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Ronnie Frey | Chicago Creator & Photographer

@doorwaysofchicago

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Explore with me, door-to-door in Chicago & beyond
Photographer | Bestselling Author
Chicago + International Tours
Brands: [email protected]

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Knock, knock! 🚪 Who’s there? Just some of the most stunning doorways in the Windy City. Check out how photographer Ronnie Frey (aka @doorwaysofchicago ) is turning everyday entrances into works of art. Read the full Q&A and find a link to the book in our bio! 🏙️✨
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#midwestliving #chicago #art #doorways #midwest taken in Chicago by @doorwaysofchicago

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5 months ago

Chicago understood the pride assignment!
Happy Pride month, Chicago!
🏳️‍🌈🌈🦄
@visit.chicago @chicago.explore @visit.the.midwest @igerschicago @bh.creators
captured with @djiglobal Mini 5 Pro

#chicagopride #bornthisway #pridemonth #pride2026 #doorwaysofchicago taken in Millennium Park by @doorwaysofchicago

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4 months ago

📸Out of thousands of photographs I’ve taken around Chicago, these are the first 10 that came to mind. Part I (If you missed the other collections, be sure to check out those posts)

Not because they’re technically flawless, but because for one brief moment, everything came together. The light. The timing. The composition. The feeling.

Some were planned. Others happened in an instant. A few took multiple visits before the city finally cooperated. This is Part 1. There are plenty more.
Which image would you hang on your wall?

➡️Swipe and check the captions on each one to see the location. First frame “Uriel & Jophiel” Mundelein Center for the Fine and Performing Arts, Loyola University 📍Rogers Park

If one of these speaks to you, these photographs are available as fine art prints on my website. I print with a professional giclee ink jet printer on archival museum quality baryta satin paper.

Captured using @apple iPhone 16 Pro Max and @djiglobal Mini 5 Pro #doorwaysofchicago #chicago #chicagophotography #photography

Blue Line Jackson Stop
📍Loop

Sailboats at Chicago Yacht Club & Columbia Yacht Club
📍Lakefront

Cloudgate - The Bean
📍Millennium Park

Fountain At Clarke House
📍South Prairie Historic District

Brown Line Quincy Stop
📍Loop

Stairs at Lakeshore East
📍Lakeshore East

Blackstone Hotel
📍South Loop

Pui Tak Center
📍Chinatown

Green Mill Cocktail Lounge
📍Uptown

Rookery Stair 1
📍Loop taken in Chicago, Illinois by @doorwaysofchicago

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3 months ago

📐🚩Hey Chicago! Here is my line up of personal favorites (North Side) for Open House Chicago 2026 by @chiarchitecture. Stay tuned for more recs in the next few days!

📅October 17 & 18, 2026
Check the website for more information architecture.org

💡What I like to do is hit up all the best neighborhood places on Saturday and then stay downtown on Sunday.
💥Pro-tip: Become a member of the CAC and you can skip the lines and support this fantastic organization all at the same time!
✅My studio in the Fine Arts Building will be open but I am going to be out on the trails so see ya out there!

📍Uptown Theater - Uptown
⏱️10-3 Sat and Sun

📍St. Mary’s Of the Lake - Buena Park
⏱️Sat 12-4 / Sun 2-5

📍@graceland_cemetery - Uptown
⏱️11-3 Saturday & Sun

📍@6018north - Edgewater
⏱️1-5 Sat & Sun

📍@dankhausgerman - Lincoln Square
⏱️10-5 Sat / 10-3 Sun

📍@chicagomagiclounge - Andersonville
⏱️10-4:30 Saturday Only

📍@edgewaterhistory - Andersonville
⏱️10-5 Sat & Sun

❓What are some of your favorites? Save this and send it to who you want to take the tour with and follow @doorwaysofchicago for all the best in Chicago!

#OHC2026 #architecturetour #doorwaysofchicago #chicago taken in Chicago, Illinois by @doorwaysofchicago

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16 hours ago

📸Hey Chicago! You’re invited to Second Fridays in the @fineartsbuilding where you can step inside a living, breathing piece of the city’s creative soul.

Join me tonight October 9 from 5-9 pm in studio 424 for the final night of my new photography exhibit, City Of Bridges. (All framed prints 25% off!)

From historic bridges and riverboats to moments of light, reflection, and motion along the Chicago River, this exhibition is a collection of my drone and iPhone photography celebrating the engineering, beauty, and everyday moments that make Chicago’s iconic river corridor unlike anywhere else in the world.

While in the building explore ten floors of pure artistic inspiration. See artists in action, hear music in the halls, and feel the whole place come alive. Shop small and support local talent and take a ride on Chicago’s only remaining manually operated elevators.

#chicago #thingstodoinchicago #doorwaysofchicago #chicago #photographyexhibit taken in Fine Arts Building by @doorwaysofchicago

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2 days ago

💥Condé Nast Traveller readers just voted Chicago the Best Big City in the U.S. for the 10th year in a row, and nearly 800,000 readers cast votes. We couldn’t have done it without you! Love my city!!!

