Several years ago I got the chance to visit the USA and travelled to Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Along with health issues and time limit per trip I wasn’t able to visit many places and take lots of photos, but still I’d like to write something about the 4 cities, as they were a part of my early photography journey. This is by no means a precise travel guide; it’s more like a personal note accompanying my early photographic works.
Chicago
Chicago is the first city I visited. I spent a few non-consecutive days there in early summer in 2017. It was quite an experience. You will be impressed by wide roads lined with diverse architecture, from ornate buildings to modern skyscrapers, which offer great subjects to photograph, along with the contrast of sunshine and shadows. There's also the overhead railway across the city, adding visual interest to the place.
The Chicago River runs through the city, winding between towering skyscrapers, and there are people rowing or taking boat tours. The Riverwalk, a 1.25-mile pedestrian waterfront, offers a quiet and charming place to dine, gather, stroll and relax.
Places with any water bodies own my heart, probably because I lived near the sea at an early age. Oak Street beach is on the shore of Lake Michigan, and you can enjoy a nice sunny afternoon swimming, watching the antics of seagulls, or just taking a stroll while enjoying the breeze and the clear azure of the skies and waters.
Speaking of relaxing, I visited Lincoln Park Conservatory and the nearby Green City Market. Spend some time surrounding yourself with lush greenery to feel refreshed. The Farmer’s market lets you sample all sorts of fresh produce and artisanal food products. I didn’t visit the Chicago Botanic Garden on this trip as it’s far away from the Loop, but I went there when I was a kid. Fond memories of delicate flora and gardens inspired by eastern and western cultures, albeit blurry, still live in my head.
As an art and history lover, I can’t afford to miss any opportunities to visit the local museums and art installations. Millennium Park, with the video of human faces playing on the screen of fountains, is an intriguing sight for street photographers, given how it serves as a background of activities of the park visitors, and how they interact with the video. Cloud Gate by Anish Kapoor is an iconic must-go. The sleek post-modern bean-like sculpture creates great contrast with the historic buildings, and becomes an interesting backdrop for photography.
But let’s not forget the Art Institute of Chicago, the art museum to visit if you want to see an impressive collection of Impressionist paintings including Georges Seurat’s A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, and masterpieces like American Gothic by Grant Wood and Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks. The Institute is also home to ancient treasures across different cultures and periods of time. I recommend spending half a day there, not only for the exhibitions, but also for photography (disclaimer: please follow the museum rules for photography), where you can capture the interaction of the viewers and the art pieces, and the crowd’s activities. To be honest, photographing and people watching in museums are so underrated.
New York
New York is a fascinating place I wish I could visit once more, as my health condition worsened back in summer of 2018. It’s a place of paradox, showing its timeless glamour and omnipresent grit. To be honest some streets are rather old and sometimes smell of garbage, but the city shows its allure in the architecture, commercial, and cultural activities.
Viewing the city lights going up in the dark (and the glow of the art deco Chrysler building) from the top of the Empire State Building delights me, so is walking down the streets lined with the brownstone buildings and observing the urban dwellers.
In Times Square you can feel the pulse of a truly capitalist and consumerist society – large digital screens displaying news, ads, and brand logos light up the gloomy skies, tall buildings, the sounds of crowded streets and yellow taxis remind me of Causeway Bay, the commercial and shopping hub back in Hong Kong. And I can see the appeal of the beaux-arts Grand Central Terminal, it’s a past that’s still living in the present, a well-dressed witness that sees man being on the way to pursue their own ideal life, generation after generation.
Museum visits are a must, though I only chose The Guggenheim due to limited time. Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, this off-white, geometry-inspired building features a unique spiral pathway that displays artworks in an innovative way. The building's continuous flow of galleries winds up six stories, with a stunning central rotunda flooded by natural light from the glass dome above. I enjoyed the exhibition of Alberto Giacometti a lot, whose elongated haunting sculptures explore the human condition in a surreal way. The curved walls and spiral design provide a unique way to experience his works.
Any trip to New York is not complete without visiting the iconic Brooklyn Bridge - a 19th-century engineering masterpiece with distinctive Gothic arches and steel cables that lets people view Manhattan's skyline. Central Park, the city’s green heart, is also the iconic place to visit and relax. The serene Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir and Bethesda Fountain offers scenic spots for photography. Also, there are people rowing, relaxing, having a picnic, and street performers share their passion towards music in the park. And let’s not forget the simply joy of walking down the tree-lined pavements and see the playful squirrels and traquil lake views. Union Square Greenmarket is also a good option if you want to relax and have a taste of the fresh vegetables, fruit, artisanal bread and the like.
