Chicago Skyline, From Willis Tower

Chicago grew up against Lake Michigan, and the city has always arranged itself around that edge — the towers crowd toward the water, and the lake gives the skyline the open horizon that lets it be seen whole. From the top of Willis Tower, for decades the tallest building in the country, the rest of downtown falls away below and the eye runs out across the rooftops to where the city finally meets the lake.

Photographed June 2024, from the top of Willis Tower. This is the view from above the skyline rather than under it — the towers seen as a field stretching out toward the water, the lake closing the distance. In black and white the city becomes texture and the horizon becomes the subject.