Milwaukee vantage points

[AsphaltPlanet]

I am planning to find myself in Milwaukee for the weekend and I am curios if anybody knows of any good vantage points of the Milwaukee skyline?  Preferable a vantage point that includes a freeway and ideally in a location where I can set up with a tripod at night. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[SEWIGuy]

The best viewpoint of Milwaukee's downtown is from Brewer's Hill in my opinion.  But that won't include a freeway.  There might be some spots on the Marquette campus that would work.

[AsphaltPlanet]

Where is brewers hill?  Near the ballpark?

[SEWIGuy]

Where is brewers hill?  Near the ballpark?

No just north of downtown.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neighborhoods_of_Milwaukee#Brewer.27s_Hill

The problem with Milwaukee is that it is a pretty flat place.  The best views of the city are actually on the freeways itself.

[Alps]

Where is brewers hill?  Near the ballpark?

No just north of downtown.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neighborhoods_of_Milwaukee#Brewer.27s_Hill

The problem with Milwaukee is that it is a pretty flat place.  The best views of the city are actually on the freeways itself.

I was told that I-794 NB was perhaps the best skyline view as you come over the Hoan Bridge, and it certainly was nice. Unfortunately, it does not have an associated walkway, or that would have been perfect.

[sr641]

Where is brewers hill?  Near the ballpark?

No just north of downtown.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neighborhoods_of_Milwaukee#Brewer.27s_Hill

The problem with Milwaukee is that it is a pretty flat place.  The best views of the city are actually on the freeways itself.

I was told that I-794 NB was perhaps the best skyline view as you come over the Hoan Bridge, and it certainly was nice. Unfortunately, it does not have an associated walkway, or that would have been perfect.

I agree. I've been go Milwaukee and I-794 has the best view.

[mgk920]

The 12 St bridge over Fond du Lac Ave (WI 145) has a nice skyline view if you wish to park and set up.

Also, even though I have not been in that area in a long while, how is the view from along Canal St east of Miller Park, towards the Marquette University athletic fields?

Ditto from the 6th, 27th and 35th St Bridges over the Menominee Valley?

Mike

[SEWIGuy]

Another one I forgot about is the views from Lakeshore State Park.  Here is a video that gives you a sense of what that would look like.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0F-DUdwuhI

[OCGuy81]

I'd also vote for I-794 having the best view of the skyline. 

On a side note, if you have the chance, take a drive along the lake via Lincoln Memorial Dr.  Lots of beautiful old neighborhoods and lakefront mansions.  Some belonging to early brewing magnates, some were probably mob owned back in the day...

Cool drive.

[rawmustard]

So far I've found Bayview Park to have a nice vantage point of the Milwaukee skyline, but that's been the only area outside of Jones Island and downtown I've explored during daylight hours. Like others have said, the Hoan Bridge provides a closer view, but no good place to set up (and on Jones Island itself, the bridge and its approach will obstruct any view of the skyline).

[mgk920]

I'd also vote for I-794 having the best view of the skyline. 

On a side note, if you have the chance, take a drive along the lake via Lincoln Memorial Dr.  Lots of beautiful old neighborhoods and lakefront mansions.  Some belonging to early brewing magnates, some were probably mob owned back in the day...

Cool drive.

Not a good 'skyline' view from Lincoln Memorial, but it is a sweet drive on a locally very useful parkway street (it offers an excellent connection between the north shore neighborhoods and suburbs and I-794 and other downtown streets) with the lakefront condominimum towers on the bluff as it gets closer to the downtown area - as long as the people in the lakefront park are behaving.  It's sort of like Milwaukee's answer to Chicago's Lake Shore Drive.

Mike

[triplemultiplex]

Let's see, downtown plus freeways.

There's a good view of downtown with the Marquette Interchange in the foreground from the 16th Street Viaduct by the Potowatomi Casino.
http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=43.03050,-87.93285&z=16&t=S
The casino is adding a 20 story hotel tower this year, so once that's done...

Mike mentioned the 6th Street Viaduct; it's not very high, but the southern span should be decent.  (Canal Street itself is too low, Mike.)
http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=43.02818,-87.91803&z=16&t=S

The aforementioned Lakeshore State Park is a good one.

If you attend a concert at the Marcus Amphitheater, there's some cool night views from the top of the seating bowl by the beer tents:
http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=43.02732,-87.89679&z=17&t=S

And if you ever take the Lake Express ferry across Lake Michigan, or go out on a fishing charter, Milwaukee from the harbor is gorgeous.

