what do you see?

When we take walks around  big cities, we usually have loose itineraries of where to go and what to see. Todd is more the "where to go" guy, and I’m the "what to see" girl. And my what to see includes so much more than what’s on the list, like this photo.

What did I see?

As we crossed one of the drawbridges over the Chicago River, the first thing I noticed were the rivets. They caught my eye, and then my gaze followed their line toward the skyscrapers. I snapped the photo. Todd asked what I had taken a picture of, and I told him, “the city view.”

But it was much more than the city view.

I saw the gritty urban texture: the round rivets, the peeling paint, and the reddish-brown rust spreading across the metal. The bridge's earthy tones complemented the surface that looked tactile, rough, and weathered.

Then there were the skyscrapers: rectangular blocks divided into grids by the tiny rectangular windows. The buildings' colors were softer: beige, cream, and tan.

And then came the pops of color. Above everything was a clear blue sky. Near the street level, tiny dots of red from brake lights and stop lights brightened the sea of neutral tones.

And all those contrasts created the picture: The heavy, weathered metal of the bridge against the stone and concrete of the buildings. The rough, industrial textures against the smooth geometry of the skyscrapers. The earthy tones and neutrals interrupted by blue sky and tiny flashes of red.

Todd saw the big city.

I saw the details that made the city interesting.