Highlights of Chicago

While I've only been living in Chicago since ~July 2019, it's quickly become a true home for me. I grew up in Kentucky, and while it has an abundance of natural beauty, good liquor, and good food, I never really felt at home growing up. I dreamed about moving to a big city as an adult, and when my wife moved here to complete here master's degree at DePaul, I jumped on the chance to fulfill that dream.

The shots in this post are ones that I've taken while living my life in Chicago, and as a result, all of these shots actually are from various phones I've had over the years, just using skills and knowledge (plus the Expert / RAW modes available) to take shots I see.

My favorite of these shots has to be this one, I've titled it Modernity.

I was waiting for an opera singer friend of mine to wrap up auditions for the Lyric Opera, so I took it upon myself to do some sightseeing and flex my phone's camera while I was waiting around. I took multiple shots of the skyscrapers around me, doing my best to capture perfect reflections, blinding lens flares, etc. I heard this plane before I saw it, and I got my phone in position, bursting several photos at once in hopes I captured this moment. When I got to look at the photo later, I could not believe the timing I had. The perfect reflections, and the perfectly still plane flying overhead, I was giddy that I'd gotten this shot. Sometimes, the best camera really is the one in your pocket, and this shot absolutely is an example of that in my book.

The 4 of the other shots (everything but the clock tower and the featured image) are all taken on Chicago's famous Lakefront Trail. The city had the foresight to ensure that access to Lake Michigan remained free and open to the public in perpetuity, and it makes for one of the largest and most beautiful green spaces in the city.

During the pandemic, I'd wake up before dawn to go take photos down by the lake and try to capture the beauty of the morning sunrise. While I did my best to evoke feeling in my photos, they still can't quite capture the beauty of seeing it with your own eyes. Well worth bracing the cold Chicago winter air to get those shots. Maybe this winter I can re-create some of these with my DSLR and have higher quality versions to share / sell.

On that front, still working on finding an on-demand vendor to use for prints.