Buckingham Fountain is a Chicago landmark in the center of Grant Park. Dedicated in 1927, it is one of the largest fountains in the world.

Buckingham Fountain by Paul Sager, on Flickr




The Buckingham Fountain symbolizes Lake Michigan. Conveying the enormity of the lake, its major display uses as much as 15,000 gallons of water per minute and sprays water to a height of 150 feet from the ground.





The fountain was donated to the city by Kate Buckingham in memory of her brother, Clarence Buckingham, and was constructed at a cost of $750,000. The fountain's official name is the Clarence Buckingham Memorial Fountain.

Buckingham Fountain




Built in a Rocky rococo wedding cake style and inspired by the Latona Fountain at the Palace of Versailles, the fountain is meant to allegorically represent Lake Michigan. It operates from April to October, with regular water shows and evening color-light shows.

Buckingham Fountain




During the planning phases, Kate Buckingham expressed that she wanted the fountain’s lighting to emulate "soft moonlight."

Buckingham Fountain


Except for the first image, all the long exposures used an ND 1.8 (6-stop) filter. While the sun was still out and as bright as the first image without a filter, the exposures were 0.8 second to as long as 25-seconds in the final images after dark.

These images are sized to fill your wide-screen display. Try using <F11> to maximize your browser window for the full effect. If the images overshoot your display, such as a laptop, just click on the image or the URL link and they'll resize to your screen from the host Flickr site. You can click a bit further into the image details on the Flickr page, if desired. EXIF data is available from the host Flickr pages as well. On the Flickr site, use your <L>key for Large and the <F11> for the full-screen.

Buckingham Fountain is a Chicago landmark in the center of Grant Park. Dedicated in 1927, it is one of the largest fountains in the world.

Buckingham Fountain by Paul Sager, on Flickr




The Buckingham Fountain symbolizes Lake Michigan. Conveying the enormity of the lake, its major display uses as much as 15,000 gallons of water per minute and sprays water to a height of 150 feet from the ground.





The fountain was donated to the city by Kate Buckingham in memory of her brother, Clarence Buckingham, and was constructed at a cost of $750,000. The fountain's official name is the Clarence Buckingham Memorial Fountain.

Buckingham Fountain




Built in a Rocky rococo wedding cake style and inspired by the Latona Fountain at the Palace of Versailles, the fountain is meant to allegorically represent Lake Michigan. It operates from April to October, with regular water shows and evening color-light shows.

Buckingham Fountain




During the planning phases, Kate Buckingham expressed that she wanted the fountain’s lighting to emulate "soft moonlight."

Buckingham Fountain


Except for the first image, all the long exposures used an ND 1.8 (6-stop) filter. While the sun was still out and as bright as the first image without a filter, the exposures were 0.8 second to as long as 25-seconds in the final images after dark.

These images are sized to fill your wide-screen display. Try using <F11> to maximize your browser window for the full effect. If the images overshoot your display, such as a laptop, just click on the image or the URL link and they'll resize to your screen from the host Flickr site. You can click a bit further into the image details on the Flickr page, if desired. EXIF data is available from the host Flickr pages as well. On the Flickr site, use your <L>key for Large and the <F11> for the full-screen.