@condenasttraveller @choosechicago @allfortheloveofchicago

#chicago #chi #choosechicago #10years #allfortheloveofchicago taken in Chicago, Illinois by @doorwaysofchicago

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2 days ago

🚂Fifty years old and still cruising the Loop! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

The @chicagocta brought its vintage 2400-series railcars back to the @loopchicago today to celebrate 50 years since they were first introduced in 1976.

When these cars debuted, they were praised for being remarkably smooth and quiet…a pretty big upgrade for riding the ‘L’ at the time.

And today, 50 years later, they were back on the tracks giving Chicagoans a ride through CTA history.

Did you catch them?

#thingstodoinchicago #chicago #chicagocta #doorwaysofchicago #chicagohistory taken in El Train by @doorwaysofchicago

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4 days ago

🚂Another Day & Another Discovery! A little piece of Chicago transit history is back on the tracks today.

Built 50 years ago in 1976 the @chicagocta 2400-series cars debuted during America’s Bicentennial, originally dressed in bold red, white and blue graphics.

Two hundred of these cars once traveled Chicago’s “L” system, becoming especially familiar sights on the Green and Purple Lines before retiring from regular passenger service.

Today, you can ride them again in the @loopchicago today, Oct 6 from 11:45 AM–1:30 PM.

🏭 Boeing-Vertol
📅 1976–1979
🚂 CTA 2400-Series

Save this and send it to the train lover in your life and follow @doorwaysofchicago for more Chicago discoveries, door-to-door!

#thingstodoinchicago #chicago #chicagocta #doorwaysofchicago #chicagohistory taken in L Train by @doorwaysofchicago

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5 days ago

Took my new @apple iPhone 18 Pro Max out for a spin tonight! #shotoniphone #doorwaysofchicago #streetphotography #longexposures #chicago @chicagocta @loopchicago taken in CTA Brown/Purple Line - Merchandise Mart by @doorwaysofchicago

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5 days ago

🎙️BREAKING LOOP NEWS: The Marquette Building has a new tenant and it could not be more fitting! A huge welcome to the new satellite design store for the Chicago Architecture Center! @chiarchitecture I’m so excited for you all! Now you can visit this small curated shop and if you’re planning any downtown or skyscraper tours you have a closer meeting/starting point! They’ll be open for Open House Chicago too with a lobby-adjacent exhibition “Nwi Yathmonen, We will tell our story”. taken in Marquette Building by @doorwaysofchicago

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7 days ago

🎙️Why are there TYPEWRITER PARTS all over this Chicago building?

Look closely and you’ll find them hiding right in the façade. Another Day, Another Detail and another episode of WHAT’S THAT? Episode 4

🏢 OLIVER BUILDING
📍 159 N. Dearborn Street
📐 Holabird & Roche
📅 1907–1908
⌨️ Built for the Oliver Typewriter Company
🏭 Typewriters manufactured in Woodstock, Illinois

The cast-iron façade incorporates the company’s signature U-shaped typebars and gears, mixed in with garlands, eagles and ram heads.

And one of my favorite details about the company? Starting in 1899, its typewriters were sold directly to customers by local salesmen going literally door-to-door. 🚶🚶🏼‍♀️🚶‍♂️

Now THAT is my kind of Chicago history.

@broadwayinchicago @loopchicago #chicagohistory #chicago #doorwaysofchicago taken in Oliver Building (Chicago) by @doorwaysofchicago

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8 days ago

📚 BOOK SIGNING IN THREE OAKS, MI!

I’m heading to Harbor Country for a special Doorways of Chicago book signing at A Drawing Room Gallery in Three Oaks, Michigan. @adrawingroom

And wait until you see this place!

Located in a historic 136-year-old building, A Drawing Room Gallery feels like stepping into a Ralph Lauren English Polo Club. Think leather-studded chairs, worn Oriental rugs, rare art books, horse racing trophies, jockey silks and old leather saddles.

Basically, the perfect setting to settle in, talk architecture, photography and Chicago…and sign some books!

Come explore the gallery, say hello and pick up a signed copy of Doorways of Chicago. I will also have my photography prints and greeting cards for you to pick up. Owner Thomas Pauly and I invite you to join us!

📍 A Drawing Room Gallery | Three Oaks, MI 📅 Saturday, October 10, 2026 ⏰ noon until 5 pm ET. 9 N. Elm Street

Hope to see some of my Harbor Country and Michigan friends there! Chicago peeps...come over for the day - this town is adorable! @harborcountrymichigan @puremichigan
@newbuffaloexplored @swmichigan
#southwestmichigan #puremichigan #NewBuffaloMichigan #chicagoweekend #doorwaysofchicago taken in A Drawing Room by @doorwaysofchicago

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8 days ago