Only in this one, the fog is caused by the temperature difference between the water and the air, not the general foggy weather. The North Branch never freezes in winter, which causes steam to rise off of it and glide over the surface in the wind on cold days. Also, the bridge visible in this picture is the Lawrence bridge, where the photo right above this one was taken from. A hazy view of the Sears Tower. I can't remember exactly where this is from. Anyway, the building in the foreground and smoke, haze, etc., kind of emphasize the fact that Chicago is a huge city. (It's populatoin is third largest in the nation, after New York and L.A.) Every time there's a huge snowfall in Chicago, something kind of interesting happens in most neighborhoods. Practically everyone 'stakes out' or claims their parking place in front of their house, by putting something out to claim the space as their own... They seem to usually use chairs, although, as you can see from this picture, all kinds of things are used, including, apparently, lampshades and buckets. Speaking of huge snowfalls and parking places, check this one out! I saw this along North Elston Ave. one evening, and knew I had to stop to get some pictures. As you can see, the snow can really bury things! This car was buried deep in the snow for literally weeks. We got way more snow than usual this winter. (The snow we got in the blizzard during the first week of January '99 was the most Chicago had received in 20 years.)   Back to Page One Page Two Next Page, Page Three For more free digital photos from TERSCH.com, please check out the Macro Mode Photos page for close-up shots of things, the Light Effect Photos page for photos with unusual lighting, the Special Enhanced Photos page for panoramic or animated pictures, and the Free Pictures (Various) page for pictures of all kinds of miscellaneous things, mostly around Florida.