A Day at the Lake

Chicago borders the second largest of the Great Lakes, Lake Michigan. To call this body of water a lake feels like a misnomer the first time you see it. It looks like an ocean, and when you consider Chicago's coastline is replete with beaches, it gets harder to deny such thoughts.

I learned quickly after initially moving here that it is indeed, a lake. The technical definition of lake is based on the fact that it is a body of fresh water. A critical one at that. The Great Lakes account for over 20% of the fresh water on the entire planet! It's a mind-boggling fact, and in an era of climate change, one that feels reassuring to my decision to move to and place my roots down here in Chicago.

A couple months ago, my wife and I decided to get out of the apartment and go by the water, to escape the muggy heat, and to enjoy the natural beauty of it. I decided to take my camera and see if I could get any good shots.

Well, I definitely did. I only have a handful of the best shots here, but the waves were crashing that day, and with a high shutter speed, I got to capture the magic of this violent affair frozen in time. There's just something powerful and majestic about these images, and just generally about seeing the crashing of waves. Water is the thing that gives life on Earth, and to see its destructive side so intimately is something beautiful.

I'd love to one day get more photos like this of some other bodies of water, and capture the majesty of waves coming off the Atlantic or the Pacific. While Lake Michigan is a force amongst lakes, it is still just a lake in the face of a body of water like the Pacific. But for now, I'll settle for my local beauty.