Photo Friday: Chicago's Smith Museum of Stained Glass Windows

The Smith Museum of Stained Glass Windows on Chicago's Navy Pier was an unexpected discovery, found as we sought air-conditioned relief on an especially hot and humid summer day.

I think our accidental discoveries often turn out to be among our most memorable travel memories, and discovering this treasure trove of artifacts from Chicago's storied architectural history certainly ranks among the most memorable moments of our trip to Navy Pier.

I'm sharing a few visual details of our visit to this glorious glass museum today.

Want to learn more about our visit to the museum and the important role stained glass played in Chicago's culture and history from the city's rebuilding after a devastating fire in 1871 through the present day? Check out yesterday's story about the Smith Museum of Stained Glass Windows.

Thanks to Debbie Dubrow of Delicious Baby for creating and coordinating Photo Friday to link travel photos and blog posts across the Web.

© Dominique King 2009 All rights reserved

Comments

[jessiev]

dominique - i had NO IDEA that this was here! we'll have to head there next time we're in town. gorgeous photos!!

[TheWordWire]

What beautiful photos! Thanks for the reminder to pay attention to the details.

[Dominique King]

Jessie-We literally stumbled onto the place ourselves! I loved the glass, and I especially loved the stories behind the windows as well.

Word-I loved the close ups and decided to use them as a Photo Friday feature in tandem with my Thursday story about the museum. The darkened rooms and back-lit glass showed the windows off so nicely, although those conditions made it a little tougher to get good shots with our hand-held cameras. Thank goodness for the ability to shoot many shots with digital...so I was pretty assured of getting at least a few I could use :)

[Carolina]

so pretty. i was wondering how you got these pictures indoors like that, you got a steady hand for sure.

[Dominique King]

Carolina-Shooting plenty of photos is part of the key to getting a few good shots :)
A steady hand helps, a stabilization feature on your lens can help, holding your breath as you take a shot can help (minimizing even the movement created by breathing!)...