chicago

Chicago In Abstract

This year, I’ve laid out a challenge for myself:

Get weird.

My photography style revolves around documentary photos. I tend to capture things as they are: people, objects, scenes, abandoned buildings.

Sure, I’ll play with the light, shadows, and color grading. But the camera captures the scene, framed by me, and that’s it. I mostly pay attention to light, shadow, shapes, contrast, and color. 

What I have a hard time with is experimenting. Playing. Doing anything other than capturing scenes as I see them (with a few exceptions that I think turned out well).

While we spent time in Chicago on spring break, I took the opportunity to use rainy days, windows, and reflections to play with the scenes around the city.

Even if nothing comes of it, it’s important to try something new and see where it goes.

Maybe nowhere. Maybe it’s a side quest.

“Why not?” is a great place to start. 

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Chicago People

I often struggle with street photography. For one, I don’t live near a major metropolitan area, so I don’t get a lot of practice.

And for two, when I do street photography, I feel like I capture people from too far away. Rarely, I’ll get the right conditions and have a great session or day out in the city. 

During our most recent trip to Chicago, I gave myself a challenge: get closer. Capture people, not necessarily scenes with people. 

With the Canon EOS M2 and 22mm f/2, that means I have to get close – sometimes uncomfortably close. But that’s part of the challenge. 

And you grow with a little bit of discomfort, right?

Walking around town with my family, I tried to stay incognito with my little mirrorless camera. I set the lens to f/8 and try to react quickly to grab a person on the street. 

Sometimes it worked great. Other times, I would misfire or miss focus. But over the long weekend, I grabbed enough close shots of people that I started to get comfortable with this new way of shooting.

Here’s what I noticed: people stare at their phones. It’s such a modern thing, but it’s true – you rarely catch someone just looking, walking, sitting, or engaging in conversation without a glowing screen in front of them. 

I really noticed that when I got back and looked at the photos. Phones everywhere. 

All in all, the challenge was successful.

Even with the limitations of a 35mm field of view and a slow-focusing M2, there were enough opportunities to grab people (and pets!) face-on, and enough anonymity in a big city like Chicago, to get some decent street photography.

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Chicago In Black and White

Back to Chicago – this time with the kids on Spring Break.

I brought along the Canon EOS M2 and EF-M 22mm f/2. One lens, one perspective, one view of the Windy City.

Or lots of views: through windows, outside and inside, on the train, people walking through the streets.

Street photography wasn’t the point of this trip. It rarely is, but taking along a camera to catch the sights – well, you grab things as you see them.

And as always, I saw a lot. So you can expect a few days of Chicago photos here on the blog.

Today? It’s all black and white using Mastin Labs’ Tri-X 400 emulation in Lightroom, my favorite as of late. Nice grain, just the right amount of contrast.

That’s my kind of monochrome. For my kind of town.

Sweet home (away from home) Chicago.

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Impromptu Portraits

We had the weekend in Chicago – just the two of us, two whole days to make some good trouble.

My wife, Jaime, is starting to put herself out there as a business owner. She’s a music therapist, so many of her professional portraits feature a guitar of some sort.

With her new enterprise, she wanted some professional images without an instrument. 

So we wandered around Chicago’s loop, walked inside some boutique hotel lobbies, and made some headshots before we got kicked out.

And it was fun. We felt like two teenagers who, at any moment, were going to get caught somewhere they shouldn’t have been.

There was one high-end luxury hotel in particular where I felt the lobby desk’s eyes were on us. But in each location, nothing happened. We got off scot-free. 

The photos? They were just what Jaime was looking for – wardobe changes and all.

If there’s a lesson here, it’s that you should use your photography superpowers to help people, especially people you know and love.

Take them up on their creative idea. You might have a great time doing it. 

All images shot on the Canon EOS M6 and a few EF-M lenses.

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Chicago In Winter

It wasn’t our first time in Chicago during the winter.

This time, we were in town for the weekend to see Brandi Carlile and, the next day, wander into downtown Chicago for some new headshots for my wife (more on those later).

Wandering the streets around The Loop, I couldn’t help but grab some pictures. 

All images shot on the Canon EOS M6 and a few EF-M lenses.

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Chicago in February

It wasn’t your typical February weekend in Chicago for us.

For one, it was just an overnight trip – to see Hamilton, a birthday gift for my wife. Fantastic show, as anyone who goes will tell you.

For two, it was a spring-weather weekend, perfect for wandering around the Loop before we hit the theatre.

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