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.
Do you ever find yourself in a photography situation where everything clicks?
The light is just right, the weather is perfect, and all the conditions snap into place for a great day of photo making?
That was me in Lisbon, Portugal, on our trip.
After we landed from our tuk tuk tour of the city, we wandered the streets of the Baixa de Lisboa neighborhood.
Think of Baixa as a easily-navigable shopping district. The busy neighborhood follows a clean grid layout, making it feel open, orderly, and walkable.
There were a few hills, but none of the steep ones we had just toured around in the Alfama district.
And in the middle of the day, the bright sun lit up the place, casting perfect shadows on the buildings and pedestrians as we walked around.
All of this – the buildings, the sunlight, and people wandering around – made for perfect street photography conditions. It fit my style, and I took full advantage.
After taking some of these photos, I caught my breath. I was in picture heaven.
This lady, watching me take photos on the busy walkway, came up to me and started singing. Lovely!
We made our way down to the Rua Augusta to the Arco da Rua Augusta, in view of the Tagus River, then back up to the Hotel do Chiado, where we grabbed lunch at their rooftop bar.
It was here that I grabbed what might be my favorite photo series from the whole trip.
Across from our table was this very animated Frenchman talking business with a local. The way the shadows and light fell across him made for a beautiful scene – so much so that I couldn’t stop making photos. Luckily, he didn’t seem to notice.
That night, we finished up our trip with a sailboat ride on the Tagus River.
Shot on the Canon EOS M6 and (mostly) the EF-M 32mm f/1.4.
Sharp, colorful, and clear in golden hour – one of my favorite photos from the trip.
Monterrey, Mexico, shot on the Canon M6 and EF-M 32mm f/1.4.
I take plenty of people-focused street photographs, but some of my favorite photo outings include urban scenes without people—simply capturing light, shadow, and textures.
“What have people left behind,” Sean asks in this video, which is a great discussion about how street photography can include remnants of people if not people themselves.
Here’s something I don’t usually do: some street photography around downtown Austin, Texas.
With all my work travels this year, I’ve had the chance to do more of this style of photography: Philadelphia, Mexico City, etc. And even with my recent practice, I still find it hard to do well.
But there’s nothing like practice. Austin’s perfect weather, manageable downtown, and good light all around helped.
One challenge was focal length. Either I wasn’t close enough, or my 22mm and 32mm on the Canon M6 didn’t get me close enough. Another challenge was traffic blocking some key shots.
Still, a good photowalk out and about, exploring the city.
A smaller, much more manageable version of the behemoth Art Fest during the summer, Ann Arbor’s Artoberfest had us downtown on a lovely October afternoon, exploring Corktown and grabbing some prints from local (sometimes snoozing) artists.
It was my first time walking around downtown Ann Arbor since last year’s holiday season, and I had a chance to do some street work with the Canon M6 and trusty EF-M 22mm f/2.
And unlike the giant summer Art Fair, this festival had top-tier art worth checking out. Spending money on area artists’ work feels good – an easy way to freshen up our decor at home and shop locally.
After starting my new job in March, I did what I always do: got out and explored.
I’ve been to Ann Arbor, Michigan, many times, and done a lot of shooting here. Now that it’s my jobby-job town, there are a lot more opportunities to get out and see the city. Lunch hours, in between meetings, after work – all good excuses to get out and make photos.
This is, at its most basic, the best reason to make photography a hobby. You get to really learn about and know a place through the viewfinder.
A new place also provides that little spark of freshness you might need to practice your craft.
Do your everyday surroundings get stale? Go somewhere new, and – bam – instant inspiration.
Some of my favorite photographers are street photographers. Those New York guys in the ‘60s and ‘70s? It’s some of my favorite work.
There’s something about modern street photography, though, that doesn’t appeal to me. It starts to look the same after while.
There are exceptions.
I’m not a huge fan of doing street photography, either – not in its traditional sense. I’ll head out with a camera and explore a city. I’ll even take photos of people in the streets, in windows, in their cars, wherever. It just has to be a pretty special shot for me to share it.
A shot like those guys (or ladies) in the mid-century would make.
Shapes, shadows, the kind of urban landscape stuff that Stephen Shore would make – that’s more up my alley.
I took a spare Friday this summer and hit the not-so-mean streets of Ann Arbor, Michigan. It was a beautiful evening, Summerfest was going on, and Friday nights in Ann Arbor are pretty hopping. The light was past the too-harsh phase. It was one of those great June nights in Michigan.
For this exercise, I shot locations, mostly. I saw an interesting scene, waited until something fun came along, and made a photo. Or the sunlight would come in at an interesting angle, so I’d shoot that scene.
What I didn’t do was go out and try to find interesting people. Maybe that’s the Stephen Shore difference.
More scene finding, less Gary Winogrand’ing.
Ι’m Alexia. A writer and photographer living between London and Athens (Greece). I work in magazines and am the managing editor at Makeshift.
I began photographing with my mother’s camera at the age of 14. It was a Nikon FM3. My first subjects were my school friends. At 16, I photographed my best friend in my first ‘semi nude’ project.
That what you capture is slightly – or very – different from what you aim for. It’s always a surprise. It keeps me on my toes.
I think I am very influenced by paintings and Japanese art. I also get constantly influenced by other photographers; old and contemporary.
turn reality into fantasy; escape
It’s both documentary and ‘art’ photography (I don’t like distinguishing things too much, or put labels on them).
My major themes are urban landscapes, flowers, and human bodies. I lately have an obsession with hands.
I’m planning an exhibition in Greece (Feb-March 2016), and I’m now shooting street, mostly. I now use my phone camera a lot.
I want to shoot nude women again, in the near future.
Follow Alexia’s work on her personal site, @languorouseye, and on Instagram.
