Tag Archives: night

Night Skating

As has been the case a few times recently, I was down in Millennium Park recently at night. I was there to see something else but, while I was there, I took some time to watch the ice skaters. There is an ice rink beside Millennium Park that is free to the public to use. If you don’t have skates, they are available for hire. However, if you come equipped, you are free to skate!

The rink stays open relatively late each evening and I spent some time from above watching everyone having fun. Of course, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to take some pictures (and also some video – I figure that all of these clips will one day be part of a larger montage of Chicago footage). Since it is dark, it is time to try other techniques.

I was surprised how well lit the rink was. I could get some quite fast shutter speeds if I wanted to. However, that wasn’t really the point. I can come during the day if that is what I want. Instead, the slow shutter speeds were actually what I was looking for. The question then becomes how slow.

I was mounting the camera to the railings with a flexible arm and clamp so my motion wasn’t a problem. If the shutter speeds got too long, the blur of the skaters became so vague, it was hard to see whether they were there or not. A slightly faster speed meant they became a bit more distinct. This was what I was after. You still needed to get the larger groups of skaters to make it show up noticeably though. The perfect combination was when someone would stay totally still (or close to it) during the shot. Then you had the juxtaposition of the movement and the lack of movement. That was my favorite.

Painting with a Flashlight

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Following on from my previous post, a group of us found ourselves at the Bean at night and with a flashlight in my bag we started playing around. One fo the guys had brought his son along and we gave him the flashlight to illuminate his face from below. Then we started trying other things with the flashlight. Initially we tried playing it on other surfaces to paint on them but this was not very effective with the ambient light. Then it was time to try writing with it.

I started with my name as you will see above. Rob is pretty easy to do when you are writing backwards. Shielding the light with my hand between strokes of the letters worked pretty well. However, as the words got longer, it became harder to keep visualized on what the letters should look like from this side.

I got the hang of it – after screwing a few up but hey, it’s digital – and managed to get a couple of different captions. They looked okay on the back of the camera but they look better on the computer screen. We also did one that was a message to our missing comrade but that one was not on my camera so you will have to search Facebook to find where someone else posted it!

Night Wanderings with Friends

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As I mentioned in a previous post, sometimes it is useful to have someone come to the city to encourage me to get out and about. A few friends had been to Chicago in a previous week to do some shooting but I had been tied up when they arrived. They were planning some evening shooting and I had been out all day and had plans for the evening so missed it. I was a bit disappointed but there you go.

Consequently, I was pleased to see that a few of them were planning to come back a few days later for another session. This time I was free so agreed to meet up. Some of the group that were coming I knew and others I hadn’t met before. I headed out to the Adler Planetarium – our meeting spot – and started taking some shots. A few guys were already there taking their own shots so I wandered over to find out if they were some of the people I hadn’t met before.

While it was true I hadn’t met them before, they were not part of our group. However, in common with many photographers, they were a friendly bunch a we chatted for a while. They had come to town from Texas and were looking to get as many things in to their trip so I suggested a few spots that they might like to try.

After a while the rest of the guys did show up – well, all but one who had wandered off on his own – and we started taking some pictures. The skyline was lovely as usual and we took some shots around the Shedd Aquarium and the Field Museum. Then we headed across to Millennium Park. I’m becoming a regular.

Shooting around the Bean at night is good since the long exposures you need tend to make any of the other visitors disappear. You get a cleaner shot if you plan it right. We got a bunch of shots and then we started playing around with a flashlight. More of that to come!

Chicago at Night

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It has been a while since I last went out and did some night photography around Chicago. I had been meaning for a while to go and photograph the Buckingham Fountain in Grant Park at night when they have the light and music show. This was supposed to be a relatively quick trip out but ended up being a rather longer expedition.

Chicago at night is a great place to photograph. It is fine to walk around at night and there are usually a bunch of people out and about. However, do you do get a feeling that the city is yours and that you aren’t sharing it with the tourist masses. The night lighting is also a lot more generous to sights that look less impressive during the day. The dark hides a lot of the blemishes!

The show at the fountain takes place every hour on the hour. I got down at 8pm which was just after sundown. This wasn’t such a good plan as, even at the end of the 20 minute display, it really wasn’t dark enough to get the benefit of the lights. I figured I would try again another time but ended up taking enough shots of details around the fountain that soon it was sufficiently close to the hour again that there was no point in leaving. The 9pm show was certainly more photogenic – even if I had to take a few angles that concealed some of the construction sites on the skyline.

With some shots in the bag, I headed back in the direction of home. however, along the way were plenty of things to shoot as well. The Art Institute, the Pritzker Pavilion and the bean were all there along with the goings on of Millennium Park. It ended up being pretty late by the time I finally headed home. I have now whetted my appetite for some more night shooting so hopefully it won’t be too long before I am back out.

Making the new site work

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So, I have finally taken the plunge and moved the old version of the website offline and transferred to the new version. I immediately notice that my two trial posts when the site was in beta seem to be in reverse order. I have no idea why that might be so I will keep on posting and see whether everything shows up in the right place eventually.

The photo life has been a tad restricted recently. Other work commitments have had me on the road and basically without a camera for a while so I have been plotting my next ideas. One good opportunity was, of course, the moon coming so close to the earth. Saturday was a lovely day here in Chicago so I was hopeful of some good shots. However, when I made my way out to the planetarium (and I was not alone out there!!), the cloud cover drifted in. It started out on the horizon but with clear sky above. Patience my young Padawan. Of course, as the moon rose, the clouds spread out and covered the sky. Lots of disappointed people went home.

I actually tried the next night but the result was just as bad. Ho hum! The results you see here are not impressive although given the low light and the shutter speeds, they could have been worse, I assure you!