Street Photography, When It Happens
I consider myself an opportunistic photographer. While my main genres are architecture, travel and automotive photography, that doesn’t mean I won’t photograph anything else. A friend of mine once said that he could probably name any theme and I’d have an image for it. He’s not far off with that. Just look at my 52 Weeks Photography Project!
When it comes to street photography, it’s not something I’m actively looking for. But, if I see a composition, light, shadow or scene in front of me, I click the shutter.
The images in this story are from a 4-day private photo tour in Chicago that I had with a client. 99% of my photos are of Chicago architecture. I can’t help myself.
If you’re ever in Chicago and go to Union Station, and you MUST go there to see the Grand Hall at a minimum, the front entrance is a street photographer’s dream. People are coming and going constantly.
This woman with her suitcase pulled my camera to my eye and I was compelled to create this image. When processing it I was torn between the color version and the black and white version. I like it both ways.
If you are lucky enough to have a sunny day, about an hour or so before noon, you’ll get incredible shadows between the columns. These shadows are perfect for lining people up, waiting until they walk through the light shafts.
The timing of this image was not prime shadow time, so the light through the columns was very narrow. I lined my camera up against one of the large windows at the front entrance of the station to get this reflection.
Another great location for street photography is the Chicago Riverwalk. No matter what time of year, there are always people out along the riverwalk.
There are quite a few places where people stop to hang out. I love these steps because of the geometry they add to an image.
If you’re patient, you can create all sorts of compositions as the people sit down, walk around or get up and leave. You could sit here for hours just finding good photographs.
One of my favorite spots on the riverwalk is under the bridges. They have these stainless steel overhangs, which create amazing reflections.
It’s another good spot to spend some time, as you’ll see all types of people coming through. Dog walkers, runners and business people during lunch or after work.
You’ll also find that there is a never-ending stream of tourists. Good for street photography as they will stop along the way, which makes it easier to include them in the image.
Millennium Park is another one of those locations where you could spend days focused solely on street photography. These two images are such a small sampling of what is possible there.
Crown Fountain is so fun to photograph. There is a zero-depth reflection pool in between these two glass towers. There are projected faces on the front and every so often, a stream of water comes ou,t or you’ll get this deluge coming down the tower. People of all ages play in the water and also in the reflection pond, doing what it does best, creating reflections.
We can’t leave Millennium Park without photographing the most photographed thing in Chicago, The Bean or Cloudgate as it is officially named.
The number of opportunities for photography here is infinite. So many ways people interact with the surface of the Bean, in and around it and underneath it.
The last day of our tour happened to be the day of the Chicago Marathon. Luckily (?) we were meeting near the route and I was able to get a few photos of the runners finishing up.
Bonus that it was in front of this public art installation at the bottom of Willis (Sears) Tower. It helped create a very colorful image of the runners and was a great backdrop.
Polar Opposites, a 150-page book exploring the similarities between the Arctic and Antarctica.
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