Imagine that view with a decent lens!  Or at night.  (Looks like there was a window washing crew working the upper floors of the US Bank Center that day.)

Even though there'd be no freeways to see, I'd recommend getting some shots from the north.  Building heights in Milwaukee tend to rise closer to the lake and I-794, so when viewed from the north (like Brewer's Hill) you get to see more of the high rises.  Especially the Milwaukee Center; a cool-looking skyscraper across the street from city hall that you really can't see from the south.

[agentsteel53]

Imagine that view with a decent lens!  Or at night.

you'd need one hell of an image stabilization system to take a night photo from a boat.

[Alps]

Imagine that view with a decent lens!  Or at night.

you'd need one hell of an image stabilization system to take a night photo from a boat.

http://www.alpsroads.net/roads/la/bus_90 - the photos at the bottom were taken from a riverboat with no stabilization and long exposures (no flash). It can be done.

[AsphaltPlanet]

^ Those pictures look like they were taken with a high ISO setting and a wide open aperture, a lot of point and shoot cameras offer this as a night setting as somewhat of a bastardized version of a long exposure.

Typically, long exposure involves a lower ISO sensitivity (to avoid graininess) and a much longer exposure time (>30secs).  I have taken a decent number of photos from highway overpasses over the years, and even with a good camera with a good image stabilization system, if a truck happens to drive over the overpass while the shutter of the camera is open, the overpass will shake just enough so that the photo will be ruined.

Thanks to everyone for the photo suggestions.  I will be trying some of them out tomorrow night.

[SEWIGuy]

Please make sure to post them here, or at least give us a link.  I would like to see what you come up with.

[hobsini2]

I would think you could get a nice view of the skyline with freeways from the 27th St Bridge over the Menominee River west of the casino (view from the WSW). The other place i would think about would be from the 3rd Ward on 6th St Bridge (or there about) (view from the S).

[AsphaltPlanet]

A couple of Milwaukee pics.  Milwaukee is indeed a very difficult city to photograph:




A bonus, and another very standard view, this time of Chicago:


And another bonus, the real reason for my trip:

[triplemultiplex]

^^^
Ah, that was the extra inning game on Saturday.  What a disappointing ending, though.

Oh well, the Brewers made up for it on Sunday.

[OCGuy81]

Great pictures of the ball game! And from the look of it, nice seats too! 

[merrycilantro]

A couple of Milwaukee pics.  Milwaukee is indeed a very difficult city to photograph:




A bonus, and another very standard view, this time of Chicago:


And another bonus, the real reason for my trip:

NICE SHOTS!!!

[merrycilantro]

Let's see, downtown plus freeways.

There's a good view of downtown with the Marquette Interchange in the foreground from the 16th Street Viaduct by the Potowatomi Casino.
http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=43.03050,-87.93285&z=16&t=S
The casino is adding a 20 story hotel tower this year, so once that's done...

Mike mentioned the 6th Street Viaduct; it's not very high, but the southern span should be decent.  (Canal Street itself is too low, Mike.)
http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=43.02818,-87.91803&z=16&t=S

The aforementioned Lakeshore State Park is a good one.

If you attend a concert at the Marcus Amphitheater, there's some cool night views from the top of the seating bowl by the beer tents:
http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=43.02732,-87.89679&z=17&t=S

And if you ever take the Lake Express ferry across Lake Michigan, or go out on a fishing charter, Milwaukee from the harbor is gorgeous.

Imagine that view with a decent lens!  Or at night.  (Looks like there was a window washing crew working the upper floors of the US Bank Center that day.)

Even though there'd be no freeways to see, I'd recommend getting some shots from the north.  Building heights in Milwaukee tend to rise closer to the lake and I-794, so when viewed from the north (like Brewer's Hill) you get to see more of the high rises.  Especially the Milwaukee Center; a cool-looking skyscraper across the street from city hall that you really can't see from the south.

This is always one of my favorite places. I grew up in Milwaukee and from the harbor, you get an amazing skyline. I'd love to be able to get a shot at night.

[merrycilantro]

Actually another interesting place to get a good shot, at night, would be the sky-lift at the Summerfest Grounds. Hard as hell to get a decent shot, but at HMFP, you're right there in the midst of Downtown and your shot will be filled with the US Bank Center, I believe the Gas Company...just close up towers all around. I guess it all depends on the type of shot you want.