Insert evocative title here: lake michigan

Showing posts with label lake michigan. Show all posts

Friday, January 23, 2015

Photo of the Week, er, Last Year Edition

I've been looking through some photos this week from last winter, and for some reason I never published this batch. These were taken in February of 2014 near Hollywood and Foster Ave beaches. I admit it's possible that by posting these I'm jinxing Chicago and the relatively mild winter we've been having, but I'm willing to take that chance. Truth be told, I like a good snow storm!

"The Far Side of the Moon" © Andy Marfia 2014 All Rights Reserved. Nikon D7100 w 16-85mm lens, 1/1250sec at f8, ISO200

A note about the second photo: for that one I had to clamber around to the far side of the pier. You can see the shadow of its beacon in the lower right. This was probably the stupidest thing I did the entire winter-- had I slipped and fallen, there's no guaranteeing the ice around me was stable. Of course, I didn't, but just a warning to be careful out there if you photograph the lakefront in the winter.

Sunday, October 12, 2014

Photo(s) of the week: The Fall Stretch

"Stretch" © Andy Marfia 2014 All Rights Reserved. Sony RX100, 1/800sec at f2.5, ISO125.

I've been quite the slacker about updating this blog the last couple of months. A lack of time has unfortunately equaled a lack of consistent motivation for photography. It's a vicious cycle. Anyway, I took this week's photos at my favorite all-season lakefront spot in Chicago, Hollywood Beach. In the top photo I was reaching above my head for a slightly better composition. In the bottom two, I found a light streak hitting the beach between two buildings.

As much as I love the summer, nothing quite beats the light in October and November. So... CRISP. It's also a great time for capturing shadows.

"Sunstreak" © Andy Marfia 2014 All Rights Reserved. Sony RX100, 1/800sec at f2.5, ISO125.

All photos in this set were taken with a Sony RX100.

Saturday, August 2, 2014

Photo(s) of the Week: Cast Off

"On the Edge" © Andy Marfia 2014 All Rights Reserved. Sony RX100, 1/1000sec at f2.5, ISO125.

This week's photos were taken at the end of Hollywood Pier on a lovely Sunday afternoon in July. This pier technically doesn't have a name (as far as I know), but I call it Hollywood Pier because the beach it sits on (Kathy Osterman Beach) is known colloquially as Hollywood Beach. This is the internet and things must have names, damn it!

Saturday, March 29, 2014

Photo of the Week: City by the Frozen Lake

"City by the Frozen Lake" © Andy Marfia 2014 All Rights Reserved. Nikon D7100 w/ 16-85mmmm lens, 1/100sec at f8, ISO200.

I took this week's photos on a trip to the John Hancock Observatory in mid March. It was in the upper 40s on this day, and I could sense Lake Michigan's iced over surface was nearing the end. Seemed like a good time to head up there and capture some images.

This next shot zooms in on the building to the left. Pool party in 3 months! Who's in?

Friday, February 14, 2014

The Chicago Lakefront is Not a Cold Dead Place

I've taken a lot of photos along the lakefront this winter. There's a serenity to Lake Michigan in January and February that I think is unique from any other time of year. In cold weather the lake becomes a different creature, equal parts frightening and beautiful, and this winter has seen plenty of both.

The one thing I've wanted to capture, but haven't until now, is the lakefront during either a sunrise or a sunset. Sunrises don't work well with my schedule, but I did find a nice sunset this week:

"The earth is not a cold dead place" © Andy Marfia 2014 All Rights Reserved. Nikon D7100 w/ 16-85mm lens, 1/125sec at f8, ISO400.

Both of these photos were taken from the same location, on Chicago's Hollywood Beach. The first was shot at 24mm and the second 128mm. I boosted the orange saturation in post processing, but otherwise I tried not to over-process these. I don't think they need it.

This scene also provided me with an excuse to name a photo after my favorite Explosions in the Sky album: The Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place. Here's some optional musical accompaniment:

Saturday, January 25, 2014

The Great Beyond: Lake Michigan from Evanston

This has been a beautiful yet unforgiving January in the midwest. The photos in this post were taken over two separate days along Lake Michigan, on Northwestern University's Evanston campus. It was under 10 degrees on both days. Strangely, the lake looks much worse in the first two photos-- almost alien and unrecognizable-- and then improves slightly in the last three shots which were taken two days later. I don't have an explanation for that, but perhaps the snow and ice simply floated off to another part of the lakefront.

Friday, January 10, 2014

The Birds

I keep thinking that I'm done processing photos of Chicago's wintry lakefront, and I keep finding more that are worth looking at. In these shots, a flock of seagulls took flight around me and I did my best to photograph it.

"The Birds (3 of 3)" © Andy Marfia 2014 All Rights Reserved. Nikon D7100 w/ 16-85mm lens, 1/100sec at f8, ISO200.

Optional musical accompaniment: I had Elbow's "The Birds" in my head while editing these.

