Both of my kids played travel ice hockey growing up. It was time consuming and expensive, but it was some of the best times of our lives. A nice biproduct of them playing was I got back to the East Coast a lot and was able to photograph and see lots of amazing exhibitions. My daughter now lives in Chicago after getting her master’s degree from Northwestern and she started playing hockey again last year with joining a women’s league. When her team qualified for the payoffs, she told me that I needed to come back to see her play again. The last time I had been in Chicago was March of 2020 when I was driving across country with her brother trying to outrun the pandemic shutdown of the country. I acknowledged I was long overdue to visit so I agreed to a long weekend. The playoffs were up near Madison, Wisconsin but I was able to bookend days around the tournament to get three days to photograph in Chicago, museum hop, and eat at my favorite restaurants.
Chicago has been my favorite city to visit since I first went there in 1987 to photograph Wrigley Field, before they installed the light. I have been to Chicago at least twenty-five now. Chicago became our go to vacation spot, it was an easy flight, there was lots to do, and we just liked the city. Chicago had everything a big city should have but there is a Midwest atmosphere which is just nice. It is an amazing sports town, the museums are amazing, and the city has the best steaks of anywhere in the world.
Photographing on the street in Chicago is amazing I always find good images there. Like in New York there are usually lots of people walking about the city and there is plenty of interaction which usually adds layers of meaning to an image. I have also found that most of the time I have been in Chicago the quality of light in Chicago has been outstanding, which is not the case other places. I think part of it has to do with the way the streets are laid out, there is more room between the buildings there than most cities. I think part of that is by design since architectural design is so important in the city and there may have been a conscious plan to allow some buildings to have room around them to be showcased. The Chicago River and lake front also allow more light to fall in the city. The beauty of the architecture in Chicago is also lends itself to more interesting backgrounds of images. I also think the way some of the buildings are constructed that they improve the bounce light. The city also has that Midwest atmosphere most places which is nice. Michigan Avenue is a wide street with wide sidewalks and planter boxes; the street was designed for shoppers and heavy pedestrian traffic. With Michigan Avenue’s sidewalks being so wide not only does that allow more light into the area but it also has always given me room to maneuver and get in position to frame my images better than anywhere else. I have become so familiar and comfortable with the city I always do well with a camera there.
It was amazing on this trip in March how quickly I was back in the zone while photographing on the street. At times it felt like images were coming to me and I wasn’t having to search as hard as I do in Los Angeles sometimes. I especially found that interesting because I spent more time on this trip than ever before photographing South of the river, especially around Daly Square where I don’t usually go.
My Chicago portfolio is special to me, and I envision having an impact on others in book form and as part of a permanent collection. The Chicago Historical Society already has some of my photographs in their collection and hopefully I can find more homes in the city for my work soon.
This trip also inspired me to start digitizing more Chicago negatives and I have added some of those recently scanned images to my Chicago Portfolio here on my website.
Below are some of the images from my March 2024 trip:
