Well, here I am again getting out of the habit of shooting. So, new year, new plans to get back into the habit of making images.
Last week we had a couple of warm days so I spent some time at one of my favorite Chicago spots, the Studio Gang-designed Lincoln Park pavilion. It was pretty quiet with not many people around so I decided to get a couple of drone shots too. First, wide for context and with our beautiful city in the background.

The design was inspired by milkweed pods, which is pretty clear from this straight down shot.

It’s also pretty clear these things need a good power washing! I’m not even going to attempt to clean this up in post-processing.
One of the first shots I noticed was this one below…

The light hitting just the edges of the curves of the wood from inside the pavilion is what caught my eye. Plus, the canoe-like perspective when you can’t see any of the translucent pods.
Next, a look up + some symmetry. Always a sucker for some good symmetry!

The light you see in the image above is more or less how it looked. However, a slight white balance adjustment to make the temperature a bit cooler, and here’s what you get (and how I prefer it interpreted).

Of course, black and white as well.

The next couple of shots felt braid-like to me and is a perspective I haven’t shot here before.


You see the texture pops a bit more in the black & white renditions.
Another sweeping symmetrical shot…

And a straight lookup shot, which had my lying on the ground for this one, lol.

As I was getting up, I thought the view was nice…

Nice winter light…low, dramatic, moody.