Friday, November 2, 2012

Photo(s) of the Week: Splish Splash

While Hurricane Sandy was wreaking havoc on the east coast, its effects were felt in Chicago in the form of high winds and high waves on Lake Michigan. I stopped by Belmont Harbor on Tuesday (10/30/12) to capture the lake's fury. I was not alone with this idea:

Nikon D7000 w/ 16-85mm lens, 1/1600sec at f8, ISO640© Andy Marfia 2012 All Rights Reserved.

If it's not clear what this guy's doing, take a look at the zoomed shot below. Yes, he's shooting a self portrait with the wave behind him!

DSC_6360_DxO_crop

I bet that was a great insta-something! A commenter on flickr wondered about this guy's safety, and I can report that he was fine-- these waves were hitting the pier and basically bouncing straight up and down-- so they never reached him. That said, I can't vouch for the condition of his phone afterward or the quality of his self portrait.

It goes without saying that things on the east coast are much more serious than here in Chicago. If you haven't already given money to the Red Cross, I encourage everyone to do so.

Friday, August 31, 2012

Photo of the Week: They all fall down

Nikon D7000 w/16-85mm lens, 1/200sec at f11, ISO200. Copyright Andy Marfia 2012 All Rights Reserved.

The pier at Montrose Beach has seen better days. While the concrete is still structurally sound, the steel beams and rope that are supposed to form a handrail down the middle of the pier... well, you can see how that looks. I took this earlier in the summer, but I can't help but imagine a mound of snow and ice in this photo. It was likely a winter storm that pushed this over.

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Photo of the Week: The City Awaits

Nikon D7000 w/ 16-85mm lens, 1/1600sec at f5.6, ISO200. Copyright Andy Marfia 2012 All Rights Reserved.

I took this photo a few weeks ago, but it seems like a fitting image for what I hope will be a safe and relaxing 4th of July holiday. Happy Independence Day, America! Let's try not to kill each other.

Friday, June 24, 2011

Photo of the Week: Summer in 52 Pieces

Nikon D7000 w/ 16-85mm lens, 1/125sec at f8, ISO100. Copyright 2011 Andy Marfia, All Rights Reserved.

This weeks photo shows Hollywood Beach as seen reflected off the beach house. I've posted this shot on my flickr account to provide context. This is a good example of a photo that came about, not from some design or plan, but just walking around with a camera and being playful with the world around me. In this case, I had walked up to this beach house thinking it would make for an interesting macro or abstract, only to realize that the most interesting photo was in how it reflected the lakefront that surrounded it.

This is featured today on both Gapers Block on flickr's "Last 7 Days" explore page. I had a feeling people would like this one, still, it's always a bit surprising when the explore thing happens.

Here's another shot:

Friday, January 21, 2011

ice crusher (plus video!)

The ice was doing weird things last Friday along the lakefront. It had broken up into pieces which resembled panes of glass and was being steadily pushed into the shore and crushed. This is off the Montrose Ave pier. I didn't think a photo would do this justice so I made an attempt to record some video as well (if for no other reason than to capture the sound this was making):

Photo Details: Nikon D7000 with 16-85mm lens, 1/400sec at f8, ISO400.

Video Details: I have no idea. This was the first time I attempted to use the video function on my D7000. There's a red button on the back. I pushed it.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Photo of the Week: Chicago, January

This week's photo was taken just east of Montrose Harbor (on the narrow peninsula that surrounds the Harbor-- click over to flickr if you'd like to see the mapped location). I tried several abstractions with the skyline from closer to the waterline, but wound up liking this photo the best, which I took while retreating back to my car. It was pretty cold out there.

I shot this at f14 to preserve as much of the background as possible while still putting it nicely out of focus. For me, the key to defocusing the Chicago skyline is to leave just enough detail so you can still see the antennas on top of the Hancock or the Sears Tower. Once those are lost you've gone too far.

Photo Details: Nikon D7000 with 55-200mm lens (at 200mm), 1/160sec at f14, ISO400. I did minimal processing to this one-- just the standard RAW conversion and a levels adjustment.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Photo(s) of the Week: grasscrapes

I took these two shots near the Foster Ave Beach. Summer is winding down-- I can feel it in the air at night. These shots seem to fit the moment.

Photo details: Nikon D90 with 55-200mm lens, 1/640sec and 1/500sec respectively at f7.1, ISO200

Friday, April 2, 2010

Photo of the Week: on the rocks

I captured this photo on the north end of Hollywood Beach in Chicago. I used a longish focal length for this one (200mm), and I don't think this person noticed me at all. (He was talking to a friend who is out of the frame in this shot). I like how this composition just barely captures the lake and the horizon in the background-- I don't think this photo would work otherwise.

Photo Details: Nikon D90 with 55-200mm lens, 1/1000sec at f7.1, ISO200.

Thursday, August 30, 2007

sunken

This is my last post of the month, and the summer, since I'll be traveling this weekend.

Nikon D50, 18-70mm lens w/ polarizing filter.

Friday, July 20, 2007

end of the day

A fisherman packs up to go home, Hollywood Pier, Chicago. This man was either unaware that I was taking his picture or didn't care. After he left, I shot some photos from the other side of the pier, but I liked this one better.

This was a 4 second exposure at f20 with my camera mounted on a mini-tripod.