Los Angeles
I didn’t visit many places in Los Angeles as I don’t know how to drive and the city isn’t very walkable, but to me it’s a pastel-coloured playground for the affluent. Walk down the streets of Beverly Hills and you will find all the well-known expensive and luxury brands. There are theme-park-like shopping malls and chic restaurants. The roads and architecture here are greatly different from the East Coast and the Midwest – they are lined with palm trees soaking in the endless sunlight, and Mediterranean-inspired villas and candy coloured houses dot the seemingly endless roads. Traffic was bad though, the congestion is just unbearable.
Santa Monica's beaches and pier are always bustling, whether under overcast skies or bright sunshine. I visited there on both gloomy and sunny days. The Americana pier features a colorful amusement park and shops that might call gaudy but in fact are photogenic. Though I didn't swim, I spent my time watching swimmers and seagulls at play, staying until sunset when golden rays painted the sand and sea.
I visited 2 museums, The Getty Center and LACMA. Both are home to artefacts and artistic gems across the globe and history. I love Getty's special exhibition about Egypt and LACMA's Iranian ancient and contemporary art show at that time. The Getty Center's clean and warm pavilion houses, terrace, spacious gardens and fountains is simply perfect for architecture and street photography that evokes elegance.
Meanwhile, LACMA's Urban Light, created with 1920–30s street lamps by Chris Burden, is one of the Instagram favourites, and Michael Heizer's Levitated Mass, featuring a huge stone on the trench walls, is truly a surreal sight.
The Griffith Observatory, perched high above the city, offers architectural beauty and panoramic views. Though the exhibition hall was closed during my visit, the Greek-influenced architecture with its whitewashed walls bathed in sunshine creates remarkably minimal and quiet scenes. From this vantage point, visitors can also catch a glimpse of the iconic Hollywood sign.
San Francisco
Spending winter days in San Francisco 2019 is one of the unforgettable experiences in the trip to the USA. It was the first time I saw such foggy weather, and I loved it, though I almost couldn’t see what was in front of me. The first stop was Pier 39, where I saw the sea views of San Francisco, seagulls, and Californian sea lions. The heavy mist made the scene poignant and quiet. Light mute blue and purple painted the skies and sea, and seagulls soar without a care in the world.
Back to the city along with residential area, the architecture is quaintly diverse, think brick buildings, skyscrapers, and Victorian buildings. The area is more walkable as well, given the relative small size.
I also visited Chinatown, the oldest one in North America. It’s a trip to the past and a mix of nostalgia and cliche.The district is filled with kitsch colourful Chinese buildings (even the street lamps are decorated with dragons) with traditional shop signs, which are decreasing in Chinese cities nowadays.
The visit to SF MOMA is also a cherished memory, where I saw pastel-coloured artworks of Wayne Thiebaud and dark moody images of Brassaï.
For a photogenic spot, Palace of Fine Arts and Painted Ladies are must-visit locations for photographers, especially on sunny days. The Palace of Fine Arts, built in 1915 for the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, features an elegant beaux-arts garden with a neutral-colored rotunda that reflects in the surrounding lagoon. The grand columns, intricate architectural details, and peaceful setting make it a popular site for photography.
‘The Painted Ladies’ is a row of iconic Victorian houses located at Alamo Square. Built between 1892 and 1896, they were repainted in vibrant pastel colors in the 1960s, creating a stark contrast against the architecture downtown. Their colorful facades and ornate details have made them one of the city's most recognizable landmarks.
I also went to The Presidio, a former military base turned national park that owns stunning views of the San Francisco Bay and the iconic Golden Gate Bridge. This historic area features hiking trails, eucalyptus groves, and scenic overlooks. The Golden Gate Bridge, with its distinctive international orange color, stretches across the bay. The bridge may seem ordinary these days given the architecture technology has advanced, but by the time it started operating in 1937, it was the longest and tallest suspension bridge in the world. Even in foggy conditions, which are common in San Francisco, the bridge creates a dramatic silhouette against the misty backdrop.
That’s pretty much about the trips to the 4 USA cities, each has its own place in my mind, not only because of their distinct characters, but also a part of my photography journey. I hope I can visit there once more to see what I will capture given the improved skills, but if budget and safety not permitted, these will still be some of the cherished memories.