Chicago From Above - The Preview

Some of you may or may not know that before I was into still photography I was into making short films. Well, short films may be a generous statement but I dabbled in making amateurish videos of me and my friends. I've never stopped dreaming of making short films but my mind and time has been focused on producing great still photography. Things have changed a bit now that I have my DJI Phantom 2 Vision+.

The videos and angles I can now capture have opened my mind to endless possibilities. Places I could never access are well within my reach. The Phantom is not the best camera I've ever used but it is more than serviceable and shoots RAW files. Since purchasing the Phantom a few months ago, I've become much more comfortable flying it and have started to explore the neighborhood where I live.

Since starting to fly I've discussed putting together a video of Chicago with one of my friends who is an excellent editor. We are in the process of shooting all the footage and expect to shoot throughout the summer and possibly into the fall. Below is a preview of some of the video I've shot so far. It includes the Adler Planetarium, redeveloped Northerly Island and a few other iconic views of Chicago. If you like the project, consider donating using the Vimeo tip jar. It will help fund all the coffee we will need for the late night edits. Thanks again and I hope you enjoy the video.

Music Credit:

ODESZA - Memories That You Call

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18th Street Bridge

There are many great places to capture the Chicago skyline. I personally love the view from the Adler Planetarium but one of the better kept secrets is the 18th Street bridge. The area I'm writing about is between Clark Street and Canal Street on 18th street. This area is just north of Chinatown and just south of Ping Tom park (which is another Chicago secret). From this location you can capture the full skyline as well as the Chicago river and the now defunct St. Charles Air Line bridge which is permanently up. You can also head just west of the bridge toward Canal Street and you will get a great view of the Amtrack train station which has many tracks that lead directly toward downtown.

If you are in this area I would also consider heading east down 18th street to the pedestrian bridge that crosses the train tracks into Soldier Field. This bridge gives another good view of downtown with Soldier Field in the frame. It is also above the Amtrack train line so you can capture a moving train in your shot if you choose. If you love to photograph Chicago and have never explored these areas, I highly suggest doing so.

2014 Chicago Bears Training Camp

This week I got the chance to attend the Chicago Bears training camp in Bourbonnais Illinois. About this time every year I get excited to see how my team will fare when the season starts and training camp seems to help me get my football fix. The nice thing about training camp is that it's the only place you can get close to all the players and the action without an official NFL media pass. Since I was attending two days of practice, I decided to rent a sports lens so that I could get even closer to the action. I wasn't sure if I should rent the Nikon 300mm f2.8, the Nikon 400mm f2.8 or the Nikon 200-400mm f4.0. Due to the versatility of the length, I decided to go with the Nikon 200-400 f4.0.

The Nikon 200-400mm f4.0 turned out to be perfect for training camp. The length of the lens allowed me to get very close to the players and the speed allowed me to freeze the action without any problem. With the lens I was able to get in close for Jay Cutler's passes to Brandon Marshall and into the backfield during hand offs. Overall, it was a great two days of shooting. Hopefully I can make it back next year and capture images as good as this year. I'm now ready for football season and once again excited to see how my Bears will fare. Bear Down!!

If you want to see the difference between the Nikon 200-400 f4.0 and my Nikon 80-200 f2.8 check out my blog post from the 2012 Chicago Bears training camp to see the difference.

Chicago Lightning Storm - June 30th 2014

On June 30th 2014 a massive lightning storm rolled through the midwest and hit the Chicago area. The storms were so strong that they knocked out power for much of the Chicago southern suburbs. The storms rolled in very quickly and before I realized it the sky was almost black and the rain started pouring down. As I peered out the window of my condo I saw repeated strikes of lightning hitting many of the downtown buildings and then as the storm rolled over the lake, there were massive strikes over Lake Michigan. About 45 minutes into the storm, things calmed down. I was pretty bummed that I didn't get to a good vantage point to watch the storm. Just after the rain started to subside I checked the radar map and there was a second wave of the storm that looked more severe than the first. I was packing my camera bag when my friend texted me a picture of the lightning from his place. He asked if I wanted to come over and shoot and I quickly finished packing my camera bag and headed out.

My friend lives just west of the city so he has a great view of the skyline. From his balcony you can see both the Hancock Building and the Trump Tower. Both act as massive lightning rods during storms like these. I set up my tripod on his balcony and we waited. The storm was still a little while away so I had time to make sure all my settings were correct. I had a disposable rain cover for my camera and lens and it came in handy on that night. At first I set up my camera on the balcony but as the storm rolled in the rain got very intense, so much that you could barely see the skyline. I brought my camera inside for about 10 minutes and reformatted my memory card. I had a remote trigger set up on my Nikon D800 and had the shutter set to a 4-6 second exposure. Once the severe rain subsided I set up my tripod outside and let the camera do the work. As the shutter continued to click away we watched the show from inside.

I've never seen a storm quite like this one. Every few seconds a huge bolt of lightning lit up the Chicago sky. As I captured shots we went out on the balcony to see the images. I'm very happy with the final results. I love storms and the magic of capturing lightning. Hopefully we will get a few more great storms this summer but this one was definitely special.

Chicago Polar Vortex 2014

For anyone who is paying attention to the weather the past month you know about the crazy Polar Vortex that has swept the nation. Here in Chicago we've seen days that the temperature fell to -15 degrees but with that weather I've seen some really interesting images that I've never seen before. I decided to venture out on some of the "warmer" days to capture the city with a fresh snowfall on the ground.

Chicago is going through another cold spell this week but hopefully spring will come early this year to offset all this brutal weather.