Chicago River North

Is anyone having a great morning today? I’m very excited to be back today and to start sharing some photos again with you guys. Past month was great and I got to pack almost a month of traveling. Even though I left the Chicago for a few weeks, I feel like in some way, Chicago never left me. For a brief moment every morning when I wake up, I instinctively felt as I was still here in a way. So for this post I’m going back to one of the cityscapes corners. What do you think?

Anyone for a Monochrome Monday? It’s snowing again and everything feels grey once more, so as Ansel Adams once said: “A great photograph is one that fully expresses what one feels, in the deepest sense, about what is being photographed.” What do you think?

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Can you see the bright side? I think we should always look for it. I know that latest events didn’t leave is with a lot of positivity but hey I love seeing all the bridges up like this. What do you think?

Is it over yet? By looking at todays forecast I don’t think so! So while I’m waiting for the weather to change, lets look at another post from one of the foggy nights from the river walk. I personally love this moody nights just because they turn the ordinary location into something different and that’s what Chicago is all about. I’m still enjoying it very much! What do you think?

Part of a series of shots of the CTA's S-curve running between Wells and Franklin. Shots are from opposite sides of the curve at different times of...

Fog or no fog? That is always a good question. I say YES! After an exhausting day at work I was tempted to stay at home and get some rest, but… I just couldn’t resist the temptation to go out and try to catch couple of more angles from the frozen river bed. The temperature went up really fast that day and I was afraid that I will miss a chance to capture what I wanted before ice melts away. To my big surprise the fog was rolling in slowly and I was ecstatic to be there to capture it. What do you think?

“You can become blind by seeing each day as a similar one. Each day is a different one, each day brings a miracle of its own. It’s just a matter of paying attention to this miracle.” – Paulo Coelho

What is your perspective? I get this question very often and it’s usually combined with how do I get the very clean edit at the end. So I decided to share some technical details in this post. This particular shot was taken at Wolf Point and it was my third attempt to try to capture the whole vista in one frame. I’ve tried few different approaches, using 3 different lenses, 3 different vantage points but the only one that worked was using the hyper wide 10mm from Voigtlander. The first lens was tilt shift, shifted up but it was introducing to much distortion at the end panorama. I was to lazy to spend very long time just trying to correct it. Second lens was 16mm wide and I wasn’t able to fit the left building in the frame. For the blending I again used few different exposures from few different moments in time and the best light from all of them to achieve the look I wanted. All the exposures were manually blended using luminosity masks for the seamless blend. All the detail extraction was also applied using the similar method. At the end I spend the longest trying to decide is the final image worth posting or not. I’ve been holding to this one since June. What do you think?

How often do you get frustrated with yourself? If I’m honest I get frustrated more often than I’m willing to admit. I’ve been waiting for a great sunset over this part of the town for a while and every time it happens I’m usually too busy doing some other things in life. But to my big surprise this evening was different and while the whole night went smooth I got what I was waiting for. I managed to pull the pano shot and blend the light before and after the sunset. What do you think?

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“The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity.” - Amelia Earhart

Do you ever sneak in? I’ve made a ton of trips to this same place over the past year and while it is not to difficult to sneak in here I still feel the pressure every time I walk in. The reward is this great vista of the downtown area and the opportunity to capture this curvy train intersection. This is very unique place and I was surprised to see how in just 6 months it is completely transformed in to something very different. The urban landscapes change very fast in the big city and I’m always excited to see the new changes and the new buildings rise in Chicago. As many others I did capture this city corner earlier but for unknown reason I never got to post it. I’m happy that I get this frame now in the early stages of the development. What do you think?

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"The photographers dream", you heard that one before, right? I know that most of us plan things when it comes to photography. The technique, timing, execution and patience are crucial when it comes to our craft? But every once in a while everything just boils down to pure luck! This is one of the few shots from the series that I took all at the same evening. When so many elements come together so harmoniously at the same time on the few different locations, is a definition of the photographers dream! I never expect to get more than one good shot when I go out but when something so improbable happens it renders you speechless. What do you think?

Have you had the chance to cruise the Chicago river? The best way to do it is to book CFL Cruises! We had a blast as guests of Chicago Architecture Center this morning on board of Chicago’s First Lady. The weather was dramatic to say the least and I had fun shooting the city from a different perspective. What do you think?