El Bridge

Chicago's elevated railway — the "L" — has run above the streets of the Loop since the 1890s, and the steel structure that carries it gives the downtown its particular sound and shadow. The bridges and trestles are working iron, riveted and repainted for over a century, carrying trains directly over the heads of everyone below.

Photographed June 2024, in color. Up close the L is all rust and rivets and structural honesty — a piece of the nineteenth century still doing its job in the middle of the modern city. The color holds the warmth of the old steel against the street.