Near North Side
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?
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Chicago: www.flickr.com/photos/jldum/albums/72157706071866535 Architecture: www.flickr.com/photos/jldum/albums/72157669768177122
Are you in for a tip? Stay with me for a sec. It’s been a great winter so far in my opinion and we had enough snow and ice here in Chicago to get some great shots. In one of my previous posts I covered one way to shoot the snow. My second tip is to shoot the snow at a high shutter speed even in low light conditions. To get a higher shutter speed I usually crank up my ISO settings sometimes even up to 6400. My camera is pretty good even at that ISO settings and chances are great that yours will be too. Don’t be afraid to shoot like that because the snow will register as grain in the camera too and you will not be able to distinguish those two in the final result. What do you think?
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 dream was always running ahead of me. To catch up, to live for a moment in unison with it, that was the miracle.” - Anais Nin
“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
“There is no passion to be found playing small - in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living” - Nelson Mandela
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Chicago at blue hour, Illinois, USA.
8 HDR picture panorama stitched with Hugin, panini equirectangular projection
Instagram: www.instagram.com/jl.dumas 500Px: 500px.com/jldum
Chicago: www.flickr.com/photos/jldum/albums/72157706071866535
Have you at least saw it? Moonrise tonight was amazing and spending this evening with some family and friends made it even more memorable. Full moon chase was almost called off and then it just showed up. It was a night to remember for sure. What do you think?
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?
Are you in for a tip? After finding the right location, the big challenge was catching the right storm, with enough water action to get this frame. Shooting with 1200mm lens with the 40mph winds is an adventure by itself! But we will touch up on that some other time. After I settled down and dialed in all my settings all I had to do is to shoot in a burst mode to capture enough waves for the final blend. TIP: after catching enough waves, all you have to do is pick the best frames and after layering them in Photoshop, select all of them and change the blend mode to “lighten”. That will bring all the water to be visible in the same time having this dramatic effect. It would be nice and much easier to capture all of this in one frame but unfortunately our side of the lake never gets that dramatic. Having snow and some birds in the final frame were just a cherry on a cake :) What do you think?
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?
“We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.” – Jawaharial Nehru
It seems a bit surreal, doesn’t it? October is already here. What keep my wife and I going is being able to fully enjoy moments like this in life. When the day starts like this, no matter what comes next it doesn’t feel harsh. If interested in finding more gems like this one join us in some of the following workshops this fall season. Find more info in the text bellow. 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?
“People who don’t construe their life and don’t frame their own tale, stay on the sidelines, remain only an act without a story and turn into an "empty box". Out-of-the-box thinking and inventiveness remains then merely wishfull thinking.” ― Erik Pevernagie
LOST IN THOUGHTS How do you guys feel today? I hope you are all good! I know that the photography theme here in Chicago last week was shooting the Chicago henge and I kinda wrapped myself in it. While practicing social distancing, and keeping a safe distance a friend and I went out in attempt to capture that light from a different perspective. Sun was blasting the golden light straight up the river that morning for sure! What do you think?
How often do you shoot with your smartphone? I’ve made this shot a few days ago with my iPhone….! Sorry I just taught it might be funny to start this post with a joke ;) This is not an iPhone shot! After seeing my latest post I got a tip from my friend Adam to check this place out and so I did. After encountering the security of this building the wide smile and a kind word got me two full hours of shooting from this location. This is just one view of the Chicago from this location, there will be a few more to come. What do you think?
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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?
"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?
How is your week going? Hope you are feeling good. In case you are all feel like you need a little sunshine in your life, here is some from the other day. Vista tower is coming along nicely. What do you think?
“Dreams seldom materialize on their own.” - Dian Fossey
“I’m very determined and stubborn. There's a desire in me that makes me want to do more and more, and to do it right. Each one of us has a fire in our heart for something. It's our goal in life to find it and to keep it.” - Mary Lou Retton
Gray again? This time last year we were literally frozen, colder than Antarctica with the wind chills down to -54F (-50C). So I would be lying if I said that I didn’t secretly hoping for something similar this winter. Crazy, right. It was cold but it was the most fun we had any winter by far. I know the weather here can change overnight but so far it’s very underwhelming! What do you think?
If you like my pictures please support me buying a print from my shop www.pixael.com/en/shop thanks!
You can follow me on https://www.facebook.com/giuseppemilophoto https://twitter.com/pixael_com https://instagram.com/pixael/
“To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place… I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.”
Instagram: www.instagram.com/jl.dumas 500Px: 500px.com/jldum
Chicago: www.flickr.com/photos/jldum/albums/72157706071866535
Instagram: www.instagram.com/jl.dumas 500Px: 500px.com/jldum
Chicago: www.flickr.com/photos/jldum/albums/72157706071866535 Travel: www.flickr.com/photos/jldum/albums/72157667373386054 Architecture: www.flickr.com/photos/jldum/albums/72157669768177122 B&W: www.flickr.com/photos/jldum/albums/72157635275056980
Check out my blog! www.pixael.com/en/blog. If you like to buy a print please visit my wall art shop www.pixael.com/en/shop. This is a free picture released under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic. Feel free to use and share this picture but please give me credit linking my website or my Flickr account. More info about me on www.pixael.com. If you like my pictures please like my Facebook page (www.facebook.com/giuseppemilophoto) or follow me on Twitter (twitter.com/pixael_com) and Instagram (instagram.com/pixael). Thanks!
Good morning Chicago, I really hope that you all started on a good note today? I wish I can say the same but I will try my best not to let that ruin the weekend for me :) At the end of the day it can’t all be rainbow and butterflies all the time, that is just life. That is why I’m posting this beautiful sunrise shot as a reminder that there is more to life than just problems. The hard part is always finding the way to focus on something positive trough all that fog in front of you. To look for that light to hold on to instead of letting yourself drown. What do you think?
Hope you are all doing well today! I mentioned that before but we can all agree that it is kinda obvious that Chicago Harbor Lighthouse is my favorite subject to shoot. I always say that it gives this city more character. The plan this morning was to meet with my buddy and do some cityscapes, as usual weather change made us shift our original plans and we ended up at the Navy Pier where we were greeted by their not very friendly and clueless staff member!!! I’m sure that all you locals know what I’m talking about :) But that encounter didn’t stop us from getting that shot. That light was so amazing that I had turn down the saturation quite a bit ! Few minutes after that the light was completely gone. What do you think?
It’s been a while since I last posted something on social media. A part of the reason why, is that I was transitioning to a new environment and a part of it is, cause it is good to take a short break from time to time and approach your work and your life with a fresh set of eyes. Most of the time I spend relaxing, exploring, scouting and just getting some ideas on which way to go next, with my work and my life in general. The imperative is on “exploring”! Guiding my self in the right direction, choosing the right people to surround yourself with to help you steer the right way. That is the main priority in the future. This photo is the symbolic beginning! What do you think?
Instagram: www.instagram.com/jl.dumas 500Px: 500px.com/jldum
Chicago: www.flickr.com/photos/jldum/albums/72157706071866535 Travel: www.flickr.com/photos/jldum/albums/72157667373386054
Instagram: www.instagram.com/jl.dumas 500Px: 500px.com/jldum
Chicago: www.flickr.com/photos/jldum/albums/72157706071866535 Architecture: www.flickr.com/photos/jldum/albums/72157669768177122
Are you too surprised? I’m still not sure what is going on here! I can’t believe that I just spent the entire day in Wisconsin at the end of the January wearing just my west! Temperatures this year are very much surprising. Until I get beck with some winter wonderland shots I will leave you with this frame from Chicago. What do you think?
“I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape. Something waits beneath it; the whole story doesn't show.” - Andrew Wyeth
“No matter how many mistakes you make or how slow you progress, you are still way ahead of everyone who isn't trying.” - Tony Robbins
Thanks to all Phoide contributors to Near North Side!
Most notably Nenad Spasojevic, Jean-Louis Dumas, Joao Eduardo Figueiredo and Andrey Sulitskiy.